Have been reading Hugh D.H. Soar’s The Romance Of Archery, a ‘social history of the longbow’ in Britain. Lots of amazing treats and facts, but this one stuck out. You will no doubt be aware that your standard Easton X10 arrow, the choice of about 99% of top recurve archers (and many compounders) is barrelled; i.e. it is thicker in the middle and thinner at each end. This means the the the shaft is stiffest where it has to resist the bending force, and since it carries no unnecessary stiffening, it can be narrower and lighter than if it was parallel, meaning it’s less affected by wind.

Of course, no one had ever told me this wasn’t a 20th century idea. When Hugh starts talking about his collection, he mentions…

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