Arrow shaft shape pros & cons?

[Red Dwarf]

I am a little confused.
Could someone please explain to me, as a newcomer to archery, the pros and cons of the different shaft shapes eg. parallel, tapered, barrel etc., etc.?


Red Dwarf

[Pat B]

A dowel is a parallel shaft. It is easier to make and shoots fine. A tapered shaft, usually tapering from the  point end(big) to the smaller nock end. These are more aerodynamic, less sensitive to draw weight differences and a broad headed arrow flies better with a weight forward shaft. Barreling is used to lighten the physical weight of the arrow without reducing the spine. It is fat in the middle and narrow on both ends. I'm sure others will chine in.      Pat

[DBernier]

You about covered it Pat. I have found that my self bows shoot a tapered shaft the best, that is a tighter group. I have a 10 inch tapper on them. I am building a "new" tapering tool and will taper all of my shafts from now on. It is a fun process.

Dick

[Pappy]

That is what I did to the Hickory shafts and man they shoot good,I done a 8 in. tapper to
start with and then went a inch futher at a time and checked the spine and it would loose
about 2/3 lbs.pre. inch of tapper till I got them where I wanted them. 
   Pappy

[DanaM]

Pappy how did ya taper them?

Dick you know pictures are required of any new gadget Its in the rules eh

[DBernier]

Sorry, forgive me. Getting ready for Hickory. The two photos show a simple fixture "anyone" can build to tapper shafts. It is a board, two 1/2 inch aluminum angles 11 inches long. Two guide plates are glued to your "maximum" arrow shaft dia. The aluminum angle has the screw holes slotted to pivot around the screw to the left. Sand paper is glued to the aluminum angle. Use a vernier to gage the max/min dia you want. I am now going to substitute a file glued in place of the sand paper. If you do a "bunch" of shafts like I do you may want to do that. I use a hand drill to rotate the shafts. Have fun.

Dick

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[DanaM]

Thanks Dick What amount of taper do you use? For instance 11/32" to 5/16" at the nock???

[DBernier]

As a matter of fact, yes. It worked out good. Iwill be doing some self nocks when I get back.

Dick

[markinengland]

My hazel shoot arrows grew tapered! They have been good to shoot and very durable.
Mark in England

[madcrow]

I started doing a 10" barrel taper on mine.  It does lighten the arrow some, but the major difference that I have noticed is that when I am in the woods stumping with Nugget and miss, I spend alot more time looking for those arrows.  They shoot about the same as my 5/16" parrallel shafts.  I guess I just like the look of the barrel taper.

[Red Dwarf]

Thanks for clearing things up for me guys.
Looks like a tapering jig is on the list of things to get around to.


Many thanks


Red Dwarf