Thought I would show you some photos of my latest set of primitive arrows. These are made from hazel shoots, the small end of the natural taper runs to the nocks and I have tapered the shafts to the pile end so they are now barrelled. I have put wood points on them as I can’t bring myself to put commercial steel ones on, and as I only use them for target shooting they should last a while? These are the third set I have made, each time I have made improvements, not least getting some form of consistency in terms of weight and spine. They are fletched with turkey feathers that I obtained from a commercial turkey farm last Christmas, got about 1000, so should keep me going for a while? I think they are very similar to the wild birds found in the US.
I made my first set of hazel arrows about a year ago as a bit of fun thinking that they would fly all over the place, but was pleasantly surprised to find they went rather well, I intend to now shoot these all the time and have several batches of shoots drying, both hazel and dogwood. If you haven’t tried this type of arrow I suggest you give it a go they are great fun to collect, make and shoot.
Peter (UK)
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