Posted on 05/17/2014 7:51:52 PM PDT by null and void
How to create medieval weapons with modern tech
Do you have a castle that you need to storm, or a siege you need to lay upon your enemies? Are you sadly bereft of the medieval weaponry it would take to accomplish those tasks?
Well don’t despair: luckily, you live in the age of the Internet, which means somebody knows how to make things like self-igniting flaming arrows for all your siege needs, and that somebody is completely willing to share that information with the world:
First things first: materials. As a denizen of the modern age, you only need four things to create self-igniting fire arrows—a ball of steel wool, an ordinary nine-volt battery, a slingshot and, well, arrows. Attach the steel wool to the arrow, stick the battery on the base of your slingshot, and start shooting: when you draw back the slingshot’s elastic, the battery and steel wool meet, igniting the wool and subsequently the arrow.
[Video at source]
While the guy in the video is using a slingshot, this technique should work just as well with a regular bow or crossbow, although you’d probably have to modify it a bit.
I’m going to leave you with a small disclaimer: since you probably don’t have the mad archery skills of your medieval ancestors, and you’ll be shooting flaming projectiles, please experiment with this in a very large, completely empty area where you can’t set anything important on fire, like the land or houses or yourself.
But while you’re in that large, empty area, by all means see if you can look this badass:
Sounds fun, I’ll try it thanks
We used to do that.
Are you talking about a "Hold muh beer" moment?
Crossbow bolt? Ha! REAL MEN use caltrops!
I think it was Mark Twain that quipped “It’s not fun unless it’s dangerous”.
That was excellent !
'Hamlet and Eggs' was taken?
Every time I tried this I rediscovered the fact that flaming arrows travel just a short distance compared with ordinary arrows. Flaming arrows need to ignite upon impact. Anything else, and you have to be too close.
True, and it means your date licks the last drop of drink off the end of the swizzle with a little extra caution.
No pic? Click: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v735/duffy_5669/swizzle_stickLick.jpg
With caltrops, you’re always pointing up.
The yolk’s on me.
Never mind flaming arrows. You need to pack them with gunpowder, attach a primer to the arrowhead and make them into a low velocity personal body armor buster.
Not the best device to use for flipping heads/tails. Seems like it always lands the same way.
Right on. Sometimes .... that's just the thing to do.
I found an old flame-retardant vest in a dumpster the other day...
-PJ
You have mail ....
I have used fine steel wool and a 9-volt battery to start fires before. I doubt that coarser steel wool would ignite. Anyway, I had to blow on the ignited steel wool to get it going enough to ignite the kindling. That makes me wonder if it would burn out on an arrow with the wind from shooting it feeding the fire. I imagine that the wind resistance would be quite a bit for a large enough ball of steel wool.
Sounds like an excuse for some good experimenting there. I doubt that it would top a wrist-rocket-sling-shot and cherry bombs, however. I remember that from when they still had cherry bombs and it still hasn’t been topped. There were some good stories with that.
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