Paddywhack June Order

Hey all,

I’m taking another order now, to be sent off at the end of June. I know it’s quite soon after the last order, but I was short of stock at Teonn and with the larp scene continuing to balloon I want to make sure people can get gear when they want it. I’ll be taking three orders a year from here out.

The new items available for this order are bows, which you can now view on my website under Archery along with my usual range of kit. The bows are from IDV, the same German supplier who provides the arrows I sell, and are designed to be used with those arrows in larp combat.

So if you want some latex weapons, leather armour, belts or weapon holders, arrows or bows then you can order on the site or email me at ryanpaddywhack@gmail.com before the end of June.

[color=#8000FF][size=150]www.paddywhack.co.nz[/size][/color]

The order should be here around mid August.

And then at Chimera, I’ll be taking orders for a whole new range of gear in addition to my current range. A diverse range of weapons, armour, costume, adventuring kit, makeup, prosthetics and more will available, and that order will arrive before Teonn. I’ll have print catalogues and samples of the kit.

Also, I’ve started emailing past customers to let you know when an order is coming together, which will be three times a year. If you’d like to be on the email list but haven’t received the email today, let me know on ryanpaddywhack@gmail.com

Cheers,

Ryan

Ah - prices might be useful. :wink:

All the bows are $110, or $88 for NZLARPS members.

I’ve had a couple of people email me to ask for advice on which bow weight to buy.

This is a tricky question because I haven’t tried the bows yet, and because we haven’t done a comparative test of the IDV arrows with different draw weight bows yet.

Having said that, personally I would suggest going for one of the 27lb @ 28" bows, either the 140cm or 120cm length depending on your height. These are well under the 30lb @ 28" recommendation that’s widely cited in UK and European larps.

I don’t want to prejudge the bow testing we’re going to do, but I think it’s likely that we’ll find that the IDV arrows are better suited to lower draw weight than flat-headed arrows, because they fly faster. I think 27lb is likely to be light enough. It’s also worth mentioning that on some of IDV’s sales material the draw weight is listed as 25-27lb @ 28", so they may even be on the light side for 27lb. Still, it will be important to get plenty of practice in with the bow and arrows you’ll be using, so you can shoot more gently at closer ranges. I think practice is the key to that.

On the other hand, I think 18lb @ 28" sounds very light. I’ve been playing with bow that is supposed to be 20lb or more, and the effective range seems to be only about 10 meters, which really isn’t very far - less than the width of a suburban section. If you’re willing to compromise range (and probably accuracy) in order to maximise safety, if you think you’re unlikely to be able to learn to shoot carefully (maybe you panic easily), or the bow is for a child to use in larps, then 18lb may be the way to go.

I used my 20lb bow (48", handcrafted hickory from nzarcher - draw limit is ~22") a fair amount at Teonn just gone. It was maybe slightly on the light side but that being said I did notice a few things:

Chris aka Fox’s 15lb red fibreglass bow was comparable but was overdrawn to do so.

Cheryl’s bow (draw weight 20lbs +) was the fastest bow on offer. The crew member target took an arrow to the thigh from Derek but when questioned, he was not hurt by it.

A shot to the neck at short range can bruise (and hurts a bunch). This isn’t suprising, this is the range we need to be the most cautious and careful at. See this thread for the details and discussion viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7336

Most of my shooting was done ~10m. By the end of the weekend I could hit a 1m x 0.8m shield 95% of the time from 10m (I am a bow noob having had one lesson with the Waikato SCA peps, one lesson with Adam at St. Wolfgangs and personal experience from Teonn). I could hit the same target at 20m maybe 50% but the more I tried the better I was getting (suprising huh?). I had to pretty much fully draw (22") my bow to do this with any real accuracy. That being said, I could also shoot to about 40m (circa 120ft) if I arched the bow and fully drew. I wouldn’t ever do this in combat however as I’d just peg someone in the face if I tried.

If I had the chance, I’d order the 140cm bow with the 27lb draw. but I am happy to continue with my 20lb. bow because it works well in typical combat range.

[quote=“Jared”]I used my 20lb bow (48", handcrafted hickory from nzarcher - draw limit is ~22") a fair amount at Teonn just gone. It was maybe slightly on the light side but that being said I did notice a few things:

Chris aka Fox’s 15lb red fibreglass bow was comparable but was overdrawn to do so.

