Tapering War Arrows

[TheDukesArchers]

I'm making some livery arrows with 1/2 shafts, will I need to taper them down to 3/8 at the nock? I don't have a tapering jig so how can it be done by hand?


Thanks

[Ian.]

Do you have an electric drill?

[TheDukesArchers]

I do yes. Does the taper start in the middle of the arrow and taper towards the nock?

[Ian.]

You need to have an ideal weight in mind, which for a heavy bow can be anything from 60-70 grams then minus the weight of the head. Weight all the shafts from heaviest to lightest. Start with the heavy ones first and taper 6" down from the point, to the very tip. You want to aim for an even taper from 1/2 to 3/8, you do that by wearing a glove and holding 120 grit sandpaper, with the shaft in the chuck spin the drill a fair speed and gently grip the arrow from the point and move slowly down, you should be able to remove a good amount of wood doing it this way, when you are nearly done move to 400 grit with the same process until all the marks are gone. With the lighter shafts do the same just taper them a little less. The final result is arrows all of the same weight.

Tapering jigs are easy to make, so I recommend you have a think about getting the parts together to make one.

[DarkSoul]

Do you "need" to taper them....no. The arrow will not know if it's taper. But you will be able to make a lighter arrow with the same spine by tapering it. However, if you want to make a Livery Arrow that meets the EWBS regulations, you need fulfill these requirements, including

Any shaft wood found on board the Mary Rose is acceptable. These include ash, birch, oak and most commonly aspen or poplar. Either a torpedo or bob-tailed shaft profile is acceptable.
Minimum shaft diameter at the shoulder 1/2”
Minimum shaft diameter at the nock 3/8”
Minimum Shaft length (bottom of nock to shoulder) 30 ½”

As far as tapering goes...do you think they had tapering jigs and powertools a few hundred years ago? You can use a small but sharp hand plane. It leaves some rough edges which can be sanded smooth by hand. If you're making only a few arrows, this works great. For consistent batches of wararrows, a jig will be useful.

[Ian.]

If you don't taper them, one they will be far too heavy and, two they will fly like a brick. Depending on the wood you need to be careful when using scrapers and bladed tools as they will snag easily.

[adb]

I taper mine using a belt sander. I taper the last third of the shaft evenly down to 3/8" by hand on the sander,  leaving a 'torpedo' type of profile. I continuously roll the shaft across the belt, being careful not to stop and create a flat spot. I can taper a doz 1/2" shafts in about an hour. Then I sand them by hand down to a 220 grit.

[adb]

And yes, Ian is right... they fly much better when tapered. It mostly has to do with the fact that a tapered shaft is more tip heavy.

[bow-toxo]

As far as tapering goes...do you think they had tapering jigs and powertools a few hundred years ago? You can use a small but sharp hand plane. It leaves some rough edges which can be sanded smooth by hand. works great.                                         

What they did have was a plane with a concave edge blade, which works faster and with better rounding than a flat blade. Problem is the difficulty of getting one nowadays.

[TheDukesArchers]

I taper mine using a belt sander. I taper the last third of the shaft evenly down to 3/8" by hand on the sander,  leaving a 'torpedo' type of profile. I continuously roll the shaft across the belt, being careful not to stop and create a flat spot. I can taper a doz 1/2" shafts in about an hour. Then I sand them by hand down to a 220 grit.

Ah cheers, mate. So it's the last third to be tapered down to 3/8. Will be doing it all by hand as I lack a belt sander.

[adb]

As far as tapering goes...do you think they had tapering jigs and powertools a few hundred years ago? You can use a small but sharp hand plane. It leaves some rough edges which can be sanded smooth by hand. works great.                                         

What they did have was a plane with a concave edge blade, which works faster and with better rounding than a flat blade. Problem is the difficulty of getting one nowadays.

Spokeshaves with a concave blade are not difficult to obtain. I've never tried it for arrow shaft tapering, but it would probably work OK.

[Tom Leemans]

Dean Torges once showed me how to taper an arrow with a bowyer's edge tool. He drew a ring around the shaft at 3, 6, and 9 inches. He then laid the arrow on a piece of stock with a v groove running the length of it and a brad in one end sticking up just high enough to stop the arrow from moving. Now to the process... You start at the 3 inch mark and scrape towards the nock end, all the way around the shaft, rotating it after each pass, just enough to remove the mark, then move to the 6 inch line and scrape all the way to the nock, then from the 9 inch line. Once done, you only need a little hand sanding to remove tool marks and you're done.