Overall length of foreshaft arrows

[89JeepYJ]

I have partially completed a primitive arrow with the mainshaft at 23 1/2" made from a honeysuckle branch.The foreshaft is about 7 1/2" made of hardwood. So overall length is about 31". I shoot arrows that are 29 1/2".

Does that sound about right? Not sure if could go with a longer mainshaft or foreshaft. There's a lot of honeysuckle bushes around where I live.

[riverrat]

is the forshaft permanently glued in? or changeable?. if its glued in your fine if its removable you want your shaft at least as long as your draw.Tony

[Thunder]

I  make my main shaft a little longer than my draw length, for safety (I dont glue my foreshafts in).
Your foreshaft length will depend on foreshaft/point total weight and main shaft spine. You might have to try a couple different combos to get the arrow flight you like. I posted some foreshafted arrows recently, if you'd like to take a look, Foreshafted Tonkin Cane is the subject title I think. Ask questions if you need to and post pics.

Cheers
Thunder

[89JeepYJ]

Riverrat, I'll be making removable shafts. I read honeysuckle isn't the best arrow material, but there's a lot of it growing here with straight branches. I'm gonna go harvest a lot of it next chance I get.

[bowandarrow473]

Are you speaking of Amur Honeysuckle as I have heard good things about that particular species.

[89JeepYJ]

Yes, I believe that's what it is. Grows like crazy around Deer Creek State Park here in Ohio. I got 19 shafts last time I was down there. I would've collected more but it was getting dark. I read about honeysuckle used as a bow wood. Good to know because I saw some really thick straight pieces of honeysuckle, I'll have to go back sometime and cut them down.

It seems dense and strong, but flexes well. How ironic that I passed up honeysuckle so many times. About a year ago I took some branches of honeysuckle and flexed them. Didn't even know what the stuff was a the time, I passed it up because I heard a lot of cracking as it flexed. Turns out the cracking noise was the bark coming off.

[rkeltner]

I made a honeysuckle bow that had a  natural, slight recurve. had a high crown, as is typical of the species , but it shot well for an overbuilt bow. it finally gave up, I believe because I didn't use a good design for such a high crown, and maybe because the linen I used for the backing was of poor quality. [the only other bow that had that material on it also broke!]

[Pat B]

I would consider the fore shaft as part of the point and not the arrow so I'd spine the arrow with consideration for the weight of the fore shaft and point.

[gutpile]

sounds similar to how I do all mine...spine cane shaft heavy...about 10 lbs to 15lbs over.. reason when you add foreshaft it will bring spine down to your range... my draw is 26.5 I cut cane at 25inches and spine from 60 to 70 lbs..bows are in 50 to 55 lb range...my foreshafts are about 3 to 4 inches sticking out of cane and could be as long a 7 inches with cane butting against a node..... which is a critical point....gut