Are you for real I got some really weird jigs and am still inventing more. Just my fletching jig is weird.All it is a bunch scrap off cuts of wood glued together.I used to make an indexed wooden dial to give me the 120 degree s.The last one I made uses a block that is of equalateral triangle shape.I just turn it around to the next feather position.My straight clamps are 2 pieces of hack saw blades with a couple of wooden clothes pegs glued to them and two connecting pieces glued on.I also have helical clamps as well but these are made aluminum strips and pegs again.Grooveing jigs used with hand made wood planes for doing 4 wing splices for footing arrows.Spring loaded feather trimmers.Special router jigs for footings and router jigs for producing round shafting.Arrow tapering jigs.knock reinforcing jigs and knock cutting jigs. Drilling jigs for making horn knocks.Various arrow straightening tools.sander attachments for tapering for arrow heads and knocks Drill jigs for making brass field and target points.I can make all these jigs but will need my daughters help to post pictures.Hope to post some soon. OSR Cheers.
Neilbilly here on Leatherwall presented the spine tester design upon which I based mine. All thanks to him for the concept. I had my version up within half an hour of reading his post. Brilliant!
It is as simple as it looks in the picture. Two hooks hung 26" apart under the shelf (or whatever). A hole drilled at the center (be careful to account for the hook's offset from its own drilled hole). A nail long enough to lay upon the shaft and up through the hole (I use a 4"). The stand-alone adjustable square to allow for a convenient "zero point" calibration.
I grabbed a two pound dumbbell ... not industry spec, but consistent within all my personal shafts. (I guess you measure an existing known spine, calculate the formula versus your findings with your "not-quite-exactly-two-pound" weight, and convert to taste. I don't bother since all I want is to know my own personal match-ups.)
Stick nail through hole, lay shaft across hooks, adjust square to a zero-point, hang weight and observe. I measure by sixteenths of deflection, and if between sixteenths, I'll note a + or - when I mark the shaft.
I put the shaft on the tester. If the deflection is 8/16" (.500), I'll take a pencil and mark the end of the shaft with an "8". If the deflection is a hair more than 8/16", I'll mark the shaft as "8+". I don't weigh them, but if you do you could mark the weight there, also.
Next time I make a batch, I simply grab the mates and have at it.
Flex is indeed flex. Actual flight of varying materials (from an identical bow) would also depend upon recovery from flex, shaft diameter, length of shaft, weight of shaft, arrow weight in ratio of point to length (FOC, etc.), fletching, and probably other things I can't think of at the moment.
I lean towards wood, and tend not to mix shafting materials on a particular bow. Identical spine as well as identical other factors may well present a fairly similar flight pattern.
Well I went to make a string the other day and my string jig is gone. After our move out west, all the rummge sales, auction, and pitching, who knows? Soooo.... why just make a new one with a plank. Had some pallet wood that some stone came in on (Puduka & Beech) Here's the end result. John
A couple more, this is an arrow tapering jig, tapers the last 9" of the arrow. Put the tapered nock in the hole and spin with a drill. It took me several holes to get the nock height just right to produce a 5/16" diameter on the nock end.
A footnote on the picture of the shaft taper jig pictured above; I have a 36 grit belt in the picture which I found to be too aggressive. I found a 150 grit is about right.
Here is a simple taper jig, perfect nock and point tapers every time.
Don't have pics. But the leather sewing horse my granddad made for dad is 70 years old. And I made a bowstring jig that is now over 40 years. It has 8ply plywood for the arms that came out of a TV. Them days are gone!
This is my lamination sled for grinding lams and cores for bamboo backed bows and such. It was my idea, but not entirely homemade since I had a machinist do some of the work.
It's aluminum, hinged on one end, with aligment pins on the opposite end which also act as shim keepers. It's 4" wide and adjustable from parallel to as much taper as I'll ever need.
The bottom is skeletonized to reduce weight, and the top is also largely hollowed out, it just wasn't machined the whole way through like the bottom.
Since this picture was taken, I added 3 keeper plates to each side to eliminate flexation as it's run through the thickness sander.
