First shots plus question about bare shafting

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

As you have seen in my last topic i finnished my bow. Now i made some shoot shafts, wich i did cut the same time as my bow wood. First of all, first time shooting with a bow, specially you own made one give such a good feeling .
But about the shafts, i keep having to straightening Them, and i did it multiple Times but every time i check Them, they are bended a little bit to one side,  over the whole lenght (+-), i store Them laying on a flat surface. And also after every shot. About bare Shaft tuning, luckly i had a rose Shaft wich shot dead straight instantly so i putted 2 nails in my workbench, put the rode Shaft on It with 2 lb weight in the middle and marked the point of the hook that hangs on the Shaft on the bench. I made a few more shafts close to the spine of the rose, a little bit stiffer, some lighter because i can do things with point weight or scraped Them down for the dogwood shafts. Now i shot a dogwood Shaft at close range on a quick made target but missed It. In the air i Saw the nock of the Shaft  go right but once it made contact with the clay It pulled straight and the nock ended a Lil bit left. Would that be because the forward motion pulled the Arrow straight in the clay but because of the mass It sweeped a little farther Then straight or is It something with the spine? ,( Im a left handed Shooter by the way)

[bradsmith2010]

Try not to make it so complicated at first....make some shafts,,,,shoot the ones that shoot best...gradually fine tune the others,,,,put feathers on the best shooting ones,,,,enjoy

[willie]

Ricardo,

if the nock went right and you shoot lefty with no feathers, then the arrow was weak. It might have been whipping back and forth pretty good if it was real weak so who knows what happens when it hits something like clay. here is a good thread. I found it by doing a search like    bareshaft tuning site:http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=61695.0

you have to be a pretty consistent shot to make much from bareshaft testing, so if you are just starting out shooting, bradsmiths advice is the way to go

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

Ah oke thanks for the advise, il do that

[Allyn T]

Jim hamm grooves arrows and then greases them and straightens with heat. He said the grooves create a ridge which being closer to the heat hardens them more holding the shape. I've never made a bow or arrow so I'm just repeating what I read.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

I did Read that too, i will try that with the next shafts because when i Heat these they Will return to original state (happend once before)

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

My first few fletched arrows

Most left Arrow is eastern 2 feathers fletch with Guinea feathers, others are 3 feathers fletch with Duck feathers

[Pat B]

Are you using heat to straighten the shoots?  That helps drive moisture out of the shoot(beware of steam at the ends) and tempers them helping then to stay straight.  Also, were the shoots at least second year growth? Did they have just leaves(or leaf scars) or did they have small branching. Shoots with branching are at least 2nd year growth and more appropriate for durable shoot shafts.

[Allyn T]

Looks pretty good, how hard were they to Fletch?

[bassman]

As Willie said. It takes good shooting form to bare shaft. If you have a store bought straight arrow in the spine range of the bow bare shaft that first. You can adjust point weight , and cut the arrow back if need be. Shoot the bare shaft with a feathered arrow. They should impact in the same  place, straight,and together. When you can do that consistently you will know you have the ability to bare shaft. Then you can go to your home made arrow ,an repeat the process. Go to bare shaft testing on utube  if the above is not clear to you. Their you will find what you need to do with videos.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

I didn't use Heat by these really, i try with the met ones.
It wasnt really hard to fletch them, threat i used was split balling twine as It is strong and flat fibersThe hardest partbwas gluing Them on in the middle,
,Next time i try other glue.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

So today i went to the Woods to practise at big grass pols and i aimed on one that was quite far away, half way the Arrow Just lifted up into the sky and got blew away by the wind, It was unfletched the way.

The question is, what is the reason behind the Arrow going up out of the sudden

[bradsmith2010]

because it was unfletched

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

Ah oke, didn't know that, i Just straighted Them today and putted a nock in It and wasnt too much daylight left so i didn't have time to fletch Them and still shoot today. I did also Read that some african tribe dont fletch at all but they might shoot at shorter distance then?