Originally published at: Archery master shoots numerous arrows straight through a keyhole (video) | Boing Boing
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screw the keyhole… (no not literally -sigh-), instead attempt to prove that the splitting the prior bullseye arrow is possible. y’know:
(according to wikipedia this stunt was actually accomplished. though at much closer proximity)
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Speaking of on-target, I love Guinness’ no-nonsense approach to video making. 53 seconds and out? no preamble? It made me acutely aware of why I hesitate to start watching a lot of otherwise cool-sounding youtube videos. Vid embed for the bbs-only crowd:
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I wonder how big the funnel is on the back side of that keyhole.
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I hope Lars is on my side when the Zombie Apocalypse starts.
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Yes, credit where due for that. The commentator was grating to me though. Announcing every arrow was silly and irritating.
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I think they “debunked” that on Mythbusters, but they were using aluminum or carbon fiber arrows instead of wood, so of course they couldn’t split them.
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I hope they didn’t have that observer sitting down range during the shooting, perpendicular to the target. Granted, this guy is really good, but accidents/weirdness happens and it is bad form.
He stopped at 7, I wonder how many he could have done?
My dad said he used to shoot an air gun through a keyhole in college. Probably an easier feat than shooting an arrow, but still impressive.
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He did 7 so he can break it next year, then the year after that.
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He still gets no respect on the superhero team.
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The measurement was taken on that side of the keyhole, so probably none. Verifying that side while taking the measurement speaks to the economy of the vid you guys mentioned elsewhere.
Maybe he only had 7 arrows and lost the key so he couldn’t get the others back?
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"On this installment of the lock-picking archer, …
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I know it’s possible to split a previous arrow because I’ve seen it happen more than once myself on the archery range (with fiberglass arrow shafts), but I’ve never seen the arrowhead completely bisect the shaft of the previous arrow and embed in the target in exactly the same position as the previous one.
Never saw that Mythbusters episode but it seems odd they’d rule that phenomenon “Busted” since most anyone who has spent enough time at the range has seen at least a partial arrow split.
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Andersen has done so several ways in his videos. He has also shown controlled curved arrow flight, which was thought to be impossible.
ETA: @Brainspore IIRC, it has a lot to do with the grain of the arrow shaft. Most wood arrows do not have a straight grain along the longitudinal axis of the shaft, and a broadhead will follow the grain. Selecting an arrow with straight grain will allow the broadhead to travel the length of the shaft. Well, mechanistically, it splits the shaft in the first few cms and then finishes it’s flight to the target in the now-unoccupied space.
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I took archery for my PE credits at Texas A&M a lifetime ago. I got pretty good. I almost got a Robin Hood once. I hit the back of one arrow with my next arrow. I was pretty pleased with myself. My instructor, who also coached what was then a club sport archery team at A&M, told me if I kept with archery, I’d eventually find Robin Hood’s annoying, as it means you just lost 2 arrows. Bonus fun fact: that instructor was Frank Thomas, who went on to coach the US National team, and win a crap ton of national championships at A&M. Sadly, I did not keep up with archery.
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The feathers on an arrow is the fletching - the name Fletcher originated from those who fletched arrows. They’re called flights on darts.
I have thrown a “Robin Hood,” as it’s termed in darts, more than once during my darts playing “career.” I also threw triple bull’s eyes w/my eyes closed, but that’s another song.
When using a conventional board, a Robin Hood doesn’t count: the dart’s stuck in the previous dart’s flights & never touches the board. A Robin Hood does register on electronic boards, which work by pressure.
Bonus:
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I better start practicing: it’s been a while 
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@DukeTrout is correct; the “Mythbusters” refused to use proper medieval arrows, which should be straight grained, and instead built “arrows” from hardware store dowels. They proved that an arrow striking the butt of another arrow will follow the grain, which in their dowels meant it exited the side. Since those guys had almost no self-awareness back in those days, they concluded that if they couldn’t do it with their janky arrows, an actual archer couldn’t do it with arrows made by an actual fletcher.
A lot of archers hate Lars. He shoots with no arrow rest, no fixed draw length, no fixed draw point, no sights, no counterbalance etc. etc. etc. and shoots better than others do with all the assistive tech in the world. It’s impossible not to envy his prowess, so a lot of folks are jealous or insist he’s a charlatan.
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