black osier arrows

[jeffp51]

That is how I do it too.  Get the shaft pretty straight before you spin it up.  The belt sander will take out minor imperfections and keep the shaft round.  I second what DC said.  I once had one come out of the drill, and get shot at high velocity (that happens fairly often). This one hid the door, bounced back, and hit the underside of the belt, and get shot back in the opposite direction.  Couldn't do it again if I tried, but it was a big surprise.

[DC]

If someone can come up with a real nifty way of holding the shafts in the drill I would love to see it. I made a little collet thingy that helps but you need two or three of them when using bamboo or shoots. Eventually they flatten out and stop working as well. Also I use a 3/8" drill and with the collet in there it doesn't leave much room for arrow.

[jeffp51]

I leave my shaft a little long with the first sanding and just crank down tight-which usually dents the wood pretty good. On final sanding/spine matching, I just spin them lightly by hand. I get the tips and nock ends if the shaft is heavy but weak, which is why these are battle shafted, and I sand the middle if the shaft is stiff, but close to my target weight. Go slow, it is easy to over shoot and end up with a weak spined arrow.

[DC]

I use boo and OS almost exclusively and both have a hollow(ish) core. If I crank down on it they split, often quite far up the shaft. I guess I should glue a filler in the core first. 

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Hmm, maybe a strip of closed-cell foam thin enough to wrap it around the end of the shaft then chuck that in the drill?

[DC]

Good idea. That made me think of rubber surgical tubing. Thanks

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

 

[Hawkdancer]

Maybe a short "whipping" with heavy thread or artificial sinew would help.  Haven't progressed that far yet, but have some  shafts that should be ready to work very soon, and found a dozen or so that seasoned "in the wild" on my friend's ranch when they cut them and left them lay, luckily off the ground.  Btw, do you have the belt sander vertical or horizontal?

[DC]

Horizontal. I figured a way of holding the arrows . I drilled a 1/8" hole in the end. Easy cause I use bamboo and Ocean Spray. Then I CA glued a piece of 1/8" wire into the hole with about an inch sticking out. I grab the wire in the drill chuck. Now I can spin the arrow on the belt sander to my hearts content. When I'm done I just heat the wire to soften the glue and out it comes. It's a little fiddly but it beats having arrows firing across the room.

[Hawkdancer]

OK!  1. Lower sander to level position.  2.  Clear area in front to wall.  3. Place target backstop in appropriate position. 4. Sip poteen slowly.  5. Leave some for leprechauns, house brownies, and other faeries who may be about.  6. Mount shaft to drill and hope for good score! !

[jeffp51]

If you let it slip out of your hands instead of the drill, you can control the release against the belt much more consistently.