Sealing Red Oiser arrows & shafts

[ojibwatbowyer]

Can arrows be sealed with rendered animal fat such as bear grease? I have some seasoned shafts and tonnes curing for some shorties and wanted to keep it as authentic as i can (i hate using the word primitive). I have heard of using animal grease to seal arrows before but just wanted a second opinion and maybe some testimonials. And how long does it take to cure shoots? I have some that have been drying for a year and shoot great and unprocessed shafts drying for about four or five months. I am not even gonna touch the latest batch, just wondering about how long it takes. Its winter so its pretty dry inside.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I cannot help you, as I do not seal my arrows properly. I just mix some mineral spirits and pine pitch to make varnish, then paint the arrows with it.
I have heard that oils applied every few weeks(like linseed oil) and rubbed in can water-proof an arrow. not truly waterproof, just make it water repellent. I know people use wax and oil on bows.
Try it on 3 arrows or so, and let us know how it goes.
-Squirrel

[Pat B]

Yes you can and hand rubbing fat into the shafts creats heat helping the wood to absorb more. You probably won'yt be ably to glue the fletching on with a grease finish but you could tye them on.   I use pitch varnish I make for hardwood shoot arrows. All it is is hard , brittle pitch disolved in alcohol then starines. It works well for arrows made from natural materials. I paint it on with a cheap watercolor brush so I can have the shaft already fletched before adding the pitch finish.

[ojibwatbowyer]

I am wondering because I am planning on making a set of arrows in the plains style, mainly sioux I suppose. I wonder how they sealed their arrows. From some of the pictures I have seen the fletching is most often tied down with some being glued down. Its kinda hard though to know what they really did to seal the arrows based on old accounts, how accurate are they? I did experiment a few years ago with just tying them down soaking the fletching first so it would shrink and tighten, worked alright i suppose. I wish back then I had a better understanding of spine sure woulda helped some. Anywho, thanks for the advice fellas, i guess I'll have to find out what works best for me eh?

Nate

[Pat B]

Nate, contact Jackcrafty(Patrick). He knows a lot about Native American and specifically Plains cultures. He has a few build alongs in the "How To" section.

[crooketarrow]

  Yes I've used bear grease and wax a lot of times.
  If you do remember to bring them inside and let them get warm. I'll but them up high over night. Heated wood alows the grease or wax to penatrate down deep in the pours. You can heat them up with with a little fast rubbing. But be carefull of aplying direct heat they will warp where you've heat or straighten before .and you'll have to restraighten.
 
 I've did it like this for years but not always. Doing it like this you can't stain in the end. So to get some color I use to add my own natural pigments to my grease or wax ahead of time to get the color I wanted. Boiled CARCOAL, for gray, WALLNUT HALLS  for brown, red clay for burnt brown, I used poke berries wild grapes. All boiled right into the bear grease or bee's wax. I add ,rub the grease or wax in as you straighen and sand. then give it a good coat when finish. It's alittle messy and you'll have to tie on your fletching because the glue can be if'y.

[Dan K]

Hmmm...I have quite a lot of tree sap collected.  Mostly doug fir and pine.  So what;s the best to mix it in, mineral spirits or alcohol?  Can you add natural pigment to this and make a paint or stain?

[vyadha]

If you have lots of sap, make some pitch to glue the fletching with. Then mix some of the pitch with animal fat for a sealant. I use bear fat and bees wax for a seal after i glue the fletching on. Here in South CA we dont get a ton of rain and I havent had any problems.

[Pat B]

Dan, I use denatured alcohol. Just dissolve the hard brittle pitch in the alcohol and strain off the solids. I store it in an air tight jar and it seems to last about a year like that.

[vyadha]

Thats a great technique Pat. Im gonna have to try it

[Pat B]

It works great but you have to use hard brittle pitch. I use it to seal some primitive arrows and most sinew wraps.

[Dan K]

Thanks Pat. I'll give it a try. I don't have any bear fat Vyadha but my neighbor leeps bees so I'll try mixing with the wax.   Thanks guys!

[ojibwatbowyer]

Lots of good info so far thanks for contributing fellas. I Just have one more question in regards to fletching; when trimming fletching for the short arrows, do you guys peel off the vane or do you trim the quill? I hope that makes sense but just to clarify my question and give a little more background detail, I am wanting to make some plains style short arrows ranging in length from 24 to 26in on red osier. What I have been doing is just trimming the quill and using a box cutter to trim as best I can, but the blades dull easily and need to be replaced, not really a problem as I tend to go over board and buy more than enough. Grinding is out of the question as the old belt sander is shot, and burning them smells to much like burnt hair. It is very time consuming when cutting with a knife and I am wondering if it is worth it to just peel the vane from the quill and glue it down with hide glue and tie it with sinew?

This brings me to my next concern, durability. It seems that without the quill it is fragile and maybe wont last more than a few shots (20-30?) before it takes on some damage and needs to be replaced. Box cutter blades are much easier to replace than some good turkey primaries IMO.

So any body willing to chime in, share some of your experience with a noob?

[Pat B]

I usually split the quill and sand it smooth. I like the more rigid fletching but I know plenty of guys that just strip and tie or glue on. It is very rare that I have to replace fletching. Generally only if I hit it with another arrow.