Nephi's steel bow difficult to replicate at BYU competition

[why_me]

See the following for elaboration:

bycommonconsent.com/2006/02/20/on-nephis-steel-bow/

The comments section to the above link was interesting to read.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Well, unlike Nephi’s ill fated bow, none of THOSE broke!

Er … it was made of cast iron?

 

[dianaiad]

Er … it was made of cast iron?

The word is ‘steel.’ Whether that meant Damascene steel…or is a translation of the word that means ‘metal’ (like bronze or brass) I dunno.

On the other hand, I have a few treasured cast iron cooking pots. I personally wouldn’t want a bow made of the stuff.

Y’know, until yesterday I never thought about it having been a crossbow, but now that I know crossbows were very much around at that period of history, I suppose…

Nah. all we know is that it was a ‘steel bow,’ and the stupid thing broke. That’s all we know about the bow mentioned in 2 Kings (2 Samuel), too; noted for breaking.

Now me, I haven’t touched a bow in nearly thirty years. Remembering back, though, I think I would prefer a composite recurved bow with a really good hunting sight…and also remembering my…er…skills, maybe a steel arm band. And gloves. …and vest. Those things can really mess a girl up!

 

[hosemonkey]

This was a project initiated by professors and students at BYU. They are students attempting to replica a bow from the book of mormon. I think that they did a good job. Lets look at it this way: First, they attempted to do it. Second, they did not coil with fear about doing such a project. And third; they believed that it could be done because they know that the book of mormon is true. All three give the article a positive twist. And that was my point.

Personally, I would think that all catholics should be routing for the book of mormon to be true and proved to be true. Why? because it would confirm the existence of god. And that would not be such a bad thing for this day and age.

No one NEEDS the BOM to prove the existence of God. The existence of a real being is not confirmed by a false document, any more than a false autobiography of Adolf Hitler is necessary to prove the existence of Naziism. The falsity of the BOM is manifest and is nothing more than an interesting curiousity. Mormons are nothing if not gullible.

 

[lightningfrog]

well, if the best one only had a range of 66 yards, no wonder they got wiped out! The old wood ones out shot them

if you read the article, then you know that the best bow shot 75 yards (my carbon fiber bow), and it outshot all the wood and steel bows

and now, you’re probably thinking, “that still sucks”…keep in mind that the folks running the competition did their best to prevent us from being able to shoot too far (into traffic and/or apartment complexes past the edge of the field). each bow was mechanically drawn to a mere 50 lbs, and shot at about 20-25 degrees above horizontal.

If people with modern technology have such a tough time making these things, imagine how hard it was for ancient Lehites.

as it turns out, almost all of the participants (myself included) only participated because extra credit was offered. that means that most of the bows were thrown together last minute, which probably goes a long way for explaining the poor performance of many bows. if thats not enough reason to do poorly, keep in mind that these are students - just because a machine shop is available doesnt mean we’re expert machinists or that we know how to design a bow.

also, this was an engineering competition - not a religious mythbusters. the bows were fun to make and shoot, and did a good job of helping apply stuff we learned in materials science (or in my case, compliant mechanisms). if you want to learn about how realistic it would be for a middle eastern person to posses and/or use a steel bow, theres tons of supporting information if you’re willing to look for it.

 

[ralphinal]

That is true. But my point is valid. If the book of mormon was conclusively proven true, it would mean the existence of god. And we all should be rooting for that. At the moment, all we have in christianity is faith unproven and that is not good at all for this secular age.

Instead what we have are catholics and protestants rooting that the book of mormon is false. Does it make sense to root for it being false?

I think that you understand Mormonism and Catholicism to be able to co-exist completely, from a theological standpoint. If you do, you are very, very wrong.

If Catholicism is correct, Mormonism cannot be correct. The same is true the other way.

In other words, if the BoM is 100% correct, it proves God and also shows 2 billion Christians that they are wrong

 

[ralphinal]

if you read the article, then you know that the best bow shot 75 yards (my carbon fiber bow), and it outshot all the wood and steel bows

and now, you’re probably thinking, “that still sucks”…keep in mind that the folks running the competition did their best to prevent us from being able to shoot too far (into traffic and/or apartment complexes past the edge of the field). each bow was mechanically drawn to a mere 50 lbs, and shot at about 20-25 degrees above horizontal.

as it turns out, almost all of the participants (myself included) only participated because extra credit was offered. that means that most of the bows were thrown together last minute, which probably goes a long way for explaining the poor performance of many bows. if thats not enough reason to do poorly, keep in mind that these are students - just because a machine shop is available doesnt mean we’re expert machinists or that we know how to design a bow.

also, this was an engineering competition - not a religious mythbusters. the bows were fun to make and shoot, and did a good job of helping apply stuff we learned in materials science (or in my case, compliant mechanisms). if you want to learn about how realistic it would be for a middle eastern person to posses and/or use a steel bow, theres tons of supporting information if you’re willing to look for it.

It is cool that you participated. I do find it interesting that NONE of the non-steel bows did any better than that.

The classic Welsh Longbow, even with the 50 lb draw weight should have a much better range. Even at the low angle (which is not really that low: the distance on it would be the same as one fired from about a 70 degree angle), the range would have been better.

 

[lightningfrog]

It is cool that you participated. I do find it interesting that NONE of the non-steel bows did any better than that.

The classic Welsh Longbow, even with the 50 lb draw weight should have a much better range. Even at the low angle (which is not really that low: the distance on it would be the same as one fired from about a 70 degree angle), the range would have been better.

i imagine that the Welsh longbow had more than 10 minutes of design put into it, and they were probably constructed by people who had more than 2 hours on a thursday afternoon to make them.

in short, im not ashamed to be (hypothetically) outperformed by a veteran piece of classic weaponry.

 

[ralphinal]

i imagine that the Welsh longbow had more than 10 minutes of design put into it, and they were probably constructed by people who had more than 2 hours on a thursday afternoon to make them.

in short, im not ashamed to be (hypothetically) outperformed by a veteran piece of classic weaponry.

You shouldn’t be. Not one little bit,

What is your major?

 

[lightningfrog]

Mechanical Engineering (about half done with my MS). Im actually a TA for the undergraduate materials science class (which class was highly encouraged to participate).

im glad my bow performed (relatively) well…i bet my shame would know no end if one of the sophomore bows beat me