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Author Topic: Building arrows  (Read 10844 times)

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Offline Woodely

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Building arrows
« on: March 02, 2019, 09:45:55 am »
Any of you guys tired of building arrows.  I make arrows from wooden shafts.  I buy the material from the lumber store cut it down to over 11/32"  then hand plane the corners off getting them as round as possible but still keeping them over 11/32"  to get to the final size.  Then I chuck the shafts in the drill and put them thru a steel plate jig I made.  Then the shafts get sanded and checked with the caliper.  After that I cut them to length, taper both ends for the plastic nocks and field points. Usually the shafts get crested. Then I apply 4 coats of water based Polyurethane.  The nocks and fletching are glued on and the stripes.

All in all its very time consuming, but for me its all the steps I go thru to make a dozen arrows.  I spend about $5 each where store bought wood arrows are about $10-$12 each.  Its a rewarding experience to build your own arrows and watch them fly especially the good ones, but I'm sort of getting tired of the whole process.   Dam, I still have 12 blanks sitting on my bench waiting for tips and fletching.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2019, 09:54:25 am by Woodely »
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Offline Stalkingfox

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2019, 09:55:21 am »
Only when I'm having trouble getting to fly well. Not to mention I'm using shoots instead of dowels alot more work involved.
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Offline DC

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2019, 01:46:44 pm »
There's a few of us on here that don't really like making arrows. I only make arrows when I need them. It just isn't like making bows, don't know why. :D
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Offline EdwardS

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2019, 03:06:06 pm »
I like it as much or more than making the bows.  I can make an arrow that will fly perfectly.  My bows not so much.
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Offline Scyth

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2019, 08:52:54 pm »


. . . “The Meditation of Building Arrows” . . .

(including the nocks)

regards,

Scyth

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Offline TSA

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2019, 08:11:11 pm »
each to their own i guess- i love arrow building as much as the bow building. nice thing about arrows if you build them well, then you get to shoot them and lose them, and get to build more. if you build a bow well, you wont need to rebuild it again that quickly- unless of course you're  just feeding the addiction...so maybe a moot point on here with all these addicts
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Offline Pappy

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2019, 03:44:17 am »
Like everything else I do, I have to be in the mood, but when I am I love building them, I usually do shoots and make them 1 at a time, it does take a while but love the process . I also do blanks sometimes and it takes a little less time but pretty much make and tune them 1 at a time also, I have done several from TSA and they are very close in spline and are straight to start with so take way less time getting them to fly like I want and can do a dozen at a time with them. I see some folks that have their arrows marked or a special one,also say if it's not flying good they will save them for stump shooting, for me they all fly like they are supposed to or they never make it to my quiver. If I can't work it out they get broken or burnt. ;) :)
 Pappy
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Offline rebsr52339

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2019, 04:15:25 am »
Pappy, THAT is a lot of firewood. ;D  Got ya.
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Offline JEB

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2019, 04:56:49 am »
I use a two stage Verita dowel maker.
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2019, 05:39:39 am »
I like doing it all!    :BB  (f)  (AT)  )P(   :OK
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2019, 07:06:53 am »
I don't mind assembling arrows from TSA shafts :) , but I don't mess with shoots or cane/boo anymore and I would never turn a plank into shafts, I have better things to spend my free time on. I like grabbing a dozen shafts spined within a pound or two and know they will all fly perfectly. 
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Offline Woodely

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2019, 08:49:26 am »
Quote from: PEARL DRUMS/PEARLY/PD/DRUMS on March 05, 2019, 07:06:53 am
I don't mind assembling arrows from TSA shafts :) , but I don't mess with shoots or cane/boo anymore and I would never turn a plank into shafts, I have better things to spend my free time on. I like grabbing a dozen shafts spined within a pound or two and know they will all fly perfectly.

"and know they will all fly perfectly. "  Mmmm tell me your secret, I may get 6 out of 10 to fly reasonably close to each other.  Having said that I'm happy with that but a 100% would even be better.
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2019, 10:26:30 am »
The secret is to spine test every shaft you turn/make, or, buy them from TSA and get a dozen of the exact same shaft, they will all fly perfectly. If you don't have a spine tester then bare shaft tuning each and every shaft is the only other method to make them all fly the same.  6 out of 10 means you're wasting 40% of your energy and time.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2019, 10:28:17 am »
For the record, TSA is the only place I've ever got shafts that actually spined what they were sold as. I have went through dozens that were sold as "within 5#", but actually had a 10 plus pound variance. That is no good.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline Woodely

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Re: Building arrows
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2019, 12:54:05 pm »
Actually the last batch I made was about 8 out of 10 good flyers.  The spine is within 3#.  Probably should bare shaft tune call it laziness or whatever. 
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