So many cool jigs and tools...have to make more now...these are simple to make and work better for me than my store bought ones, simply cut circles on bandsaw to desired size enlarge hole for bolt drill small secondary hole for a pin, gasket etc, this will hold paper. I put the loop part of velcro over the wood and put sandpaper on. All the sudden my drill press is a spindle sander. Most used tool I make by far, and beats having to buy special rolls etc. Forgot I sand it true in the press before adding second hole.
SS When I first made it I did one. If you want to see it you can look under my handle or feather chopper build along. They work pretty well and are easy to make. This place is just full of great ideas. Thanks everyone for posting. David
I wish I had a picture but I built a simple jig for cutting 4 point splices on arrow footings with my table saw. If anyone is interested in it I will try and draw up and post some plans. It is extremely simple.
I could not get my scanner working. I will try and describe it 4 point footing Jig for table saw. Build a wedge about 12" long that tapers from zero to 1". The taper can vary depending on how long you want your tapers. set the wedge down facing you and mark a line about 1" from the right side the full length of the wedge (12") Now take the piece you cut off, turn it up on its edge with the surface you cut facing down, now just lift it back on top of the remaining piece of wedge and glue it in place. The Jig is finished. This gives you an equal double mitre. To use the jig, the side with the glued on pice will go against the fence on your table saw and your still square arrow footing will fit into the mitre area, adjust the saw blade depth and the fence distance from the blade so that they are perfectly centered and then slide it through the blade, make a 1/4 turn each time you slide it through. On the arrow shaft you will simply have to make an x shaped cut and slide this into your arrow shaft.
Hey there just keep them comming.I contemplated the table saw idea and would be very curious to see what others ideas are.I am a carpenter ad joiner and worked exclusively in doing detailed restotation and reproduction work.All my jigs are along the lines of what I learned by diong this sort of work.I watched a video on composite horn and sinew bow construction.This impressed me as the tools being used were the same as what the Chinese,Koreans and ancient Turks used.There were a couple of special tools that the bower made himself and newer techniques adopted as well.I may never need these types of tools but it is good to know about them.The more we share the wealthier we become with knowlege.I can do most things and come up with a good result but evry now and again I learn to do the job easier and more efficiently.Just keep them comming once again. OSR
My feather grinding tool. $14 sheet metal vise grips from amazon and 2-12" flat wood trim pieces. Somebody mentioned that they "welded" 2 thin flat metal pieces to their vice grips with J.B. Weld. That sounded to me like a really good improvement to what I came up with.
Here is my $10.00 drum sander! 2" PVC pipe fitting, Pressure Test Valve, 5/16 Hex bolt. I had the Belt from a belt sander and the contact cement. Works like a charm for grinding feathers.
I added my little idea to my tillering tree. At each notch I drilled a hole behind it that fits a golf tee. Now I can just put the tee where I left off and come back to it later and not have to think about where I stopped. You can see the tee at the 9" mark.
Always wanted an arrow saw but they all seem so chintzy and hate the high pitched whine. With a new set of AMG GT20 tapered carbon shafts in hand and wanting to tune from the original length I decided to build my own. A quick look through TSC's abrasive blades section and I was able to find a 6" blade that is .040 thick for $2.99. I then remembered my cabinet saw has a miter gauge with 1/4" holes with thumb screws for repetitive cross cuts so picked up a piece of 1/4" cold rolled.
Mounted the blade and made up a stop block for the 1/4" rod. Makes a perfect cut every time and can roll the end of shaft against the side of blade to make them perfectly square. All this for under $8 using one of my unused table saws. Dust free and 7800 rpm's of smooth cutting pleasure ;^)
You need two plastic bottles with bulby necks. Cut of the neck of one bottle just above the equator of the bulb. Cut of the neck of the other bottle at the lower end of the bulb. Glue the shorter bottle neck onto the llonger bottle neck. Take a 22 mm copper pipe and put it into the lower bottle neck. Put a cork into the lwer end of the pipe. Drill a 18 mm hole into the upper bottle cap. Cut a 25 mm washer with a 5 mm hole at the centre from a bike tube. Put the washer inside the upper botzle cap.
