Homemade arrow dip tube

[JW_Halverson]

Knoll showed me how to make a home made arrow dip tube for applying a clean, consistent finish on arrow shafts.

Start with a 3 inch reducer. Find the one that gets you as close to the one inch Schedule 40 pvc pipe as possible. You may need an intermediate reducer to get from the 3 inch down to the 1 inch. You can get away with 30 inches of the 1 inch pvc pipe even if you are dipping 32 inch arrows because of the funnel like reducer that sits on top.

Glue the little cap on the bottom and you have your dip tube.

The plastic lids from a one pound coffee can work great for a cover, too!

[JW_Halverson]

Here's the assembled dip tube. The second photo shows a casting stub often found on the 3 inch reducer. I find that if I file this off with a rasp, then sand smooth with 220 grit, I get a better seal from the coffee can lid.

[JW_Halverson]

I have been having excellent luck with using water based MinWax Polycrilic finish. It is a little thick and drips a really long time, wasting a bit of product. I fix that by cutting the liquid with about 25-30% distilled water. That means it has less viscosity and runs off a bit faster, cutting the time you have to hold an arrow over the dip tube while it slows to a minimal drip. You may have to dip 3 or 4 times to build up a heavy finish on your arrows. The Polycrylic comes in gloss, semi-gloss, satin, and matte finish. Glossier for fancy show-off arrows, and down to matte finish for hunting.