Using weights to straighten arrows.

[UserNameTaken]

I brought home a bunch of ocean spray shoots to make arrows out of, but hand straightening doesn't seem to be working for me. I decided to try hanging them and attaching a 15 pound weight on the end. It looks like this may be working. Has anybody else ever tried this?

I think that this would work better if I put the whole shoot in a steamer box and then let it hang. Need to build a stove-top steam box to test that out.



I worry that these are never going to be perfectly straight.

[Scowler]

Never tried that technique to straighten arrows.  The steamer box idea sounds interesting.  Keep us posted. 

[UserNameTaken]

Hanging the shaft and using a heat gun got it pretty straight, actually. It still has little tight waves here and there, but it's generally pretty straight. I think this could definitely work.

How straight do these things need to be to be functional? This is my first time making arrows from shoots.

[Pat B]

As long as the point and the nock line up the rest of the shaft can be surprising crooked. None of my shoot or cane arrows are as straight as an arrow! 

[warpath]

I can help here. I've done this with many other types of shoots and vines. It works best if you regularly wet the shoot while it's hanging. This softens the fibers while the weight pulls them straight. With some harder woods you may want to increase the weight since these can be a little tougher. Don't use too much heat since you can dry it out too fast causing unwanted cracking. If you have a nice shady spot outside, this is the best place. Like an open overhang, shed, or barn is best. I've done this for years and never had a problem. Oh yeah, make sure that you strip off all of the bark. That is all I have for now. I'd like to see how these turn out.

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[UserNameTaken]

Pat, thanks! That's really good to know. I can just imagine myself trying to straighten these shoots to perfection and just frustrating the hell out of my self. I don't really have any exposure to traditional archery beyond my own experiments, so I never have any examples to compare to.

Warpath, I'll post some pictures when I'm done. Do you just sponge on some water, or do you soak the shafts?

[warpath]

Soak the shafts first. Then only moisten the trouble areas where the knots are. Sometimes tying a wet sponge or rag onto particularly difficult areas for a day or so can help straighten them out. It's a trial and error process depending on the wood and/or shoots being used. What works for one shafts may not work for the next even if it's from the same species. In the past 26 years of using this technique, There have only been about ten shoots that I wasn't able to straighten this way so don't give up. Wild rose vines or any thick vine for that matter straighten the easiest!

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