1/2" Poplar Taper to 3/8"

[kerbinator]

Hello, I recently saw the U tube video on war arrows and was wondering what would be the best way to go about tappering 1/2" down to 3/8".  I was thinking scraper or plane any thoughts. I did not see it covered on thi video.

[boo]

yea , one way would be use a plane and work about an inch of the dowel, then do two inches of the shaft then three and then four and so on and so forth. eventually you will be doing the full length of the shaft and hopefully the small end will be 3/8''. if not try two inch increments. i would set the plane blade for a very fine shaving. 

[youngbowyer]

Hello, I recently saw the U tube video on war arrows and was wondering what would be the best way to go about tappering 1/2" down to 3/8".  I was thinking scraper or plane any thoughts. I did not see it covered on thi video.

Nick Birmingham(the man who made the video) just buys them like that he does not taper them himself.

[skerm]

I fixed two slats on a board and glued sand paper on one of the slats. The distance between the slats is 1/2" at one end and 3/8" on the other. To taper shafts, I fix them on my electric drill and run them through between the slats.

Daniel

[kerbinator]

Skerm, thats an awsome idea ive got just the right sand paper for the job. Thanks I'll give it a shot.

[adb]

I use a cordless electric drill with a 1/2" chuck, and sandpaper. I taper the last 10" of a 31" shaft. Increase your hand pressure as you move towards the nock, to give yourself the taper. Be careful, this creates a tremendous amount of heat from the friction.

[kerbinator]

I need a bigger drill. I tried tapering the end to fit my drill but it just kept breaking.

[skerm]

It is better to rasp one end square and put it in a socket of a socket wrench. You can use a bigger size socket together with an extender (see the picture on wikipedia if you don't know what I am referring to), which should fit the drill.
You'll have to be careful with the speed of the drill and the force you apply in pushing through the tapering device. You should not need much force at all, but on the other going to fast on the drill and progressing to slow will make the sand paper and the shaft quite hot. But it is not difficult to figure out good settings.

Daniel