it never seems like there are quite enough arrow buildalongs to me. So i thought i would try one and do it as professional as i can even though my methods are not. i will be making 6 ash and 6 poplar with my 3/8 dowel maker by Veritas. i will start with a full ash board. At $11 for the whole board shafts can come pretty cheaply. i have chosen one about like a would for a board bow. Grain lines that run straight from one end to the other on the sides, no knot or crackes. In fact i will probably be making at least one bow with this board. The poplar board is a little different. I use .5 x 4" x 4ft. craft boards from lowes. I do this because its easier to find the more dense boards when they are smaller. this board cost $4 and i will get 6 shafts from it. still not to bad. I start by cutting them into .5" x 34" squares on my table saw. if you'll notice in this pic when i reduced the strip to .5" i left it long and 1 7/8 wide so i could use the remanant as a core or laminates or whatever. i dislike waste. once its cut to squares bunch them up together and see which ones need straightening. Its much easier to see this when they are still squares. I then loosely place them in my vise and bend them enough to straighten em out. go easy.

i'll post a bunch more tomorrow. its late and im tired. they are just about done, so this is kind of post facto

Looks good.. Thanks for takin the time!!!!

before we start making shafts i like to sharpen the blade on my dowel maker. i use a small arkansas wet stone of med grit. the blade is curved so its much easier to take the stone to the blade. now we start cutting shafts. I use a 24volt cordless drill. i would suggest at least 18v or a good corded drill. It takes a lot of power to cut smoothly and cleanly through a whole dozen. the socket on the end of the drill is a .5 drive it came with the dowel maker. I don't use a jig or anything when i run mine through. I got enough of those lying around. if you've done a good job straightening you will have a minimum of wiggle. Once through the other side i simply steady it with my hand. Once you get one ran through check the thickness. The blade is adjustable and i know this one pretty well. these came out to .374" almost a perfect 3/8". More to come later.

Thanks for posting. Interesting to see shaftsd made like this. I'll keep watching.

NJ

AWESOME! Im inspired for sure.Never have thought of making arrows. And I have all the tools.

Could you show some close up pix of the doweling jig please.Thanx,tradnut

Just ordered a dowel maker from Lee Valley Tools.22.00 The extra blades were 11.00 cheap cheap.it will pay for itself the first time.Cant wait.

Great build along. I'v always wanted to do this, keep it comming !!!

Ok now i have 12 rough cut shafts 3/8" with the last 3" still square. I still use the board i made when i used to hand plane my squares into shafts. It has markings for 28, 29, 30" and 7" and 10" for tapering lengths. also two holes are drilled in the end 11/32 and 23/64 for gauging the ends. better instructions for this are on Jawge's site. Now you can measure your shafts and cut them on whatever you like bandsaw, tablesaw, tubing cutter etc. I like to use the bandsaw because i can still see the grain on the end. On a side note, the leftover ends that are still square are great as stirring sticks and glue spreaders. At this point i will weight the shafts to see how consistent they are. these came out to about 550 grns. i use a small scale i bought at harborfreight for about $12. any little scale will work even if it only measures ounces or grams. there are conversions on the web. I know for grams its 15.432 grsn = 1 gram.

i have that dowel maker.. never could get it to work good. :(

chris.

chris pm me what problem you are having, i bet i could answer it for you.

sulphur these are 3/8.most points come in 5/16 do they fit? or what modifications do you make?

Now we are going to taper the ends of these shafts. this isn't nessecary but i like the way they fly. I usually measure 7" from the end of each shaft, but i have used 10". You'll have to experiment to see what you like. once each shaft is measured i use my block plane and hold the shaft in one hand and the plane in the other. Move the shaft away from you taking off wood all the way around by turing the shaft as you go. a good shaft blade will prevent any gouging, also make sure its not set to deep. I do this until the shaft is almost 11/32 or 23/64 whatever you are using. Thats where the holes drilling in the end of my board come in. Once both ends are done i chuck up the shaft in my drill. I use old sanding belts cut and folded up and sand the shafts till the ends are smooth and exactly the size i want. sorry i guess i missing taking a pic of this. hopefully you get the idea.

morning sulphur ( toony... tony? ). It's been a few years i do not remember off the top of my head what my problem was. But you have inspired me to give it another try. I will have to dig through my archery box and look for the dowel maker now.

i need to find my bowyers bibles books too.. when i thought i had to give up archery.. i pretty much boxed my stuff..

will give me something to do today. find the dowel maker. lol

chris.

longboar i buy my points from 3rivers or bass pro shops in 11/32 or 23/64. you can adjust this method for any size though. I have never made any at 5/16. when i am done the shaft middle will be right at 23/64 and the ends will be 11/32.

At this point we can reduce the center of each shaft. Also i always wieght match my shafts. again i use old sanding belts and fold them up and place it im my woodworkers vise. That makes the size more uniform. I used to grab it by hand but that is super hard on your fingers when your doing a whole dozen. Using my drill i run the shaft through the sanding belt and check the weight till i get to where i want. I try to keep to the rule of 10 grs per pound of draw weight. To me that seems to be better than worring about spine. Although since these shafts are from the same side of the board they wont vary much in spine. i'll get to my homemade spine tester later today. once all your shafts are weight matched to your liking you can do the finish sanding. Again just chuck each shaft in your drill and sand away. I use 80 grit and then 150. Don't worry about the chuck marks on the ends. when we cut the ends for the nocks and points they will pretty much disappear.

there are a lot of different ways to seal your shafts. i used to just spray them with laquer. Thats cost to much and wastes alot, and makes the whole garage stink. I now use a small pvc pipe ($2) and cap the end. fill it up with whatever finish suits you spar urethane, laquer, whatever. fill it up about 2/3 full. I use a small piece of inner tube to squeegie the excess laquer as i dip each shaft. I use my leather punch to put a small hole in it. I dip each shaft twice, once then flip it over and dip again. be sure and wear a glove of some sort. after i get back from church we'll tackle cresting. dont worry this will be super simple too!

oh i would like to give sam harper credit for the inner tube squeegie thing. for some reason i would never have though of it. I gauge all my buildalongs by sam's. he always does a top notch job. and of course, most of what i know about arrows has come from Jawge's site.

yeah sam is a good guy.

chris.

