Longtrad wrote:did you ever get a cresting jig figured out kirk?
A guy from TG sent me photos of his home-brewed rig which I could probably duplicate...I'm at a point where I don't mind spending the $$$ on a SpinRite or equivalent, but I need to be able to justify the expense to myself before committing. I will probably cobble something up or search used on eBay and crest a couple dozen before going off the deep end on a high-dollar purchase. At this point in time I don't intend on building arrows for anyone but myself, so it's a hard sell to justify.
The SpinRite sure is nice, tho...
How I see it Kirk, is you are not going to be shooting anything else but woods per captainkirk.
Now, you only really have 3 choices.
1. Continue buying high dollar pretty woods from someone for the rest of your archery days. 2. shoot bland plain jane ugly arrows like I shoot the rest of your archery days. 3. Get a cresting system to make your own pretty arrows for the rest of your archery days.
Looking from my view, the first option is craziness. The other 2 are more reasonable, but you know you love purdy arrows.....whats to decide?
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.
Hmmm...I see your point.
Do you really think 130 bucks shipped is excessive for a dozen custom crested arrows?
I'm not sure if I can build them much cheaper unless I start buying in bulk.
It would be cheaper to shoot carbons for sure...you can buy them pre-fletched and ready to glue in inserts, then rock and roll.
But they ain't woodies...
I think selling arrows must be a labor of love, unless you get a good deal on bulk supplies it doesn't seem profitable to me. It costs about 10-15 bucks just to ship ready to shoot arrows...
Its really going to depend on how many you anticipate you will buy throughout the rest of your archery career Kirk. You can certainly build your own custom arrows for much cheaper if you are not including the price of the cresting jig . You would just have to figure on splitting up the cost of the cresting jig across an estimate of how many dozen you might build over the rest of your lifetime. Thing is, its not going to be just a dozen once in a while for yourself , because once you start creating arrows, you are going to want to be freely making them because its going to get into your blood and you wont want to stop. Its an addiction and an art in itself. Really, buying shafts isnt that much, if you buy bulk unmatched weights. You can then seperate, say a bulk of 100 shafts, into groups of like weights. Buying bulk unmatched weight shafts makes them mighty cheap per arrow. Then what will happen as you get better, is arrows of beautiful make will be just sitting around....thats when you start moving them and further reduce the cost of your cresting system. Even for just yourself, you can make quite a repertoire of beautiful arrows for way cheaper than you can buy customs, plus you get to take sole part of the creation instead of looking at someone else's work all the time. And if in the future you grow tired of making them, build up a large supply to last years, then sell the cresting system. It would be worth it for you, if you want more then just a purdy arrow.
You can get unmatched 100ct fir at Surewood for $2.25 an arrow. Of coarse there is always going to be shipping on ANYTHING you buy. For fletching you can beat the snot out of $1 a piece in several different ways.
Fletching is $.52 a piece= $1.56
145 gr fieldtip= $.40
100ct nocks= $.13 a piece
Thats only $4.34 per arrow....plus cresting supplies, and shipping cost.
Non crested, those arrows would cost about $52.00 a dozen to build, and I didnt even shop hard for deals. Of course they need finish but if you buy bulk its mere cents per arrow for dips or gasket laquer.
Idk, if I was bound to shooting pretty arrows, myself id invest in the tooling and do it myself, whether I ever sold arrows or not....but thats just me.
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.
thats a lot better price than the 9 dollar arrows I was coming up with, I wonder what kind of spine ranges you would get in a a big unmatched shaft bundle, If you werent picky about gpp I would think you could get lots of tuned arrows out of a bundle as long as you were shooting 40-45# bows.
Surewood is claiming the 100ct are hand spined into a group...only the weight is not matched. They are hunter grade, but getting hunters before on several occasions, they are still very pretty shafts. Its a good deal I think, and have often thought really hard about getting a bundle myself.
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.
WRT the customs...with shipping I figure I'm spending about 10 bucks an arrow or less...for custom crested and fletched arrows of super-high quality! BUT...that doesn't negate the urge to build and create my own! Something about a hand-built woody that sort of reminds me of a hand-crafted bow.
I agree captain. I cannot remember the time I have shot/owned an arrow that wasnt put together by myself. Even years ago shooting aluminums I built my own. Im really thinking the last arrows I used that were NOT put together by myself, I must have been in the general area of 12 or 13 years old? There may have been something else slipped in there somewhere but I seriously doubt it. Of course I realize there is a lot more to dipping, and cresting. Ive even done some of that at one point though. But you are right, it isnt the same as when you build your own.
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.
