Like Pat said. With a little practice, you can make some good shafts with the thumb plane. Jay Massey's arrowmaking chapter in the first Traditional Bowyer's Bible has some good info, but what Pat descibed is what it all boils down to. I drill a hole the same size as the diameter of the finished shafts I want (say 11/32") in a block of wood and use it as a gauge to see how mch more to plane off.