What tools for making shafts

[cutty]

Need to get away from alum and carbon shafting. What tools do I need to get starting on wood arrow making.
I plan on getting my own Sitka spruce for shafts. Not wanting every tool out there, just what do I need to get started?

[DC]

A saw for cutting 7/16" square strips. A table saw is best, a skill saw would work. A board with a "V" groove cut in it with a stop at one end to hold the arrow for planing. A block or small plane. A cup of coffee. Maybe a pot of coffee.

[Pat B]

If you are buying commercial shafts you shouldn't need many tools to build arrows. A simple pencil sharpener type plastic taper tool will give you the taper for the point(5 deg) and the nock(11 deg) or you can use a belt sander with a gauge for the proper tapers. If you go with self nocks a single saw blade kerf can be adjusted to fit the string with a thin bladed knife and sand paper. A spine tester is a good tool to have but you can build good arrows without one. A fletching jig is handy but hand wrapped 3 fletch is easy enough as is an Eastern Woodland 2 fletch.

[willie]

this

[DC]

What is that!!!???

[penderbender]

Looks like a very nice dowel maker! Chuck up a blank and turn it through? Very interested in it and where it comes from. Cheers- Brendan

[Hawkdancer]

Check out the sponsor TSA . They have several prepped shafts and maybe blanks available.
Willie - that is a nifty tool, where is it available?

A whole bunch of natural shoots will make real good arrows!  Depends on how original do you want to get.  I am not the guru by any means, just getting back into this skill set after about 50 years! The military does weird things to your brain !  Not being 21 anymore doesn't help either. Bounced a couple times too many!

Using shoot, you can work them down with a scraper and size them through a hardwood board, carefully.  See above disclaimer! . Like that little devil!  Drill a hole the size you want and gently force the shaft into it, back off, scrape, repeat as needed!  Takes a bit, but you get a lot of tinder for firestarting
Hawkdancer

[willie]

Mike Lea & Daughter,               oldguns2109   "at"  sbcglobal.net     

makes them for ramrods,arrows fishing rod tips and chair spindles. works on shoots and bamboo too.

its a very nice tool machined from bronze

[BowEd]

cutty..Look once in the build-a-longs.There are different ways to make self nocks.Each come out with the same result.
I don't use a drill and drill bit.I use 2 hacksaw blades taped together or my band saw blade for the slot cut cross grain.On shoot shafts it's not necessary to worry about cross grain.Then a flat 1/4" wide flat file and a round hobby file matching the diameter of your serving thickness.So really only 3 tools.
I'd wrap each self nock from the throat of the nock a half inch down with sinew or a tough nylon type serving sized with thin super glue.

[Knoll]

For reinforcing self nocks I've had good results using "upholstery" thread and super glue from WalMart's arts/crafts dept. This was robin hood'd arrow ... thread prevented splitting the shaft.

[neuse]

That is a cool looking tool.
A must have kinda thing.

[loefflerchuck]

A bandsaw with a guide wastes far less wood than a table saw. It has a very thin blade.

[Pat B]

I make a single bandsaw cut and open that to fit the string with a thin bladed knife(or razor) and 150 emery cloth folded over and over again until the string fits then lightly round the corners and relieve the bottom of the nock to prevent string ware at full draw.

[archeryrob]

I don't use anything except for a thumb plane to reduce shaft diameter and a spine tester to measure to 2# over desired weight. The sand paper in hand to clean and drop the last two pounds.

[Wooden Spring]

I posted on here some time ago a very simple jig that you can make to turn out perfect arrow shafts every time, and it's nowhere near as finicky as planer/pencil sharpener type jigs. It's not my original idea, but I thought it was really cool.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,44952.msg607764.html#msg607764