Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Pamunkey on August 21, 2008, 04:31:46 pm
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I just thought I'd share some arrows I just completed a few days ago. Silky dogwood (Cornus amomum) was planted as an ornamental around a pond here in the office park where I work. In the fall a couple of years ago, the lawn maintenance crew cut them back to within a few inches of the ground. I stumbled across these shoots in a pile destined for the dump
(http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n57/pamunkey/silkydogwoodshoots.jpg?t=1219345274)
After further sorting, I stripped them of their bark and divided them into those that were ok and those that would require some work to make right.
(http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n57/pamunkey/silkydogwoodshoots2.jpg?t=1219345603)
They sat in my shed for a long time waiting for me to get around to working on them. The opportunity came when I got my new Veritas dowel cutter from Lee Valley. I chose the poorest bundle to use while adjusting the cutter to make shafts from my preferred Southern arrowood viburnum. I ended up with 7 usable shafts, 6 of which were long enough for me and one of which I used to make and arrow for my son. Here they are, stained with black walnut hull stain and with nocks cut and the front ends tapered for field points.
(http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n57/pamunkey/silkydogwoodshafts808.jpg?t=1219345975)
Here are the finished arrows. They are fletched with Canada goose primaries collected around the same pond where I collected the shoots, feathers tied fore and aft with whitetail loin sinew. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out, especially given the fact that these were the worst of the bunch I collected.
(http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n57/pamunkey/silkydogwoodarrows808.jpg?t=1219346336)
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Killer job man! What method(s) did you use to straighten them so nice?
~~Papa Matt
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thanks for telling and great pic's too....
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beautiful yet functional.. very nice arrows brother.. happy hunting.. Hawk
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Nice arra's but they look like Red Osier dogwood, of course I don't know what Silky Dogwood looks like ???
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That dowell cutter works great. I bought one last year and I have probabley turned out about a thousand shafts so far.
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Those are very nice looking arrows Will, the walnut stain and the goose feathers look great.
Alan
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Dana, silky dogwood looks like red osier but with a Southern accent! ;D
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Cool arrows, I love the goose fletches. I use them a lot but am out at the present, got to wait for my shotgunner buddies to get after the geese this fall. I just love hand made arrows. Kenneth
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Those look great man! One man's trash is another man's treasure :).
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Good looking arrow's, I wouldn't mind giving goose feathers a try myself. ;)
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Thanks, guys. The way these turned out really gives me hope for the better ones. In answer to Papa Matt's question, the shoots were fairly straight to begin with. I hand straightened them while they were still green, and gave them all a wipe with rendered deer tallow before bundling them to season (I haven't had too many problems with this species checking, but I figured "why risk it?"). It's easy to find long shoots of silky dogwood that are free of branches, but many of them grow with a long, gradual curve. As Pat B mentioned, silky dogwood is very similar to red osier dogwood. The main distinguishing features are the color of the pith (tan-to-salmon colored for the silky, white for the red osier) and the color of the berries (bluish-purple for the silky, white-to-greenish white for the red osier). The shoots are easy enough to heat straighten but in time they want to return to their original curve. I try to select only fairly straight ones in the field; in this case, I left more in the piles than I took. I heat straightened them before running them through the dowel cutter and again after I had sanded them just prior to staining. The shafts took the walnut hull dye well; I just wiped it on with a paper towel, let it dry and took off the grain raised by the water-based dye with 600 grit sandpaper used very lightly. I collected a bunch of goose feathers this year by scoping out ponds where our resident geese hang out and watching for feathers in the grassy areas (they usually molt in early June here in VA). I got a whole lot of primaries plus some secondaries, which I'll probably use for kids' arrows, stumping, two-fletch, etc. I cheated a little and used fletching tape (if y'all haven't tried it, you're really missing out- great stuff!), but I left little nubs on each end of the fletches which I tied down with sinew and a dab of hide glue.
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Dana, silky dogwood looks like red osier but with a Southern accent! ;D
so when you shoot them instead of just going phhhhhht thunk, they go phhhhhhht thunk ya'll lol
tim
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Thats it, Tim. ;D
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i have three doz red osier dried and scraped free of brak,been trying to straighten with heat,man that natural curve has to be the hardest thing to get out of them.
i had some with actuall kinks in them,they came right out. only have 2 or 3 that are good and straight right now. but i'm not giving up
the ones that are straight are too light of spine for me to hunt with,but for my little "sliver" bow they will work just fine.
tim
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Great looking arrows,I like them a lot. Nice job. :)
Pappy
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Now look what you did I got some red osier shoots in the shed a certain yooper gave me at the classic this year now I'll have to work on them in my living room which will probably result in a divorce.Thanks for letting us look. Very nice arrows. Now where is that red osier.
Ronnie
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Mighty pretty arrows,real good job. God Bless