Belegarth

So, my question with arrow checking, what do you guys do for a normal arrow check? Just curious what every else does.

well since no one else has posted yet, I'll start.
Check for head wobble (making sure it is attached is always a +)
Check the compression rate of the foam by slappin it a few times
does the foam roll too much?
does it pass the template
Make sure there are at least 2 fletchings
is there a drawstop ?
Shoot it at someone

Koom Di' Puts wrote:well since no one else has posted yet, I'll start.
Check for head wobble (making sure it is attached is always a +)
Check the compression rate of the foam by slappin it a few times
does the foam roll too much?
does it pass the template
Make sure there are at least 2 fletchings
is there a drawstop ?
Shoot it at someone

Heres my question to you, since arrows are Face allowwed weapons, do you test solely on the face of a fighter, or test on the back THEN face, or Back only??

This is something i'd personally like to know. Because what feels fine on the back could defintely hurt on the face, and also another reason im curious is because arrows are the most dangerous part.

Blitz(IG) wrote:
Heres my question to you, since arrows are Face allowwed weapons, do you test solely on the face of a fighter, or test on the back THEN face, or Back only??

This is something i'd personally like to know. Because what feels fine on the back could defintely hurt on the face, and also another reason im curious is because arrows are the most dangerous part.

While I've heard of realms testing arrows to the face, pretty much every place and event I've been to checks arrows the way Koom described. You first check for construction flaws and if there are any, then the arrow never gets to the hit test. Ideally, the hit test should be a double-blind system where one person is shot in the back with an arrow and if the tester feels the arrow is bad, it is tested by the other one. If it fails both testers, then the arrow is failed. Also, people need to be rotated out as their backs get sore. Usually I give them the following guideline if they've never been a back before: Ask yourself if you'd feel comfortable getting shot in the face with that arrow. Typically, the ones that fail the hit test most often are the ones I call "baby fists" or pistons. What's essentially happening is that the open cell compresses far too fast allowing the arrow to go directly to the inner can without slowing the arrow down enough to lessen the impact.

To answer your question, how would you feel if you had at least 20 arrows shot at full draw at your face at 15'? In battle, over the course of the day, it's unpleasant but generally not too bad. But to get that many in a row at minimum safe distance for testing and not on the field? I'll pass. Since hit testing tends to be subjective and we are also trying to keep our arrow testers safe, the back (with the consideration of whether the hit would be safe to the face) is a reasonable analog. There is always the possibility that an arrow that passes the construction test may still fail on the hit test and I'd feel much better about those arrows hitting someone in the back than in the face.

Kyrian wrote:

Blitz(IG) wrote:
Heres my question to you, since arrows are Face allowwed weapons, do you test solely on the face of a fighter, or test on the back THEN face, or Back only??

This is something i'd personally like to know. Because what feels fine on the back could defintely hurt on the face, and also another reason im curious is because arrows are the most dangerous part.

While I've heard of realms testing arrows to the face, pretty much every place and event I've been to checks arrows the way Koom described. You first check for construction flaws and if there are any, then the arrow never gets to the hit test. Ideally, the hit test should be a double-blind system where one person is shot in the back with an arrow and if the tester feels the arrow is bad, it is tested by the other one. If it fails both testers, then the arrow is failed. Also, people need to be rotated out as their backs get sore. Usually I give them the following guideline if they've never been a back before: Ask yourself if you'd feel comfortable getting shot in the face with that arrow. Typically, the ones that fail the hit test most often are the ones I call "baby fists" or pistons. What's essentially happening is that the open cell compresses far too fast allowing the arrow to go directly to the inner can without slowing the arrow down enough to lessen the impact.

To answer your question, how would you feel if you had at least 20 arrows shot at full draw at your face at 15'? In battle, over the course of the day, it's unpleasant but generally not too bad. But to get that many in a row at minimum safe distance for testing and not on the field? I'll pass. Since hit testing tends to be subjective and we are also trying to keep our arrow testers safe, the back (with the consideration of whether the hit would be safe to the face) is a reasonable analog. There is always the possibility that an arrow that passes the construction test may still fail on the hit test and I'd feel much better about those arrows hitting someone in the back than in the face.

Thank you very much, I watched a video on arrow checking and i think i confused the "head butting" of the arrow to shooting the arrow at ones face. Misunderstanding, but live and learn. Questions never hurt with how-to's with weapon checking.

To add to Koom's list, measure the length of the placement of the drawstop to the knock of the arrow.