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You are practising LARP or Archery Games and want to avoid the risk of potential injuries in the heat of the moment or you just want to exercise archery in an uncomplicated way without nets or safety barriers?
Our special safety arrows with round or flat head enable that!
Probably the most relevant part of the safety arrow is its head.
It is significant for its flight characteristics and at the same time needs to guarantee a safe energy reduction on impact.
The forces generated then are immense.
Depending on the elasticity of the ground, impact loads of more than 2 kN can be expected for common LARP bows (< 30 lbs). This is equivalent to a weight force of around 200 kg!
The IDV safety arrow is the result of my own experience as a LARP archer as well as experiences from commercial use.
Extensive safety tests, strain calculations and material checks have been an integral part of the development.
The LARP arrow from IDV can in good conscience be considered as one of the safest arrows on the market, what has been proved by independent tests already several times.
The “LARPZeit arrow test” (edition 11, March 2006) confirms the high safety level of the padded arrows from IDV.
In addition to a multi-level quality assurance, corresponding measures provide the traceability of each single production batch from the granules up to the final assembly for at least 5 years.
The pressure distributor manufactured in an injection moulding process distributes the working load equally to the entire head padding (2,200 mm²) and thus reduces the pressure load – and therefore the risk of injury – to a very minimum.
The use of a modern, practically unbreakable high tech plastic makes sure that even under extreme load (e.g. hits on hard, uneven ground) safety is permanently guaranteed.
The processed foam with its first-class damping features and enormous tear resistance is also part of the safety concept comprising, besides the safety head, all other parts like shaft and fletching.
Since the complete revision of the inlay at the turn of 2005/2006 (starting from A06) the safety arrow head is now also treadable and even under extreme and continuous strain practically indestructible.
An extremely persistent legend says that flat-head arrows would provide a safety advantage.
From the technical view this legend can definitely be considered as refuted. On the contrary: the safe construction of a flat-head arrow requires additional efforts, whereas the requirements on pressure distributor and stability need to be recognized at least as high as for the round-head arrow.
The cylindric design implies the fundamental problem of having a circulating edge which needs to be padded with at least 2 layers.
The arrow with flat head that, in contrast to the arrows with round head, we call LD-arrow (“LD” = low distance) solves this problem through a truncated cone with a reliable pressure distributor being surrounded by a foamed plastic bowl, where in turn a little sponge is put on.
All this resulted in an arrow which is hardly inferior to the IDV safety arrow regarding safety and durability, even if significant concessions concerning flight range and accuracy need to be made. In addition, due to its open-pored foam, the LD arrow requires considerably more care than the round construction.
Because of the reduced live period arrows with flat heads are not advisable for commercial use. We only produce them for historic reasons.
Wooden shafts may look good and most likely match the historic models, but have a decisive disadvantage: depending on the kind of wood, they can form a dangerous peak.
With modern composites however we make sure that the breakpoint does not form a hard peak any longer.
In fact, such a shaft will defibre into a relatively soft bundle hardly representing a serious injury risk. Moreover, fissures already become evident long before the break really happens.
The safety arrows from IDV engineering are already equipped with shafts of modern composites which are definitely more durable and above all much safer than wooden shafts.
And the insensitiveness against moisture was also a clear reason to use modern composites.
Moreover, the selected arrow shafts are well adapted to the usual LARP bows (20 – 30 lbs.) due to their flexibility (spine), facilitating an extremely high accuracy even in far distances.
The fletching stabilises the arrow during its flight.
For the safety arrow the fletching plays a very important role: due to the extra large padded head the arrow has completely different aerodynamics than a “sharp” arrow with metal head.
Therefore, in case of damaged or even missing fletchings, the arrow “turns around” while flying and finally reaches its goal with the nock ahead.
The safety arrows from IDV engineering are therefore equipped with a captive and almost unbreakable fletching, reliably performing its task even under extreme conditions in live action role playing.
Especially for this safety arrow generously dimensioned fletchings have been developed, completely surrounding the shaft in one piece with no possibility to break anymore.
An extremely tough and flexible elastomer plastic provides optimum durability and convincing safety.
How did we come to invest the equivalent value of a brand-new small car for such an apparently insignificant part?
Because LARP arrows place different, higher demands than archery arrows. In addition, the nocks available up to then caused a relatively strong strain on the ball of the hand (sharp edge) and bow string.
In archery, arrows are shot on target disks where they are to get stuck. LARP arrows, however, are designed to be shot at persons and bounce off the target more or less. Therefore the customary, mostly tapered nocks represent a risk which needed to be eliminated.
The most striking feature of the new IDV safety nock is therefore the flat, rounded form, extremely reducing the risk of injury in rebounds in comparison to customary nocks.
Moreover, the nocks have been constructed in such a way that there is no more edge between shaft and nock. Even the inner surface of the string capture was designed to reduce the string wear at the bow as far as possible.
Whenever safety has priority, there are no insignificant details