Making a batch of medieval aspen barrelled arrows

[Ruddy Darter]

Here's the feather supply company doing their daily trot to fresh grass across from the pond, they hold up the traffic a few times
each day  , nice to see geese make the world slow down  .
Here's the rabbit skin glue I'm using and my double boiler set up, and horn inserts glued in.
 R.D.

[Pat B]

Looking great, RD. I love it that the geese get the right of way.
 Rubber bands work well for "clamping" like with your cow horn insert and keep even pressure along the length of the clamped area.

[Ruddy Darter]

Thanks for that tip Pat, I used that cotton string as it was close to hand and it is quite stretchy, thinking about it I'll properly cut some thin strips of bike inner tube for future use and give that a go.

I got the heads fixed in place, I'll stick them with two-part epoxy.
 When shaping the cone I pencil in a central dot on the end and carve to that point for reference to keep it straight.
I rasp the cone and then tailor the fit for each arrowhead with the steel rule with 180grit cloth stuck to it.
I'll scrape in some grooves on the cone with a rat tail file before I glue on to avoid air pockets.
R.D.

[Pat B]

Nice, nice, nice! Did you forge the points also or is that someone else's pay grade?

[Ruddy Darter]

No, I have zilch blacksmithing knowledge. These are made by Hector Cole MBE, a historical blacksmith/arrowsmith here in the UK, he specialises in reproducing archeological finds, he's easy to find on the internet and very interesting.
 I've spent a little time with the concave scraper to even out where I can, there is quite a bit of variation and I'm a little more oval than round in places, but lesson learned more time and attention required when initially squaring out and tapering before rounding. Hopefully it won't detract from the finished arrows and performance. I feel I would do a lot better now for future attempts.
Working the nocks...
Although aspen is hydrophobic I'm putting on a couple of coats of danish oil for added durability and water protection for the rabbit skin glue, I'm doing that before I fletch the arrows.
R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

Haven't had the weather to grind the feathers outdoors (I will definitely try that tip of stripping the feathers after steam on the next batch),  I got the beeswax resin coat on.
I painted on the melt with a natural hair brush so it didn't melt or burn in the mixture and never left it in the pot.
I made up some wraps out of some scrap stretchy leather, i found masking tape lifts with heat and gets messy.
I'll run them over a little flame to smooth out the mixture on the shaft before tieing the feathers on.

 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

...smoothed ready for feathers.

 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

I got three completed, don't know if I'll get the time to do more this week but I have these to test fly for the weekend.
I found processing the goose feathers for fletching a bit problematic but figured out a good routine now. I also run a V-tool carving chisel down the membrane after grinding to get a chanel that allows the quill to lay more secure to the shaft, makes a nice bit of difference.
They're not perfect by a long shot but getting better with each arrow. I'll enjoy making a couple of arrows at a time and fine tuning the process.
 R.D.

[Pat B]

Beautiful arrows, RD. Now all you need is a French horseman in chain male to try them out on. 

[Ruddy Darter]

Haha.. I'll stick with the designated straw boss I reckon , the only morning star I want to be wrestling with is the one in the sky  .
The arrows feel very light and strong so eager to try them out..should be fun.
 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

Been quite a while since I've been able to get around to finishing these arrows off, I gave them a try out today with a 110lbs bow and they performed extremely well, I'm definitely going to stick with the barrelled profile from now on.
Anyways, they eventually got done. 
All the best,  R.D.