OK, don’t consider hogs as that shield is a unique barrier. Take deer, for example. The broadhead travels at most 18” from one side to the other, and does it in milliseconds. That’s the only time friction matters, of course. But, I agree with JimB, it certainly does exist. How many times have you seen a downed deer where the hole in the skin does not match the hole in the flesh, because he was moving when hit? Sure, it feels effortless when you cut through hair, skin, flesh, and organs, so if it’s a slimy hole to boot, then it can’t cause friction, right? Wrong. It’s often all moving at the point of impact, and not moving in the same direction. Think about the tissue while being cut, not the hole afterwards. Don’t think about pushing your sharp knife through the connective tissue and organs-think about trying to pull those tissues apart with your hands while other forces are pulling along the shaft in various directions. That tissue is moving and some part of the force vectors are acting to slow the arrow down.
I helped track a bull that a friend had punched with a file sharpened Grizzly-60# longbow at 15 yds. He had not sharpened the tanto edges. We found that the head had entered between ribs, barely poked the back edge of one lung and pulled it through to the offside hole where the head stopped with lung plugging the hole. The lung collapsed but was not sliced. He went a hell of a long way after the shot!
That doesn’t prove anything, of course, but it showed me that internal organs and tissue can certainly slow an arrow. To whatever extent that lung held together it retarded penetration, both as in line drag, and by pulling that arrow tip off it’s path. Ashby showed that any time broadhead fails by bending ,or the shaft being bent, penetration stops quickly .
Ashby also proved -to my satisfaction-that smaller diameter shafts penetrate further. Two obvious reasons, friction and cross sectional area. It simply stands to reason, that a slicker shaft that is also smaller diameter will improve penetration.
Yeah, when you walk up to your downed deer it’s a sloppy mess around that hole(that’s a good thing!) But, it wasn’t like that during the time the arrow was penetrating. The tissue was dryer, live, and maybe moving fast as hell! We can only speculate about the effects.
That said, this issue is about #250 on the list of things I should do to improve my chances of getting my animal. I’m not likely to worry about it in the future.
Topic: What is a good lubricant for better penetration for wood arrows with no smell? (Read 374 times)
