My First Full Set of Arrows

[dmassphoto]

Well, It's been probably 2 weeks and I finally got myself a full set of arrows made.  Lol I probably spent more making them than what I could've bought some, but the fact that I made these with my bare hands, and the fact that they shoot straight (mostly)  give me more pride than any fancy set could.  They're not pretty, but I think the beauty is in the imperfections, or at least thats what I tell myself 

During my learning process, I decided to use different fletchings to see what I liked best.  I accidently ordered red barred feathers from 3rivers thinking they would be red/white.  Oh well.  The shafts are Poplar dowels I found at Lowes for about $0.78 ea.  The fletchings are held on by fletching tape and the string that binds them is regular thread from Walmart.  I fletched all arrows using a $1 bag clip from the dollar store. They don't go on perfect, but maybe folks back in the old days didn't bother with jigs either.


My favorite, and actually my first arrow I made, is the one of the far right.  It doesn't shoot as well as the others, but it just feels comfortable.  Probably because I sanded down the top and bottom on the nock-end to give a sort of "finger groove."  So far, the shavings I did haven't broken it, but I'm only shooting a 37#.  My second favorite is the one with the white feathers.  I just like the English look of them


And yes, the walls in my office are painted orange.

[sailordad]

dmassphoto

first off i will say,i love the orange walls.very relaxing,calming color.my fav too
now as far as the arrows go
dude if that aint pretty enough for ya,i'll take the standard turkey feather flecthed ones,me likey 

it does take awhile to make your own,and your right the satisfaction of making a nice shooting arrow is way better than any store bought one.
soon you will be doing them with materials you have gathered and not bought(i.e. turkey feathers,sinew),yup your doing just fine with them
like most of us,you will keep trying to out do yourself with the next set and the next set and so on and so on

keep up the nice work

                                                                                 peace,
                                                                                      tim

[iskummulak]

just one word...beautiful....Greg.

[aero86]

looks awesome!  fletching tape is great!  and i still put my feathers on by hand as well!  it is great shooting arrows you made yourself, and when youve got a bow that you made yourself as well, that feels great!

[youngbowyer33]

thoses are sweet. i also like the one with the white fletchings

[Cromm]

Great looking work.

[dmassphoto]

Thanks all for the compliments!  I haven't gotten to the point to where I'm making my own bows, but hope to get there someday.  The nocks were filed out using a nock file from 3rivers, which is 5/32" in diameter.  They are just a little too big for my string, as they don't "hug" it, but I'm fine with that.  The hardest part was trying to self-taper the end of the arrow using a small knife.  Ugh, I'll never do that again lol.

[Postman]

Great looking arrows - and good ingenuity with the bag clip!

[Diligence]

I like those and the fletching job sure seems to be nice.

One comment, and I am far from an expert, so you other guys chime in.........should you reinforce the nocks with thread wrap too?  I had one nock blow out of a hemlock arrow and i didn't like it...

J

[dmassphoto]

I like those and the fletching job sure seems to be nice.

One comment, and I am far from an expert, so you other guys chime in.........should you reinforce the nocks with thread wrap too?  I had one nock blow out of a hemlock arrow and i didn't like it...

J

I was wondering the same thing.  I haven't done it because I don't exactly know how to do it.  Where exactly do I stop the thread?  Do I stop at the end of the opening, or go further?  And, if that's the case, wouldn't the string just push the thread back? 

[AncientArcher76]

I like them arrows nice work!  As far as the nocks I use hardwood so I dont have the problem of that happening.  Just a thought maybe try heat treating them may work or try using a compression block. 
AA

[dmassphoto]

How would I go about heat treating them?

[Sparrow]

Nice ! Good looking workmanship.  '  Frank

[Barrage]

I like those and the fletching job sure seems to be nice.

One comment, and I am far from an expert, so you other guys chime in.........should you reinforce the nocks with thread wrap too?  I had one nock blow out of a hemlock arrow and i didn't like it...

J

I've done some shoot arrows and also some from hard maple without wrapping and never had one blow.  But maybe I'm just lucky.  I would think as long as you don't have any grain runouts you should be fine.  Hemlock always seems like it's prone to splintering to me, so maybe it was just the wood?  I've never used it though, so just speculating.


But anyway, nice arrows dmass.  I think you're being too modest; they look really good to me!! 

[dmassphoto]

Thanks a lot!  The thread on some of the arrows is already starting to break and come loose.  Any suggestions on a stronger thread to use?