Preparing an aluminium arrow - fixing insert and fletching. (Wooden arrow tutorial added)

[icemanV]

I bought the Target Boss and the Stand for 3500+1500+500 for transport.

Lets do it first weekend of Nov. I will confirm on 28. My roster releases on 28.

I will pm or sms you.

[discovershashank]

I am very eager to know. Why is this post always at the top???

[Mack The Knife]

One of the mods made it a 'sticky'.

Funnily enough I have been making wooden arrows. First test flight sometime tonight.

[ckkalyan]

Nice one Mack The Knife

Sticky..... huh? Good luck with the test flight! LOL

[BowMan]

Very informative.

I have been using a PSE Stinger bow for some time now and the original set of shafts I bought have started to loose their fletchings.

Is there any dealer in India that sells the required supplies or they need to be imported?

[BowMan]

One of the mods made it a 'sticky'.

Funnily enough I have been making wooden arrows. First test flight sometime tonight.

Could you post a similar article as to how you go about making them. Do you make sure that they weigh in consistently to ensure every arrow follows a similar trajectory?

[Mack The Knife]

Could you post a similar article as to how you go about making them. Do you make sure that they weigh in consistently to ensure every arrow follows a similar trajectory?

I am not making any at the moment but I will take a few pics and do a how to post whenever that happens.

The fletching method remains the same and gluing the tips on is more or less the same as gluing in an insert, except that the points are glued to the outer surface of the shaft.

Where wooden arrows differ from fibreglass, aluminium and carbon arrows is the preparation of the shaft.

Your shafts will look like this when you get them. I have added the tapers after receiving them.


If necessary, cut the shaft to your required BOP length.

Sand them down lightly.

You then need to taper them using a tapering tool.
5* taper for the pile end...


and 11* taper for the nock end.


Then you straighten your shaft. I use the shank of a screwdriver to rub at the high spots on the shaft until the bend is gone. You must check the shaft for straightness after each stage of work mentioned below.

After this you can stain your shafts or leave them bare. I do not stain the portion that is going to form the crown of the shaft. Incidentally, an arrow need not be crowned. I use the same water based stains I use for gun stocks.

Then you need to seal the shaft. I use 3 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru Oil or equivalent. There are specifically made lacquer based sealers for arrow shafts if you want to use those. Depending on the crowning method, you may want to crown the shaft before sealing it.

Then you crown the shaft using spray paint, paint and dip tubes or arrow wraps. This step is not necessary to a make a good shaft. It's purely for looks and identification. Note that an arrow wrap will stiffen the shaft and can be used to spine the arrow to the bow.

Next glue on the the nock. Make sure the nock index is parallel to the grains seen on the shaft. If your nocks do not have an index, ensure that when the nock sits on the string, the string is perpendicular to the grains.

If you want to fart around some more, you can crest your shaft. Again not necessary. It's purely for looks and identification. There are specialised cresting lathes available and the crest is applied using paint and paint brushes of varying thickness as per your design. I merely use permanent markers and do it by hand.

You can then seal the cresting if you wish.

Apply fletch and points and you are ready to go.

Some of my wooden arrows and shaft finishing supplies:






Regardless of the shaft material, shafts must be in the same spine and weight range for the intended bow. Neddless to say, the spine and weight has to suit the bow. I am using Douglas Fir shafts from Surewood Shafts. They weigh 676 grains all up and are in the 75-80# spine category even though my longbows only draw 60 and 65#@28". This is because my points weigh 225 grains which weaken the shaft considerably.

I will do a detailed post when I do my next dozen but I hope the above helps for now.

[ckkalyan]

Phew - very interesting and detailed information there Mack The Knife! Mind blowing!

Keep it coming... I am the proverbial sponge

[BowMan]

Thanks for this Mack The Knife. I will take a detailed read at all this information and try this myself. My reserves of carbon fiber shafts has been dwindling steadily now and was thinking of some good options.

BTW are raw materials from an Indian supplier?

[Mack The Knife]

Afraid not.
The shafts are from the U.S. and the wood finishing supplies from U.K..
Not sure if it's safe to shoot wooden shafts from a wheelie bow. I suggest you better check this first.

[BowMan]

Agree. The shaft may shatter on impact.

Thanks for the very comprehensive information

[Mack The Knife]

Agree. The shaft may shatter on impact.

[marthandan]

Not sure if it's safe to shoot wooden shafts from a wheelie bow. I suggest you better check this first.

wooden shafts are generally not to be used with compound bow as the energy transfer from the bow to the arrow is not uniform(sudden increase in energy transfer at let-off point) and this might shatter the arrow.

[BowMan]

Oh my!!! An arrow shattering at release will be much more dramatic than the same happening on impact.

[arnabmit]

Where wooden arrows differ from fibreglass, aluminium and carbon arrows is the preparation of the shaft.

Your shafts will look like this when you get them. I have added the tapers after receiving them.
[ Image ]

Hi,

Any idea where these wooden dowels can be obtained in Kolkata, or can be ordered online from an Indian source?

I tried to get wood turned to dowels from a local carpenter, but every time he tried to thin down the 30" sticks to quarter inch, they splinter and break. Will try to make them myself now manually...

I have recently found out a turkey farm in Kolkata, so getting fletching feathers wont be a problem. And i have blacksmithed a few broadheads myself...

BTW... would anyone be interested in a build-along for a laminated Teak Bow?