What do you guys suggest Not looking to buy a woodchuck

Thanks

This one

Make your own wood jig and clamp it on a disk sander. Perfect tapers every time.

I've tried some of the "pencil sharpeners" and they are worse than useless.

I've used the Bear Paw model and it worked great...hardly worse than useless. I did two dozen spruce arrows with them and got very accurate nock and point tapers. Most guys used the hand sharpeners back in the day, only shops and manufacturers had electric models. How did we ever get by. I like the Bear Paw and would buy another, but I can get new blades for it so it will probably last me awhile.

They work great, but if you like your broadheads to be pointing in the same direction as your shafts, use a disk sander ;^)

Actually, it's been several years since I've tried pencil sharpeners. Maybe they are better now.

Tru Center V2 for cedar and poplar here and a Woodchuck for Doug Fir.

Neither are useless if you know how to use them.

Shooter the bear paw tool works fine . the one that is plastic works fine . they make a deluxe model one from Aluminum it works good , there is only one problem with the aluminum one is the sizing of the bushings they are a bit tight on some wood shafts. it can be fixed by reaming one 5/16 bushing out to 3/8 which is perfect for the larger shafts . wood shafts vary as much as .008 thousands so it can be a problem my tapering blocks i made ,008 per side so they will work smoothly and still make tapers within 5 mins . you need to be able to slide the shaft in freely so you turn the shaft to cut the taper . hope this helps you out PM me if you have any questions .oh yea the three rivers tool is very iffy at best i had one i traded it for something or another .

Ive got one you can have. Pm me

Disc has to be the most accurate as you have a long alignment. Rooty

Seahorse, if I was running a shop, or making dozens of arrows, I would probably opt for a more intricate setup. The one I have cuts great tapers, and that will work for all I do.

I've been really happy with the Tru center.

seahorse this is how i do a 100 in 15 min with a taper within 5 min it takes a little time to set up so if i am only doing a few will grab a hand cutter

Sorry i meant shooter

seahorse x 2

I tried several pencil sharpener types, bought a practically new Woodchuck on e bay at a deal price, used it for several years until I went to mostly carbon so I could get the arrow weight that I wanted, and then sold it for $5 more than I paid for it.

Joe has a good rig. Rooty

seahorse X 3. My set up is very simple I cut two grooves,one for the nocks and one for the points, in a square piece of MDF and clamp it to the sanding table,square to the disc. 5 minutes to set up and it grinds them quick. You can buy a sander cheaper than a wood chuck and it is good for other things too. The pencil sharpeners work if you are not doing too many.>>>----> Ken

Most guys building a lot of wood arrows use a grinding set up .the plastic bear paw is not all that bad . it comes down to how many you want to do really .

Yes 2 bears but you need a router and v groove cutter as well to make the grooves. I've tossed and turned a lot over this. I have a drill press so Joe's appeals to me. Rooty

Been using homemade power taper tools for years. Taper depth is adjustable, as well as the angle. The angle iron on the side is what I use to bevel the end of lams to glue them together.

Now where talking. I got a 6" bench grinder. Rooty

Rooty, I cut the grooves with 2 cuts at 45° on a table saw,making a V cut. If I didn't have a saw available I would have used a 3 cornered file after carefully marking them with a hand or hack saw. I cut self nocks with a hacksaw and files. Even easier is two small strips of wood fastened to your square board on the proper angle. Similar to Hal9000 only he made it adjustable again requiring tools. If the angles don't give you enough room between them you may have to put one on each side of your square piece or make two separate ones. Be very careful what kind of sanding disk you put on a grinder. Most are too high RPM. Even if the stay together it would be bad about burning the wood,sanding. I believe the angles were 5° and 11° but double check or I will before cutting. It has been a long time since I made the jig or used any thing else. Hope that helps. >>>----> Ken

I use the yellow sharpeners and they are fine. Nock ends need to be perfect, and I think they give good results. Broadheads are a different mater, because a lot of the heads do not have anything like perfect female ferules, the glue is thick, so it is mostly in the technique of mounting the heads that governs results. But as far as I can see the cut I am getting is good. My experience is with older sharpeners, and I don't know what they are doing today.

One thing, is that there was a period during the 90s, when you could go to a big box office supply, and try out a dozen sharpeners, and none of them worked. I bought the vastly better designed 3 Rivers tool, but it didn't work worth a damn, and it wouldn't even take a cut. I make and teach wood plane making, and so I could probably fix it, but in 20 years I haven't bothered, because the plastic ones keep working.

