The Men of the Sea.....

[Mithalwen]

I am sure there are people around who know more about archery than me but surely modern bows used for archery are generally metal. I tried only a couple of times a long time ago with a shortish bow of very flexible metal that was easy to draw and probably a great deal less powerful than a traditional yew long bow, however my brother in law had a very powerful metal bow which was of a much heavier metal and had various tensioning arragements - but probably well within Numenorean technology. Despite being strong and 5"10 I could hardly bend this bow at all. B-inLaw was 6"4 so not quite Numenorean height but he could draw this relatively easily.

I am not very up on physics either but I imagine that the great Numenorean stature would allow longer bows and so presumably greater power?

[Neurion]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I am sure there are people around who know more about archery than me but surely modern bows used for archery are generally metal. I tried only a couple of times a long time ago with a shortish bow of very flexible metal that was easy to draw and probably a great deal less powerful than a traditional yew long bow, however my brother in law had a very powerful metal bow which was of a much heavier metal and had various tensioning arragements - but probably well within Numenorean technology. Despite being strong and 5"10 I could hardly bend this bow at all. B-inLaw was 6"4 so not quite Numenorean height but he could draw this relatively easily.

I am not very up on physics either but I imagine that the great Numenorean stature would allow longer bows and so presumably greater power?

Well, I've always imagined that the Numenorean bows would have been made in the same pattern as a traditional English longbow, one piece with no cams or other devices to lessen the draw-weight, which would make for one heck of a weapon, as a normal wooden longbow can have a draw-weight of up to 200 pounds.

BTW, if your brother-in-law is 6'4" then he's exactly Numenorean average height. I'm 6'3" myself, so I'm just a little bit under; a short Numenorean if you will.

[Rumil]

Hi all,

The steel bow question put me in mind of an old thread about archery, here;-

Archery thread

(With plenty of practical archery advice, the story of His Highness Thulajendra Raja P. Bhonsle Chatrapathy and instructions for creating your very own mighty stave from rulers and elastic bands!)

It seems that steel bows were once used in India, but weren't as effective as the traditional composite bows and were really status symbols rather than weapons of war.

I guess the Numenorens could have used a steel version of an ordinary bow, or alternatively a crossbow, which is often constructed partially from steel.

[Neurion]

Originally Posted by Rumil

Hi all,

The steel bow question put me in mind of an old thread about archery, here;-

Archery thread

(With plenty of practical archery advice, the story of His Highness Thulajendra Raja P. Bhonsle Chatrapathy and instructions for creating your very own mighty stave from rulers and elastic bands!)

It seems that steel bows were once used in India, but weren't as effective as the traditional composite bows and were really status symbols rather than weapons of war.

I guess the Numenorens could have used a steel version of an ordinary bow, or alternatively a crossbow, which is often constructed partially from steel.

Interesting, but I doubt that the steelbows were, in reality, crossbows. Crossbow quarrels are usually about twelve inches or so in order to fit into the draw mechanism, and Tolkien states that the arrows shot by the steelbows were over forty-five inches in length.

[Numenorean]

Just incase anyone is unfamiliar with the passage that Neurion is reffering to, here it is:

In later days, in the wars upon Middle-earth, it was the bows of the Númenóreans that were most greatly feared. 'The Men of the Sea', it was said, send before them a great cloud, as a rain turned to serpents, or a black hail tipped with steel’; and in those days the great cohorts of the King’s Archers used bows made of hollow steel, with black-feathered arrows a full ell long from point to notch. UT p170

A 45inch arrow fired from a hollow steel bow by a race whose average height is over 6ft 4inches is going to travel a pretty sizeable distance. From what I've read, Rumil is right about there being a history of steel bows in India. With regards to feasible shot distances, apparently in '1798 AD - The Turkish Sultan Selim, witnessed by the British Ambassador, shot an arrow 889 metres ( 972 yards ), a record not surpassed for nearly 200 years.'
Given that the Edainic weaponsmiths who first settled on Númenór 'had with the teaching of the Noldor acquired great skill' in the arts of forging and smithying of weapons, I tend to envisage the hollow steel bows of the Númenóreans to be large, ornate and tremendously powerful.

[Rumil]

Aha !

makes sense to me, (shamefacedly admits to never having realised how long an ell was). I'm much happier with longbows than crossbows in the hands of the Numenoreans for some reason anyway. I must say that that Sultan must have been a hell of a strong archer, that's a really long way!

[Michael Wilhelmson]

It only makes sense, in that a steel bow would have far more tensile strength than a wooden one, and if designed properly, would be an exceptional weapon, second only to perhaps better metals, and the synthetic bows today.