some new arrows to look at

[jeffp51]

my last set of arrows was down to three from the six I started with, so I decided to make a new set. these are red osier shoots harvested from the river bank. I bare shaft tuned the first one here, and it came in about 10# lighter than the formulas would have me think--but I haven't been accounting for off-center shooting.  All six are matched to withing a thousandth of an inch--which is probably as accurate as I can get with my caliper spining method.  the shafts were matched to within a grain of each other, but adding feathers and sinew wraps threw that off a little bit.  I stained them with a light honey colored oak stain sealed with some boiled linseed oil--this to take off the pure white color.  The cresting is enamel paint, which meant they needed a top coat of polyurethane spray (oil sealers would smear the paint).  The fletches are primaries from a turkey my neighbor shot, although I think one or two of them are from Mullet, too.

When I shoot them, the fletches are a little loud--with a hum, but since they aren't hunting arrows, it doesn't matter.  They seem to fly as straight as I can shoot them.

Enjoy.

[Pat B]

Those are great looking arrows. Do you know the physical weight? Red osier is pretty heavy.

[jeffp51]

So a few more stats"
Length is 30.5"
Shaft weight is about 447grain, give or take 2 grain -- except for the #5 arrow, it was 433 grains
finished weight is between 597 (no. 5 again) and  617 grains.  The fletches make the other arrows vary by no more than 9 grains.  Close enough.
spine on all of them is 61#, with a deflection of .424"-.427" as measured with my digital calipers and a 2 lb. weight.  I am shooting them from a 55# osage bow.  So based on spine, they fit in the 10 grains per pound, but slightly heavier if you base it on the bow weight.
points are 125 grain glue on field tips --11/32" diameter
The shafts are mildly barrel shaped, as I sand the tip to fit the point and the nock to fit my jig, and then I sand the middles to meet weight and spine.
Balance is at 18-18.25 inches measured from the nock end.  I am not sure what that is as a percentage, as I don't know which end that is usually calculated from.
I added a grain of rice behind the cock feather as a physical index, and I like how that lets me nock an arrow without looking at the string.

The arrows shoot pretty flat at 20 yards, and hit what I look at, if I look at the broad side of a barn. --Right now I can put all six in a 2-foot target, but not in a 9-inch circle.  Safest place to be is still right on the bulls eye-- you would be pretty safe there when I shoot.

[Hawkdancer]

Real nice arrows.  It takes a bit of work to get them matched that close!
Hawkdancer

[jeffp51]

spining takes me about an hour per arrow with this method.  If you mess one up and have to start over (some shafts just don't want to make spine and weight together) then it takes a little longer.

[willie]

Nice looking work. getting primitive arrows to match weight and spine isn't the easiest.  I think I read somewhere that NA people put a lot more work into arrow making than bow making.......  must have been a good reason for that 

[TSA]

those are beautiful arrows- veritable works of art!
did you use a cresting jig?

foc is measured from the front of the arrow, in as much how far, as a % is the actual balance point ahead of the physical center of the arrow

[jeffp51]

I should post a picture of my creating jig. It is an 8 inch 1x2 wit two finish nails at crossed angles to each other at either end. Very primitive. It leaves the work a little uneven, but I like that they don't look factory made.

[Aaron H]

Very well done Jeff.  Making arrows to these standards takes quite a bit of time, effort, and talent. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Fantastic work, Jeff.

[penderbender]

Beautiful arrows Jeff. A lot of time went into those and it shows. Cheers- Brendan

[DC]

Beautiful job Jeff. But I have a question. You said the shaft is 447 and finished weight is 617. That's a diff of 170, but you say the tips are 125. Do the fletching and paint weigh 45 grains? I've never checked my own but that seems like a lot. Maybe not though

[jeffp51]

DC, that seemed strange to me too.  It has two coats of poly and three coats of linseed oil.  The quills on the feathers were a little thick, and curved quite a bit, so I was not able to thin them down as much as I would have liked.

[DC]

I'm doing some in a day or so. I'll weigh them before and after. I thought fletching had negligible weight, maybe I'm wrong.

PS I went and weighed 3 rough fletches =12 grains. So less when trimmed.

[jeffp51]

I did the same thing when you pointed it out this morning.  11 grains.  32+ grains for paint and sinew wraps seems like a lot.  I don't know where the weight is coming from, but I made multiple measurements on each and recorded the weight in my notebook when I was sanding the shafts, so I am certain about the raw shaft weights (this weight was after the tapering of the tip for the points).