Love Arrows

An arrow is the projectile of a bow or the projectile of a blowpipe. It is a form of long-range or ranged weapon. It usually consists of an arrowhead, a cylindrical arrow shaft, and fletching and nock at the other end to hold the bowstring or throwing device. Bow arrows have been known as archaeological finds since the late Paleolithic (Ahrensburg Culture). Precursors of the bow arrow were thin and long spears, which were thrown with the spear sling. In contrast, the projectiles of the crossbow are usually called bolts, although the long projectiles of modern hunting or field crossbows are increasingly also called arrows. Today, arrows are mainly used in sport archery and bow hunting.

The arrow is basically a straight stick with a tip at the front end and natural or artificial feathers attached to the rear end as fletching for stabilization. At the rearmost end is the nock, a notch that ensures contact with the bowstring. Arrow weights are traditionally stated in grains, one grain equals 0.0648 grams. Today's typical arrows have about a few hundred to about 500 grains, but old English war arrows could weigh more than 800 grains, or more than 52 grams.

The shaft shape can be tapered, barrel tapered or cylindrical (standard). An important property of the shaft is its bending stiffness, its spine (see below), which must be matched to the bow and archer for best flight characteristics and thus accuracy. Ideally, an arrow shaft is only slightly longer than the archer's extension.