Home Depot Garden Stake Bamboo Arrow Build-A-Long (Pic Heavy)

[dog.breath]

Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!

[tenbrook]

Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!

Thanks Bud!

I like the arrows you posted in the other thread.  Hope this buildalong helped you out.

Tenbrook

[dog.breath]

Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!

Thanks Bud!

I like the arrows you posted in the other thread.  Hope this buildalong helped you out.

Tenbrook

I found your tutorial too late, but I see now that I really don't need to buy straightened bamboo shafts from 3Rivers anymore.  I made a couple of arrows from bamboo garden stakes a year or so ago, but they're pretty rough   I'm glad to learn it's really not a stretch to get some nice arrows out of them with just a little extra effort.  Cheers!

[tenbrook]

Great build along. Just out of curiousity, and I may have missed this in the thread, what weight bow do you shoot? And you normally get about 3 to 4 arrows per bag that shoot from your bow? Thanks.

~Barry

I shoot 49#@29.5".

When I say I get 3-4 useable shaft from a bag I am talking about a very wide spine range.  In other words I am NOT getting 3-4 useable shafts with matched spine per bag.

Hope this helps.

Tenbrook

[tenbrook]

hey buddy I am using your boo arrow build along (awesome by the way), but I have no "known spine" arrows to get a baseline, I am looking for 60-65# spine. how far would you guess the arrow should bend below the plain of the nail for that range? I'm thinking 1-1.5" but it's just a guess.

I got 1/4" for a 60-65# arrow.

Remember this is a pretty rudimentary way of doing it and your are only going to get "in the ballpark" without a true spine tester.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Tenbrook

[Shaun]

The bamboo arrow shafts and arrows from the far east use hot steel plates to roll the nodes flat. If you sand them off the bamboo will be greatly weakened at the nodes.

[Pat B]

You can sand down the nodes but only after all the straightening is done. I prefer to roll them flat. I heat a node well and then roll it between a hardwood block and a hard, smooth surface. You can compress then to almost the same diameter as the internode.

[George Tsoukalas]

Excellent buildalong! Jawge

[Bevan R.]

My thanks as well!!
I just spent some time and made a 'reference book' of this for my shop.

Bevan

[tenbrook]

Question,
When you say 7-10mm and 3/8", are you talking mid shaft, nock end, point end?

Thanks,
Bevan

I try and keep em' between 7-10 mm for the entire length of the shaft. 

[tenbrook]

You can sand down the nodes but only after all the straightening is done. I prefer to roll them flat. I heat a node well and then roll it between a hardwood block and a hard, smooth surface. You can compress then to almost the same diameter as the internode.

This is what I have found as well. 

Make sure all the straightening is done before sanding the nodes otherwise they will break.

I have never tried rolling the nodes flat with heat and compresion.  I will have to give it a try.

Excellent buildalong! Jawge

Thanks!

My thanks as well!!
I just spent some time and made a 'reference book' of this for my shop.

Bevan

Great! 

[tdunlap]

Thank is the coolest thread I have ever read!  Thanks

Tom

[jonathan creason]

Great buildalong, tenbrook!

I've got a question for all you guys about points for cane arrows.  For a while I've used duplex points, but I've found that over time the impact in targets (and trees and rocks when targets are missed) tends to drive these into the shaft and cause it to split.  But also with tapered, glue-on points it's hard to get some that mate perfectly and I usually end up with a small lip at the back of the point.  This tends to snag when pulling the arrow out of a target and pull the point off.  I LOVE cane arrows, but this one little issue has got me questioning whether or not I want to continue using them.

Ok, I guess that wasn't really a question, but a statement.  So here's the question, how do you guys solve this problem?

[artcher1]

Jonathan, you can use an upholstery thread wrap soaked/covered with epoxy or super glue behind your duplex points to prevent splitting. Or do like me, carefully fit the field points or add a hardwood foreshaft.

Take and bevel the back of your field points using a file before installing them to help prevent snagging.......Art

[jonathan creason]

Thanks for the tips, Art.  I've tried wrapping behind the point with artificial sinew before and coating that with superglue, but over time the glue wore off and the sinew started to fray.  Might be the wax coating on the sinew not allowing the glue to fully penetrate?

I'll have to try filing down the back edge of the glue ons.  I checked out a few of your arrows at Pat's last summer and they are amazing!  I can't believe how smooth of a transition you're able to get between the cane and foreshaft.