South American arrow weight

[Tuomo]

Does anyone know how much primitive South American arrows usually weight? South American arrows are known to be  very long, 1,0-1,5 meters (3-5 feet), even longer (excluding Patagonia and some other regions). Arrowhead is bamboo, bone, etc., not metal. Arrow shaft material is one kind of reed.

I have read many books and articles, and none of those mentions nothing about arrow weight, only length, arrowhead, feather, etc. Even the best book, "Brazilian Indian archery" (Heath & Chiara 1977) says nothing about arrow weight.

So, who knows, real measurements?

[Springbuck]

 Probably going to have to guess.

One idea I have is to get on Ebay and email the sellers of such things.  There is always a market for tribal handiwork NOT made for the tourist trade.  You will probably recognize what you are after.  If it looks authentic to you, and if over time you can get ten or so guys to tell you, you'll have a sample.

[sumpitan]

Hamilton (1982) discusses South American arrows in detail. He gives the weights of various Wai Wai and Columbian rainforest arrows, 60 - 78 inches long; the lightest weighs 1,5 oz., the heaviest 3.1 oz., with an app. 2.5 oz. average. Or, as anyone who has handled SA arrows can tell: not nearly as heavy as their size suggests.

Tuukka

[nclonghunter]

what would a five foot piece of seasoned river cane weigh?

[bowandarrow473]

Probably around 800- 900 or so grains, as one river cane shaft 30 in long is like 400 grains or something ( wouldn't know, I don't weigh mine except with my hand) so with a  normal size point probably 1000 grains or a little more by my figuring.

[Tuomo]

Thanks Tuukka! Forget Hamilton, it is in my bookshelf.

I found some information, Ed Ashby has written an article about Papua New Guinea arrows.

http://www.alaskabowhunting.com/PR/Ashby_Papua_New_Guinea_Bows_and_Arrows.pdf

Similar cane arrows, with bamboo heads weights about 1000 grains, which seems to match with Hamilton's measurements.

So, how to make replica? It would be nice to test very long arrow, which is not too heavy. Long bamboo rods are too heavy. Maybe some light woods, like fir or even aspen. So, I have to try.

[sumpitan]

No wood matches the characteristics of South American arrow cane. You can take the lightest per stiffness options, like wide-ringed Nordic spruce, and you still end up with either a much too weak-spined shaft or a too-fat, too-heavy shaft. The South American six-foot arrow came into being because an exceptional raw material allowed it (PNG bamboo arrows are on average much shorter); man-tall arrows are in many ways superior, just not feasible in most locales.

Tuukka

[Pelo]

I've handled a few and while lighter than they look they are heavier than most. My .02 is that the majority of the arrows were used for bow fishing where the added length and weight had benefits. This in turn affected the design of the remainder of the arrows.