Making wood arrows

How to's, questions, and build alongs for those traditional archers who are interested in building their own custom arrows.
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Captainkirk
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Re: Making wood arrows

#16 Post by Captainkirk »

In the course of building my next half-dozen arrows, I've discovered "Varathane', a very quick-drying stain finish. I applied it in the traditional manor (wiped on; with an old sock) and was very surprised to find it dry to the touch and tack-free in a little under an hour! Conventional (Minwax) stains can take overnight to be tack-free. I was also surprised that after applying two coats to 6 arrows, the odor was not bad enough to even get The Queen upset. I bought the smallest can they had for $4.99 and there's not even a dent in it.

A half-dozen cedar shafts before...

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...and after staining. Color used; "Pecan".

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Spray-can Rustoleum went right over it as cap dip with no bleed thru whatsoever.
Aim small, miss small!

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Shadowhntr
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Re: Making wood arrows

#17 Post by Shadowhntr »

Nice....I like the pecan. I also really like red oak if it comes in it.
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.

Longbowfanatic
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Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

Re: Making wood arrows

#18 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Captainkirk wrote:For another thing, I'm finding that the Testor's model paints (enamel) are super-cheap at under 2 bucks a pop, come in a variety of colors that can be mixed or blended, dry fast, and are low-odor enough for indoor use. Some of them are a little thick and can benefit by using the Testor's thinner, but they work quite well on a cresting jig. Yes, I know there are many specialty/eco-friendly cresting paints available, but price comparison is really apple-to-oranges here, plus you may pay hazmat shipping to get them while virtually every store that carries models has the Testor's paints. And when it comes to cresting, a little color goes a long way.
Yea, no fast hard rule on how to build them, as far as I'm concerned. I also use testers enamel paints in gloss. I like your tip on dowel rods. I kinda did the same thing with a bag of small wood shafts, about 12" in length, that I purchased at the local craft store.

Longbowfanatic
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Re: Making wood arrows

#19 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Great tip on the Varathane. I, too, like the pecan!

Tom M
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Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:57 pm

Re: Making wood arrows

#20 Post by Tom M »

I used the 3Rivers spine calculator for wood arrows I use in my Vintage Works 62 reproduction. Bow is 48# @28. The calculator said 60# spine. So it happens I had 8 60# spined shafts. Made them up using 125 grain Top Hat points. Actually they shoot very well even being over 500 grains in weight.
I used to use the 5# rule. 5# for every inch over 28” or under 28”. Add 5# for FF string, 5# for carbon in limbs. Should add 5# for broadheads as well. There a couple variables with bareshafting woods that need consideration, straightness of the shaft for one. Getting them to at least .006 straightness takes practice. Weight of shafts can vary unless you pay to have them sorted close. Both reasons why we used to buy a 100 shafts and spend hours sorting them.

Captainkirk
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Re: Making wood arrows

#21 Post by Captainkirk »

On another site, I saw a guy showing a keen interest in woodies. While he never specifically said he wanted to build them, one assumes, and he got a lot of advice on buying the best hardwoods, paying careful attention to spine and weight matching, blah blah blah... :roll: ...all of which is true...FOR THE EXPERIENCED ARROW BUILDER! I've made enough boo-boos and course changes along the way to know that a newbie WILL make mistakes, WILL change his course, and WILL botch a few. You don't tell a guy interested in learning to shoot archery to run out and buy a Black Widow, neither should you tell the newbie fletcher to start out with super-duper weight and spine-matched exotic footed shafts until he's built a few and polished his technique. Bad advice to a newbie IMHO.
In fact, as Dennis and I were discussing earlier, I recommend buying a few lengths of cheap dowel rod to practice your staining, cap dipping, straightening, tapering and fletching on so as not to 'butch up' good shafting. Even a cheapie POC shaft will cost you close to 4 bucks...who wants to throw that away on a goof-up?
Aim small, miss small!

Longtrad
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Re: Making wood arrows

#22 Post by Longtrad »

Good thing about that is the messed up ugly arrows should still shoot just fine and maybe won't make you feel so bad when you loose one in a bush

Captainkirk
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Re: Making wood arrows

#23 Post by Captainkirk »

Longtrad wrote:Good thing about that is the messed up ugly arrows should still shoot just fine and maybe won't make you feel so bad when you loose one in a bush
True dat.
I've shot arrows before completely missing one fletching (at the target bales) and had them fly fine.
Aim small, miss small!

Longbowfanatic
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Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

Re: Making wood arrows

#24 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Captainkirk wrote:On another site, I saw a guy showing a keen interest in woodies. While he never specifically said he wanted to build them, one assumes, and he got a lot of advice on buying the best hardwoods, paying careful attention to spine and weight matching, blah blah blah... :roll: ...all of which is true...FOR THE EXPERIENCED ARROW BUILDER! I've made enough boo-boos and course changes along the way to know that a newbie WILL make mistakes, WILL change his course, and WILL botch a few. You don't tell a guy interested in learning to shoot archery to run out and buy a Black Widow, neither should you tell the newbie fletcher to start out with super-duper weight and spine-matched exotic footed shafts until he's built a few and polished his technique. Bad advice to a newbie IMHO.
In fact, as Dennis and I were discussing earlier, I recommend buying a few lengths of cheap dowel rod to practice your staining, cap dipping, straightening, tapering and fletching on so as not to 'butch up' good shafting. Even a cheapie POC shaft will cost you close to 4 bucks...who wants to throw that away on a goof-up?
Great points, Kirk. I am a newbie and surly fit into the new wood arrow builder. I agree with your points on sorting weight and checking spine, but let me ask this. The arrows I have built vary in weight by 50 grains at times. Since I only shoot wood arrows at game mostly from 15 yards and closer, I really don't notice any variation in weight difference, or more importantly, spine differences. I began to test at what difference in significant arrow weight shafts began to be noticed. It wasn't until I shot the shafts at 30 yards that I noticed the 50 grain heavier shafts became noticeable. So, I guess what I'm really asking is, does it really matter if shafts are mismatched in weight and spine when you buy a dozen shafts if you're only shooting them at relatively close distances? Or, is the need to sort weight and spine needed if you're going to build them for sale or shooting competitions with them?

stumper
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Re: Making wood arrows

#25 Post by stumper »

I used matched so that when they fly bad I know its me :lol:
Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.

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