Smoking arrows ???

[richard roop]

#138838

Was watching some old film on You Tube last night and ran across one of Howard Hill shooting a ‘smoking arrow’ and another of the Wilhelm Brothers doing the same thing. The narrator mentioned that the arrow was dipped in a chemical that when exposed to the air gave off the smoke. Kind of a neat effect.

 

Anybody know what that chemical was ??

 

Thanx !!!!

[rgrist]

#138840

Never heard of the smoking arrow trick before, but would guess its most likely white phosphorus. I needs to be stored under water as it will ignite and smoke when exposed to air. (I thought this was gonna be an eye test when I first read it).

 

[richard roop]

#138841

The video was ‘Meet The Champs: The Wilhelm Brothers’

Well worth the watch !!!  Apparently, Walt Wilhelm had a shoulder injury in the past and drew the arrow to his chest.  They were both awesome shots.

[aeronut]

#138844

Possibly liquid nitrogen that they dipped the arrows in.  But that would make them brittle.

[Raymond Coffman]

#138851

I don’t have the foggiest idea how to do it —-

But, where there is smoke, there is fire – or the possibility there of – safety first.

Mixing chemicals is something I avoid at this stage in life

Scout aka Ray

 

[Ralph]

#139008

Enough quiet is enough….:-))

One thing about wood arrows, they be good source of kindling in a pinch.

That’d be smoke and fire eh!!!!

Aluminum-carbon….not so…..

[Raymond Coffman]

#139045

R2

Yep , pretty quiet.

I imagine most folks are out enjoying the summer weather, rather than inside writing on the  computer.

Got hot quick, here in NM, been a real windy year also.

I think I will go out and shoot some arrows this morning while it is still cool – haha- start practicing for the fall.

Have a great day everyone

Scout aka Ray

 

[Stephen Graf]

#140054

So in the Wilhelm film, they shoot the arrows into a hat from behind a rock.  Some interesting back story on that shot is as follows:

The fellow who throws his hat down had little faith that the brothers would hit it.  The hat apparently cost more than $100 (in those days, quite a sum).  At the end of filming the scene, there were at least six smoking arrows stuck in it 😎

Walt had his arm injured during WWI.

 

[richard roop]

#140074

Seems like if it was white phosphorus that made the smoke, six of ’em in the hat would have ignited the hat.

We take ourselves too seriously these days. Those old timers shot for the pure joy of shooting.

[Max Young]

#140385

Oh darn, by the title I was thinking I was going to discover a new joy to be had around the campfire. I did wonder if I should inhale.

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