By the dozen

McPhee · 05-03-2008, 06:25 PM

Anyone know why arrows are normally sold by the dozen? Why not per 10? In archery shops I can get arrpws by the each which is a little more per arrow. When I started shooting in the early '70's I could never figure out why.

And broadheads are normally sold by 3 or 6, why? Why not by 4, 5, 7, 8 etc.?

05-03-2008, 09:03 PM

Hmm, never thought of it. I know I can buy shafts by 6 or 12. But you pose an interesting question.
There's something people likes about a dozen. Dozen eggs. Bakers dozen,

McPhee · 05-03-2008, 10:04 PM

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/Bakers%20dozen.html

Right Big Country, people like dozens, but I thought maybe there was something special about needing a dozen arrows for some shooting event such as distance or target rounds that made sense. BTW, a Baker's dozen is 13 and sometimes 14. See the website above. Wouldn't it be nice to get an extra arrow or two thrown in when we buy a dozen?

LittleChief · 05-04-2008, 09:41 AM

It's like asking why hot dogs come in packages of 10, but hot dog buns in packages of 8? Who knows?

I really think that it's a hold-over from days of old. Why else would we have a "gross", which is a dozen dozen? Must've been a standard number for trade in the past.

Geronimo · 05-05-2008, 07:50 AM

This is too deep for me LOL....

LittleChief · 05-05-2008, 08:29 AM

Here ya go!

dozen (doz or dz)
a familiar unit of quantity equal to 12. Division into units of 12
rather than 10 has the advantage that 12 can be evenly divided into
halves, thirds, or quarters. For this reason, units of 12 have been
common since the earliest civilizations of the Middle East. "Dozen"
comes from an old French word dozaine related to the Latin word
duodecem, "twelve."

BrushPopper · 05-05-2008, 10:31 AM

In the sunken wreck of the "Mary Rose", arrow sheaves were found to hold arrows in lots of 24. Ergo, it seems logical to assume that since Medieval times, arrows were counted by dozens.

An English longbowman was expected to be able to fire 12 arrows in one minute's time when facing a massed enemy. I remember reading about one 'Champion' from the time who would do so (12 shots/minute) and hit a 2'x2' target at 50 paces with every shot while shooting a longbow.

Alot of information from olden times seems to revolve around the number "12" when talking about arrows...

BP