Bamboo Arrow Pics

[samuraiwarrior]

I'm making this thread to track my progress on some bamboo arrows.  Also to mention that the geese at the local lake have just molted and I collected more than 60 primaries and secondaries.  I began to work on the secondaries which fit in my fletching clamp.  The longer feathers will need a different clamp to hold them during sanding.  Some of those feathers are huge, I am not sure what I should do with them yet. 





http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v623/Samuraiwarrior/My%20Bows%20and%20Arrows/
The shafts there are 2 kinds.  The ones on the left are Sasa Coreana, and the ones on the right are the stuff I get form the hardware store for staking plants.  The small bundle on the very right has been straightened, although only 3 are left as I discarded the rest because of damage or because they don't go together as a macthed set.  They will have horn nocks and brass points.  I'll get some pictures up soon. 

The goose secondaries were really easy to prepare, I split them with a sharp knife, put them in the clamp, sanded with 40 and then 400 grit.  I trimmed the edges of the quill so they aren't so wide at the leading edge. 

Maybe others can share ideas for the large goose fletchings (English War Arrows?) and bamboo arrows that others have made.

[Lloyd]

Those large primaries would be perfect for war arrows. I'd be happy to take some off your hands, if you are interested let me know.

[Little John]

I just strip away the leading edge part of the featherleaving the quill on the part to be used, I take the fletch from the small end of the feather and avoid the big quill and then they need little sanding to be perfect or none to be primitive. I can make eatch fletch in only a minute or two, much quicker and nicer job than all the splitting and taking away all the excess width at the large end of the feathers. They sure do make nice arrows and I never use bought fletches any more.   Kenneth

[Little John]

Lolyd, if you need some goose feathers I have more than I will use, let me know and I can send you some.  Kenneth

[DBernier]

Hey LJ, that is one of the feathers you sent me on my war arrow in the warbow thread. They work great. If you get any excess I could use them.

Dick

[samuraiwarrior]

Here is a bamboo arrow modeled after one I got from korea.  I used osage on the nock, brass tip, pheasant fletchings, and acrylic paint. 

Also, I will gladly trade goose primaries (I have enough feathers for 13 arrows) for pheasant primaries or sinew.  That's all I really need right now in a trade.
Thanks for looking.

[Little John]

You got it Dick, I will get you some packed up and I think I still have your address. Do you prefer left or right wing?    Kenneth

[rapsod]

Samuraiwarrior can you post picture of half-done feather? How thick and width is base of feather?

[1/2primitive]

I strip them and hand fletch, I think I will do a tutorial of how I do it, it just seems that it's a lot of truble to stlip and sand and fletch in a jig.
      Sean

[samuraiwarrior]

Rapsod, I'll try to get some pictures of the process and measurements as soon as I can for you.  Sean, I tried to strip one of the secondaries, but I couldn't get it to work, it always broke on my.  I have ruined a lot of feathers by stripping, and I didn't want to take the chance of ruining these so I decided to grind them.  I usually do prefer to strip them, I did it with the Pheasant fletchign on the above arrow, it makes for a much thinner base which is concave and makes a nice fit on the shaft.

[George Tsoukalas]

Dean Torges has an a nice article on bowyersden.com
See Barred for Life.
I made the jig with an adaptation or 2 for my own needs and works really well.
I just hold it and grind.
Jawge

[samuraiwarrior]

Rapsod, the base is about 1.5mm thick, it is also a maximum of about 4.5 mm wide.  They taper towards the back and get both less wide and thinner.  I would assume a larger feather such as a primary wouldn't taper so much.  The standard turkey feathers I have have a base of about 2.5mm wide and 1.0mm thick the entire length of the fletching.  Here are more pictures of 3 arrows I just finished and some older arrows. 




I dont' have a picture of a half processed feather, but when I work on more I'll take some pictures.
Hope you enjoy,
SW

[jamie]

excellent  work.