looking for dowel rod arrow tutorial

[woodsman1031]

I wish I didnt have to work tonight. I am so tempted to run to town and get some more dowels and experiment some more . If I do I wont take a nap before work and I will be miserable.

I am so glad all of yall put your personal findings and information on this site for everyone to benefit from!

Tommy

[JW_Halverson]

HaHa, yur hooked now!

[jape]

Just a suggestion, from a painful (and dangerous) mistake of my own, please bind below the nock as a split there can cause an arrow explosion that can in worst case bounce back to the eye. I love making arrows and I do all my fletching by hand without a jig, only takes a bit of practice, I use a thin brass hinge lined with cardboard and some small clamps to hold it in place on the arrow while it dries or tie the pointy ends of the feathers in place first, binding here saves cuts from sharp quills too.

[woodsman1031]

Jape,

  How do I bind it? Do you mean wrapping it in something like artificial sinew and super gluing it?


Thanks

[JW_Halverson]

Artificial sinew has a lot of wax in it and from my experience doesn't take glue very well.  If you don't have real sinew you can also use plain old sewing thread.  Start just ahead of the nock and wrap about a quarter inch of the shaft.  If you lay a little elmer's glue down where you are gonna wrap it helps hold the thread in place.  Super glue over the wraps once the glue is dry will hold her down nicely.  That's one way help prevent the notch from splitting down the shaft. 

It also helps to cut your nocks perpendiculat to the grain running across the end of the shaft.  Grain goes this way: | then you put your nock thru this way: --  That way they end up like this: +.  Think of the bowstring as a splitting axe coming down on a peice of firewood.  If you are  making firewood, match the axe to the grain for best results.  If you are making arrows go across the grain. 

Even a crappy bow (like mine) perform better with a good arrow.  I try to build fun bows and serious arrows.

[scattershot]

This one is wrapped with dental floss, but you can wrap with just about anything. Just a little added protection.

Good luck!

[Kegan]

I use artificial sinew, split into finer strands. I don't use glue on it, but smear it with pine pitch. I haven't had alot of trouble with it. Not alwys the most "sophisicated", but it works, and sorta looks "primitive".

[woodsman1031]

Scattershot,

  That arrow is beautiful!!!!! That nock looks great!  I would love to see more pictures of your (and anyone else's) arrow nocks from different angles. And possibly the techniques yall use to make them.

Thanks for all of the input guys.

BTW: Is there a particular sewing thread that would be the best?

Tommy

[scattershot]

Thanks, Woodsman. I usually start by making aa cut with a hacksaw to the depth of the blade. Then make a partial taper with the point end of a taper tool, and open the original cut with a tile blade in a hacksaw frame and finish with a chainsaw file. I make the flutes on the side of the nock to keep the sharp edges from abrading the bowstring. The only wooden nocks I have had break on me were too tight for the string, creating a wedge effect, but I wrap them anyway or put in a spline to reinforce the nock.

Ionian and others are true artists, and I'm sure they'll be along shortly to post some pics for you. Good luck!

[woodsman1031]

What species of wood do you use for you arrows Scattershot?

[scattershot]

The first picture is ash, the second is Port Orford cedar.

[woodsman1031]

[ but I wrap them anyway or put in a spline to reinforce the nock.

Scattershot, What is a spline?

Tommy

[scattershot]

The second picture shows a spline. It's a piece of hardwood or horn, etc, inserted crossways to the nock to reinforce it. This is rosewood.

[woodsman1031]

Scattershot,

It fits so tight I thought it was painted that color. So the rosewood goes deeper than the slot is cut? so if you rolled it over the bottom of the nock is rosewood?

Tommy

[scattershot]

Yes,  the spline needs to extend farther into the shaft than the nock groove in order to reinforce the nock. It's not as hard as it looks, but it's pretty time consuming.