I agree the discs work great, I made one to fit under my drill press at the time, and it did a great job on nocks, but they are dusty, you need to have tools, and as I say, I can get good result with the sharpeners. However, I probably will be revising that approach as I do not have tools that will handle kid arrows.

Nock tapers need to be in perfect alignment with the axis of the shaft. That is next to impossible with any taper tool that uses a hole in something to guide the shaft, UNLESS the shaft fits snuggly in that hole. the slightest amount of looseness will cause the shaft to tip too one side giving an out of alignment taper. Look at the tapered shaft, the point where the taper meets the shaft should form a perfect ring that is 90 degrees to the axis of the shaft. If it doesn't the taper is crooked.

Why is the nock taper so important??? The nock is where the arrows flight starts, unless the nocks are straight each arrow will start its flight in a different direction. One of the most important aspects of arrow making is getting the nocks on straight otherwise you will have difficulty getting tight groups. Nock/point tapers are one of the most over looked part of arrow manufacture.

Bob

Loose fit is why I sold muy bear paw. The perfect taper is bang on it your shafts are. A rare occurrence. I don't see anything wrong with the wood chuck. If you don't need others tools the wood chuck looks to be a dandy. I friend of mine did a video on using one. Sure looks good to me. Rooty

Scrap lumber, $3 for the motor at a garage sale, .50 for the switch, sanding pad may have been $4. Might have $10 in it at most and it is just fun making all your own stuff, or as much of it as you can.

Tru Center V2 for me. I use it on ALL shaft materials. Including shoot shafts, boo and cane. Absolutely zero issues with alignment or chipping/tearing out. Its pretty simple to assemble an arrow and watch it spin perfectly top to bottom. Its not rocket science as it can be made out to be.

I use the Woodchuck if it’s a doz. For ones and twos I use my old Tru Center. Still have a few blades left. I almost like it better than sander, I have the blades set to under cut so my field points fit flush with shaft. But it’s the old model so will be so much recycle material when all my blades are gone.

I think people might try to make a Tru Center cut too fast by pushing the shaft in too hard. I just take my time and let it cut instead of making it cut and I never seem to have trouble. Sometimes, a little finesse goes a long way. IMO

X2 for Hal9000 It is just fun making your own stuff especially when you can do it for penny's on the dollar. Have you priced a feather grinding jig. I don't have $2 in mine and it has ground hundreds of turkey feathers. The taper sander---a 12" square piece of MDF and I had a little belt sander. Oh I forgot a few cents worth of sanding sealer to coat the block with. Spine checker again penny's on the dollar. Self nocks are free. Being on SS gives you a whole new way of thinking. Just trying to help and pass it on. >>>---->Ken

I get excellent tapers with the blue plastic pencil sharpeners on Doug Fir and spruce. On hardwood footings also... probably lasts a few dozen before needing a new one to cut cleanly. Blades are good on the Bearpaw plastic one, and they're replaceable, but the blue ones ("Traditional Only" ?) have a slightly longer taper and seem closer matched to shaft diameters for me. I make certain the shafts are straight before I taper, then spin test for trueness of taper when done. If necessary, I fine tune the taper with a little emery board (sandpaper on a stick). I make up 2 or 3 dozen a year. If I had a belt sander, I'd use that. If I had a fatter checkbook, I'd get one. Meanwhile - my broadheads all spin test just fine.

You can have the one I have. Its aAccurate taper tool. TT3 11/32 5°

The nock tapers may have to be perfect for some. However a lot of my shafts aren't and neither em I. I can't shoot the difference. If there is an arrow that constantly shoots off I would get rid of it. Nothing has to be that perfect. Rooty

Thats the way i feel Rooty.

Rooty is right in my thinking i do what works for me and have had great results . been shooting wood for years if i want a straighter arrow more perfect arrow i will go to carbon or aluminum . i still try to make as best wooden arrow as possible .

Carbon and aluminum have no soul ; )

Its a Wood arrow nation!

I also think that some of the thinking on here by a few makes me think they should really be using mechanical bows. they tend to over engineer everything no matter what it is .George Stout remembers a guy that he shot with back in the 70s Bob Legros i worked with him he was a master tinkerer to say the least .They all shot recurves then but he still could tinker and tune till the cows came home and was not a good shooter to say the least .he enjoyed tuning more than shooting .

Very true Mountain Man. There's a song by Charlie that apply. Rooty

How can you be the arrow if its plastic or metal?

; )

Dont get me wrong I understand the tolerances are easyer to find and maintain on man made materials,,,and i do use them once in awhile But prefer wood,,,its made to fly

i like wood alot

Thanks for all the reply

Shooter

Shooter so what are you going to use now after all that ,

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