Longbow Arrow Barrelling

When we barrel wooden longbow arrows, how much effect does this have on grain weight?

As we know, each arrow has a specific grain weight; this is effectively how much the arrow weighs in terms of grains – the old medieval measurement that is still alive today. I was asked recently how much does barrelling effect the grain weight so what better excuse to experiment? Just for those who may not know, barrelling is tapering the arrow shaft from both ends – it was the preferred method of arrow construction our medieval forefathers used.

For this experiment, I took a full length 32″ cedar shaft and weighed it. It was 465 grains.

Onto the worktable and out comes the barrelling device and I set to work. Each end was tapered by 10″ so effectively 20″ of the 32″ was tapered. Once complete, I weighed the arrow again and the new weight was 440 grains. This was a difference of 25 grains which is quite a bit in terms or arrow weight.

So what if I took a shorter shaft, maybe use pine or spruce and taper again, 10″ either end?

Next, I took a 28″ shaft – this was spruce and starting weight was 313gn – after tapering, it had lost 19gn in weight.

In both scenarios, I barrelled an 11/32 shaft to 5/16. You also have to bear in mind that neither nock nor point tapers had been shaved on either of these shafts so that would also take a bit more off too but assuming you’re making 11/32 > 5/16 barrelled shafts at 28″, you know that the taper will reduce weight by around 19 grains.