One othe thing i omitted. The poplar shaft shafts came out to 400 grns +/- 10grns. they will weight about 525 when the feathers and points are on. thats actually a good weight for poplar, in my experience.

Thank you very much for posting this. I hope to start making wood arrows this summer. John

This is awesome, sulphur, thanks! I like the used sanding belt idea. I've been wasting sand paper!

I use the deft laquer because it dries fast, but just the same i like to wait at least an hour before cresting and several before final sealing. To crest my arrows i use my trusty drill again. I just chuck up the arrow shaft and give a test spin if it wobbles i just unchuck it and turn it a 1/2 turn or so till i find a spot that spins good. Again if you straightened your arrows good you won't have any problems. for cresting paints i like the testor model paints. As you can see i like to do everything cheap and as easy as possible. I have used water based craft paints but they tend to be a little thick. But you can use water ever floats your boat. Try not to use to much paint because it will run. to get the pattern the same on each shaft i line them up next to a ruler and use a pencil to mark where i want to paint. I will say one thing i have learned is that good brushes make for good lines. I spent $15 on a good set of brushes. make sure and clean them after each use and they will last. So here is the result. i've got them sitting on my fancy drying rack. Butcher paper has so many uses, no bowyer should be without some. And that has you brought up to speed. next i will taper the tips to recieve nocks and point. be back in a little while. I am trying to balance yard work and making arrows today and maybe take a good nap!!

them are looking great.. im gonna have to try hickory shafts.. it would be cheaper than buying carbons.. as i have all the free time in the world not so much cash.. heh ( besides when i originally was gonna make shafts i bought a crap load of glue on nocks and blunts/field points to last me a few years.. so ill just have to buy feathers ).. i finally got my morning chores done so i can go dig into my closet for my archery stuff.. we see if i cant find that dowel thingy. nice build along.. :)

chris.

sulphur,

Thanks for the pics. I just started doing this same project this weekend. Do you measure the shaft's spine at some point in your process?

yeah robo you are the reason i figured id try hickory let alone wood arrows.. however, it seems over the years since i bought the thing. it has been given away or i threw it away out of anger. i do not really know. laughs.. o well.

chris.

okiak its coming up in a few. loading pics right now and still finishing some work around the house. should be more pics tonight.

now lets talk about spine. this is the spine tester i made following hera's buildalong. Its not perfect but it gets the job done. I know what the arrows need to measure for each bow i make. there is a chart for arrow degrees of deflection to corresponding poundage. but that never seems to work quite right for me. so i just remember what each arrow needs to meassure for lets say a 50# bow and so on. the weight is just some lead sinkers i bought at the walmart fishing tackle section. as expected all the ash arrows differed only very slightly. The poplar differed a little more on two, but they'll be ok. the ash were actually weaker than the poplar, but the extra weight & length will take care of that. As i measure each shaft i write the number on the weak side this helps line up the cock feather. also don't forget that your lining up the string perpindicular to the grain of the wood.

i need to explain my meaureing spine a little better, i put measurements up the side in milimeters and inches. I know that from 45-55 mm shots really nice from 50# up to about 60#. it varies with weight and length. as most good arrows makers will tell you, there are a lot of variables that go into correct spine. not that i am claiming to be one of those. Now we are ready to taper the ends for nocks and points. I use my belt sander disc with the miter gauge set to 11 degrees for the nock and 5 degrees for the point end. be careful your fingers will get awfully close to the sanding disc. i have given my self a quick manicure a few times. also keep the shaft moving so you wont have any flat spots. Notice i don't sand the ends till there are in a sharp point. if you do that you leave taper marks outside the point or nock.

to glue on the nocks i use duco cement. remember an accurate taper is the key to keeping nocks glued on. I am using 11/32 easton conventional nocks. very cheap at $2 a dozen. REMEMBER line the nock up correctly. in my case i just line it up with the number i marked for the spine. It always goes perpindicular to the grain. for the field points i just cut up hot glue and put in the point. then i heat it up with a small torch till the glue melts. A candle, alcohol burner even a cigarette lighter can be substituted. I push the shaft on turn it a few times and then dunk it in water. once cool the extra glue peels right off.

here are the supplies you'll need to fletch your shafts. fletching jig $25 duco cement $1, super glue $1, feathers are about $5 a dozen unless you buy in big bulk. I like to buy a pack of 50 barred 4" parabolics from bass pro then put any color i want with it. i buy different colors at academy for $5 a dozen. once each feather is dry a put a drop of superglue on the front. just a little insurance.

this really seems like its taken forever. i am whooped. I did finish all put have only 3 pictured here. i took these pics earlier today. Not overly complicated and they are great target arrows. i take a little more care when making arrows for hunting. so here is the finished product. and the product in action. thanks for the patience and kind words guys. I hope this helps some people get started.

Excellent build-along. Added to my favorites. Thank you.

Great build along. I learn a lot. Thank you sulphur .

My first "favorite"... Thank you!

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