About the Asgard APD:

The Asgard APD is a single piece APD made of molded polyethylene plastic, the same material Siloflex is made from. It consists of a nock and a round APD ring integrated into one unit. It is meant to be used on 1⁄4” fiberglass shafting only. Don’t try to make them work on wooden shafts, please. Due to its design, it can only be used in longbows if you are a right handed archer. If you are a left handed archer, use Routed Channel Siloflex APDs, or another design.

You don’t need to use fletches if you use the Asgard APD on your combat archery arrows. The ring is meant to serve not only as an APD but also as an airfoil.

If your Kingdom permits it and your combat archery crossbow is designed for it, you can use the Asgard APD on a crossbow bolt. Snip off the nock tips and file the end down smooth. Use Baldar Blunts on the other end. Remember, Society rules forbid heavy and light crossbow bolts on the same field at the same time. If you are using a heavy crossbow of 600 ip or higher and it is channeled to use Fellwalker or tubular bolts, be aware that your bow can launch light crossbow bolts made from Baldar Blunts and the Asgard APD. This could prove dangerous. Please be careful!!
Installing the Asgard APD.

First, keep in mind that it is very, very difficult to get anything to bond to Siloflex. Numerous methods and innumerable adhesives and adhesive combinations have been very extensively tried, and have not been successful. If you don’t care to reinvent the wheel and do care that your arrows with Asgard APDs pass inspection, please follow these directions and take them seriously!!

Step One: Prepare the fiberglass shafts and the APDs.
Lightly sand your fiberglass shaft ends with sandpaper or a nail file to rough them up. Be careful with this, as fiberglass dust is very itchy. When you’re done, wipe the ends of the fiberglass shafting with acetone. (Keep in mind that nail polish remover sold these days is NOT acetone. Don’t use it as it has a lubricant in it and will defeat your purpose entirely!!). Then wipe the shaft ends with a paper towel.

If you can, the really best thing to do is if you have a small bore wire brush of the type meant for cleaning guns or cleaning beermaking equipment, rough up the inside holes of your Asgard APDs with it (where the fiberglass shaft is meant to go, not the insides of the APD rings….).

Now it’s time to glue. Please follow these instructions, as we want you to be successful.

Step Two: Gluing your Asgard APDs.

Please pay attention. Numerous brands and makes of adhesives and combinations thereof have been tried to see which, if any, will work 100% of the time on the Asgard APD under extreme hot and/or cold and/or abuse and/or willful destructive testing. Everything from gel superglues to liquid superglues to Gorilla Glues to monkey snot to magical spells to dragon blood have been tried. The only thing that has worked consistently is “GOOP” brand adhesive, such as Plumber’s Goop and Marine Goop. Of these two, Marine Goop seems to have a slight advantage as it holds up the best under damp conditions. So do yourself and your Marshal a favor and stick to these adhesives (pun intended!!). If you want to try a new adhesive, contact your Kingdom Earl Marshal or the Society Earl Marshal for experimental testing protocol. Sir Erika uses a chair to push the APDs on, as the fit is very tight as it was meant to be. Place the ring end of the APD on the chair with the nock tines pointed off the chair. Place paper towels on the chair. Put a generous amount of “GOOP” brand adhesive into the shaft hole of the APD. Push the shaft into the APD hole until glue spurts out of the APD hole. Twist as you push and be prepared to use a fair amount of force. You’ll feel it when the last air bubble bursts and the shaft reaches the bottom. You can wipe up excess glue with a paper towel. After gluing, put your arrow and APD aside and leave them alone for 2 days. I am not kidding. LEAVE THEM ALONE FOR TWO DAYS. THE GLUE MUST BE ALLOWED TO CURE!!!

Step Three: (Optional): Tape down your Asgard APDs:
This is not a required step by any means. I was shown how to do this by Master Ekkhardt at last year’s Pennsic War. It is a “little something extra” to ensure that if by some evil turn of events your Asgard APD does come off, it won’t go anywhere.

Here’s how to do it:
Take about a six inch section of 1 inch or greater diameter strapping tape. The diameter of the strapping tape isn’t a great issue, as long as it’s an inch or wider.

Using a scissor or knife, split the strapping tape lengthwise. All you need to do is cut a small notch and then pull: the strapping tape will split nicely by itself.

Take the first piece, and from the nock end, stick it down the APD ring and across the center of the inner APD ring, from left to right. Wrap the end of the tape about 2x around the shaft of the arrow. Smooth it down, then on the back (outside) of the APD bring the second half down, again crossing the midline, and wrap it too around the shaft 1.5-2x. Trim the end of the tape if you need to.

Take the second piece and do the same thing, except go in the opposite direction, so that your two little strips of tape cross one another. Wrap the same way, and try to make a little “cone” of strapping tape at the shaft/APD interface so aerodynamics are happy.

Then wrap a little piece of electrical tape around the shaft/APD interface, to prevent your strapping tape from unwinding itself or degrading in the sun.

This is much harder to explain than to do!!!

Step Four: Check your Asgard APDs.
Okay, you’ve resisted temptation and waited two days, or longer, to go out and try your new toys. Test the cure of the glue by grasping the APD and trying to pull it off—not too hard, but if you used the correct glue and the glue has cured correctly, you’ll find that the APDs simply won’t budge. Try bending the arrow a little too, to make sure it won’t come off if the shaft flexes.

If your APD comes off, re-glue it. It’s OK to mutter a little.

Happy combat archery!

The Author:
Ingilborg Sigmundardottir is an 11th century Norsewoman. Her husband died long ago on a campaign, and her fair daughter sailed away on a longship to be wedded to a brave Viking prince. She spends her crone years as an accomplished healer, birthing the babies of her village and tending wounded warriors of all types. She contemplates the White Christ, whose teachings she finds sensible and fascinating. She is known as a very accomplished archer, meadmaker, and Healer. She lives away from her village in the surrounding forest and is rarely seen among the villagers, but is intensely loyal to them and offers the services of her bow whenever her village is threatened. Her cottage is rich with plants of all types and she keeps the company of wolves, and the wiser of the villagers know that in times of extreme, she is quite capable of running with them whenever necessary.

Roberta Ashley is a 21st century Norsewoman, a very accomplished anesthetist who is all too often seen in the hallways of various healing institutions in the City of Angels, where she assists in the birthing of babies and the tending of wounded warriors of all types. She is an accomplished archer, meadmaker, and practices in her spare time a very ancient form of Eastern hands-on healing when it is needed. Her cottage in the more remote canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains is rich with plants of all types and she keeps the company of two rescued captive bred wolves, Cheyenne and Mai-Coh. The wiser of her colleagues know that in times of extreme, she is probably quite capable of running with them whenever necessary.