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Author Topic: Arrows for a small bow  (Read 2531 times)

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Offline Johan Ågren

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Arrows for a small bow
« on: June 25, 2011, 11:29:21 am »
Hi,

I have made a smaller bow for my 12 year old son. The bow is 51" long and at full draw at 23" the weight is 44 pound. Hi is quite strong :). What weight size and other characteristics are recommended for the arrow to this kind of bow? It's a small "English longbow" made from thuja (similar to yew).

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Offline BowJunkie

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Re: Arrows for a small bow
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2011, 01:42:56 pm »
Good question, Most arrow charts only go as low as 25'' draw
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Johnny
in Texas

Offline Pat B

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Re: Arrows for a small bow
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2011, 01:55:08 pm »
You can get 5/16" hardwood dowels and if you hand pick them paying attention to the grain they will make very nice arrows. You can also use hardwood shoots or cane to make arrows foir this bow.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Johan Ågren

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Re: Arrows for a small bow
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2011, 06:12:05 pm »
I know that the arrow point should be around 25% of the total weight of the arrow, but where should the optimal centrum of weight be? If its too near the point the arrow falls to fast, and towards the back it becomes unstable. Is it like 2/3 towards the point or something?

I'll take a look for 8mm (here in Sweden) hardwood dowels. Thanks! Is birch too soft/light? It has higher density then pine.
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Arrows for a small bow
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2011, 08:22:43 pm »
Birch, pine, poplar, aspen, fir and spruce all will make good arrows too. Almost any wood will. If you want to hand plane some shafts from boards, any of the above will work too. Just cut them into 3/8" square strips and plane down the 4 corners, then the resulting 8 corners and sand round and smooth. Be sure to pick boards with straight grain.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Young Bowyer

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Re: Arrows for a small bow
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2011, 01:21:36 am »
3 Rivers Archery reccommends 10 percent FOC balance, which means the balance point is 10 percent towards to head of the arrow from the middle.
Hope this helps,
YB  :)
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"A man can be destroyed, but not defeated."
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Offline CraigMBeckett

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Re: Arrows for a small bow
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2011, 10:34:16 pm »
Quote from: Johan Ågren on June 25, 2011, 11:29:21 am
Hi,

I have made a smaller bow for my 12 year old son. The bow is 51" long and at full draw at 23" the weight is 44 pound. Hi is quite strong :). What weight size and other characteristics are recommended for the arrow to this kind of bow? It's a small "English longbow" made from thuja (similar to yew).

Hi John,

Children's arrows, and bows, are always a problem. I used to make my kids arrows out of 1/4 inch Ramin dowel (selected for straight grain, and they worked well. With regard to spine, if you want to go down that route, the British GNAS had a spine deflection system that was different to the US AMO system, The GNAS system was around when most of the bows used were ELB's. The system was independent of arrow length as the arrow was supported at the neck of the pile and the end of the nock no matter what length the arrow was, a 1.5 lb weight was used and the deflection in 10ths of an inch was measured, with 1/10 inch being called a GNAS Spine unit.

Attached is an excel spreadsheet in which there are tables and charts for both AMO and the GNAS system, as not much survives about the GNAS system these days and what does is sketchy, the majority of the info I have has come from Hardey's "Longbow" and a couple of academic papers. Acording to the chart for a 44 lb bow you need a spine equivalent to 55 GNAS units or 0.55 inches deflection.

Craig.

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