Cheryl’s bow (draw weight 20lbs +) was the fastest bow on offer. The crew member target took an arrow to the thigh from Derek but when questioned, he was not hurt by it.

A shot to the neck at short range can bruise (and hurts a bunch). This isn’t suprising, this is the range we need to be the most cautious and careful at. See this thread for the details and discussion diatribe.co.nz/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7336

Most of my shooting was done ~10m. By the end of the weekend I could hit a 1m x 0.8m shield 95% of the time from 10m (I am a bow noob having had one lesson with the Waikato SCA peps, one lesson with Adam at St. Wolfgangs and personal experience from Teonn). I could hit the same target at 20m maybe 50% but the more I tried the better I was getting (suprising huh?). I had to pretty much fully draw (22") my bow to do this with any real accuracy. That being said, I could also shoot to about 40m (circa 120ft) if I arched the bow and fully drew. I wouldn’t ever do this in combat however as I’d just peg someone in the face if I tried.

If I had the chance, I’d order the 140cm bow with the 27lb draw. but I am happy to continue with my 20lb. bow because it works well in typical combat range.[/quote]

Archery is very easy as long as you practice. I understand that people have jobs and real world commitments but an hour once a month in the garden shooting a shield is all it takes to learn to get your eye in, your aim on target and most importantly - used to the bow you own. This is the minimum I would expect from anyone doing archery. If you can’t spare a whole hour then take 2 half hour turn arounds every other week - or just 15mins each saturday afternoon before you sit down for dinner. :slight_smile:

Sorry Ryan,
Didn’t mean to hijack your order thread.
Maybe we can split some of these bow safety and usage comments off into another thread?

Jared

I don’t mind.

Speaking of the order, my supplier Palnatoke has let me know they’re about to do their regular price rise. I’ll have to rise accordingly, so this is the last chance to order at these prices.

Thanks Ryan :slight_smile:

More good news for archers. Bizarrely, it turns out I’ve had the quiver massively overpriced for over a year now.

I had it priced at $219, which I always thought was insanely expensive. The thing is, I had it confused with a deluxe quiver that Palnatoke doesn’t actually make any more.

It turns out it should only be $80. That’s what I’ve just marked it as. Much better.

Quiver - $80 (or $64 for NZLARPS members)

It’s part of the GP mount range, which allows you to mount it either on your hip (hanging from your belt) or on your back, and you can mount it at an angle of your choice. So you’ll need either the belt mount (GP) or back mount (GP) to mount it on.

For the archery-curious, this quiver is made to store arrows head-down like a real quiver, so you can draw and shoot more quickly. That’s unusual, most larp quivers load the arrows head-out, which allows them to be smaller but requires some arrow-handling when you draw and fire. I’m told this quiver stores “lots” of arrows, more than anyone has brought from me to date.

Just a reminder that this Sunday is the last day for orders.

Today’s the last day for orders. :wink:

I’ve sent my sword & leatherworks order off to Palnatoke, and my bow order off to IDV, so ordering is now closed.

Palnatoke have cautioned that they’re working through a big backlog of swords that need manufacturing. They will do their best to get the gear to me in the next 8 weeks, but they can’t promise it. So I’m just passing that message along to you folks - I really hope your gear will be here by Chimera, but there’s a chance it won’t.

As far as I know the IDV order (i.e. the bows) should here well before Chimera. I’ve also ordered a bow scale from IDV for myself, as I want to be responsible about giving archery advice to people based on the objectively measured draw weight of their bows. A scale will also be handy for the bow/arrow testing that Adam and I are planning.

I’ll be taking orders again around the time of Chimera, including orders for the third supplier I’ll be bringing in.

The IDV bows are here, and they look absolutely gorgeous in person.

Seriously, these are some of the nicest larp kit I’ve laid eyes on, and they feel amazingly natural to use.

I got a bow scale too, and they measure 20lb when I draw them comfortably. When I really stretched and pulled the string past my head, I got up to 25lb which seems not too heavy. I think IDV recommend a maximum of 25lb pull when shooting people with IDV round-headed arrows, and I think you’d be hard pressed to pull more than that accidentally with these bows.

So on the face of things it seems like a great match of arrow and bow, although I’d still like to do some tests and comparisons with other bows and arrows.

The Palnatoke gear arrived a few days ago too. They were able to do it quickly, but couldn’t supply everything we wanted - I’ve already let everyone who was affected by that know about delayed items a while ago. Hoping to get all the delayed items here before Teonn.