The Men of the Sea.....

[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.