Senseless killing does not become a man, and it does not become a hunter. A man should kill for good reason and should understand his reasons before he is faced with the necessity of killing.
As the father of three small boys I must help them become men. As part of that process I am teaching them to hunt. A man may one day have to kill. A hunter will certainly have killing to do.
This is not another lesson in hunting ethics. This is not a moral lecture. This is one hunting father’s struggle to come to terms with the necessity of raising boys into men who are able and willing to kill when the time arrives, because they have thought it through and know where they stand on the subject.
Gun aficionados are just plain nuts about ballistics because without understanding ballistics, you can’t be a great shooter. I feel strongly that the understanding of ballistics is much, much more important to archers even than for those who shoot firearms.With a high powered rifle, you can sight in at 50 yards and still expect to be pretty darned close to where you aim at 100 yards shooting exactly the same way without having to change a thing. There will be a small difference, but it’s within a couple inches even for rounds with rather slow velocities.
For an archer, the parabola of the arrow flight starts immediately. At 150 feet per second, there is an EIGHT INCH drop in trajectory at just TEN YARDS. At 200 fps, there is still a five inch drop between zero and ten yards.
This was written by Joe Talmadge and is very frequently referenced and considered to be a very accurate representation of most of the knife steels. Keep in mind that blade afficionados discuss knife steels in the same way we discuss the value of light, fast arrows compared to heavy, slow arrows for penetration and there is about as much consensus. :)
Author: Joe Talmadge jat@cup.hp.com
Last Updated: July 1999
Let me start with my bibliography. I got the knowledge for this FAQ from my own experience as a collector and amateur knifemaker, and from countless conversations with custom makers. I've also read countless articles on steels, but here are the four that I actually had in front of me:
Bob Engnath's Blades and Stuff Catalog. Bob's catalog is a must-see for everyone, even for just collectors, as it contains a wealth of information on all kinds of great knife subjects.
The pheasant launched from its hiding spot twenty feet to my left. As it rose, it flew at a forty-five degree angle towards the right, I swung with him and drew the bow. In the split second it took to reach anchor, the bird had distanced itself by 15 yards.
Letting the string slip, the fourth arrow of the day was on its way. The missile whirred towards the fleeing quarry and I was once again filled with hope. It looked like this was going to be the one.
YES! The arrow struck just above the back leg, transfixing the bronze rooster. The Zwickey Scorpio did its job, stopping the arrow, with about nine inches of shaft sticking out of the breast on t ...
