Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: nativenoobowyer86 on November 10, 2012, 06:29:24 pm
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HI everyone,
I am looking in to making heavier weight shafts for hunting. what would you recommend?? i have tried POC and Sitka Spruce, and even Lodgepole pine commercial shafts, but i want something that is heavier and that i can make myself. I know that 3rivers heaviest shaft is lam'd birch, is a laminated shaft a good option? i want the grain weight to be up over 600 gr @ 30in so that my total arrow weight is over 700, in case i happen to come up on a moose, and increased penetration on deer :)
also, i am starting to think a spine tester is critical to home-made arrows. i dont watn to dish out the $$ for one and am very intimidated by making one ahaha, is it that hard?
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use poplar or ash for shafts. Durable and heavier than POC or spruce. Making a testor is no biggie - dont be intimidated. I followed the 2jays build, and found it quite easy. Just google 2Jays and you will see what I mean. It works great.
Russ
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Sam Harper has a good build along for a spine tester, it's very simple.
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i've got some of those lamed birch shfts, they shoot great out of my heavy bows, bub
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Oak makes decent shafts as well as Ash, Poplar (lighter) Birch, Yellow birch (if you can find straight stuff) ,Hickory. The heavy hard wood shafts are going to be pretty high spine unless made smaller dia. I make my shafts with a 3/8 dowel cutter from Lee Valley (around $25 -30 with the socket for the drill) The hardwood usually comes in between 65-100 lbs. These are just offcuts from the shop. Yes you do need a spine tester as I've cut dowels from a 4x4 cedar post and had a range form 25 -65+ lbs in the same section, depending on where it falls from within the tree. One side of the tree almost allways has more dense growthrings than the other coupled with the center is always more dense than the sapwood. If you aren't getting the wood very cheap,or free it may not be economically beneficial to make your own unless you have a wide range of spine that you can make arrows for.Otherwise Go for it. Great satisfaction comes from making every part of the finished system!
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With native cane and hardwood shoots you can get the heavier weights, more durability because they are shoots and not split or sawn out and are more spine tollerent because of their natural taper...and they are free. ;D
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Red Osier Dog Wood seems to be my new choice for heavier arrows. I like the cane too. dpg
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Hey matt, I'm in the same boat as you are, wanna go splits on a spine tester? I figure with our close proximity 365 km :P we can spin them suckers out on mass. What say you? :D
By the way Im getting some white oak and ERC 8)
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I'm currently making hunting shafts that look and work incredibly well. I use quarter sawn eastern hard maple, teak, leopardwood, brazilian cherry. These spine from 50 lbs in 5/16 in the maple...to 130 lbs in 23/64 in leopardwood. You can email me if you want info on some testing I've done. (For example I'm able to use a lighter spine with hardwoods as thet recover quicker than softwoods). My email is kf571_2000@yahoo.com.
Kevin
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Ash and Oak make good, heavy arrows. I think that someone posted on this site awhile back about Hickory making good arrows as well.
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yep i 've made some tapered hickory arrows (heartwood) that are 3/8 at the point and 11/32 at the nock they all spined between 70# and 80# even when cut from 3 different boards.
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Dogwood.Normal shafts will be 11/32",55# to 60# spine,600 to 700 grain on a 29 and 1/2" bare shaft with a 125 field point for a 28" draw.
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Dogwood shoots in their second year make heavy, strong shafts indeed.
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dogwood
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here is a link to a post I did the summer
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,34314.msg453624.html#msg453624 (http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,34314.msg453624.html#msg453624)
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oh wow, thanks for the response everyone! I spent some time browsing the possibilities at my favorite lumber store yesterday. I am thinking that for sawn shafts i will give maple a go, i wanted to try ash but i cannot find a straight enough board. there is oak and birch too, but those three are the only ones i could find for a decent price and with straight enough grain. Lots of nice clean straight cedar, but i am pretty sure it is northern white cedar. and lots of straight clean pine with thick rings. both softwoods are cheap and easy to make into shafts
I do have about a dozen dry dogwood shoots but I forgot a measuring device when i was harvesting them. they are thick and it takes a looong time to work one down.
Nate, i would love to split a spine tester. I could produce a large amount of shafts as close as i can guess them to spine, then check em all at once and pass off the tester. Ill post up some pics soon, that lil chunk of ironwood i started for you a good while back is finally on the tiller stick, i had it at #60 at 24 today. send me a PM about your preferred draw weight and i can tweak and finalize the tiller :)
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One thing I did to increase the mass weight of some spruce I had was to two way splice a 7and1/2" footing on it.It gained another 40 grains and I was happy.I used scrap pieces of hedge,purpleheart,and cocobolo for my footings.A 10" footing would gain you 50 or 60 grains I bet or more.Making your own spine tester would help you a lot.
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If you take a good look at different parts of your hand ,arm,body, and measure them ,you'll find that most correspond to sizes you would use all the time . Once you know these measurements , you won't have to worry about forgetting your measuring device while collecting . Carefull with the knife or axe though , you wouldn't want to leave any measuring device in the bush ;)
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Has anyone tried maple for shafts, Ive made a few very unfinished arrows with glass knapped forshafts. I havent a clue as far as the spine would be and my bow soots around 50#s.
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I've made a few maple shoot arrows. They came out bigger in diameter, for the same spine rating than other hardwood shoots I have used. I've not tried maple shafting made from boards but they should work just fine.
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They are from saplings, my issue was the taper I have the large taper for the head, but Im wondering if the wood is too heavy? http://primaltorch.blogspot.com/2012/11/primitive-arrows.html this is my blog of the arrow i made. Please any tips at all are welcome.
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Stalkingfox. I just looked at your arrow. Very nice. But I would like to make a recommendation? Just below the self nock you have cut in, there seems to be an indentation or grove around the shaft just below it? I would be highly concerned about that weakening the end of the nock sides right there. I would definitely wrap that entire area with sinew and let it dry.
And to add, if you drilled a hole in the sapling to accommodate the fore shaft, I would also highly recommend that you wrap that also.
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Done stringstretcher thank you, ;) Im new to bow making I have a hackberry bow in the works now, Ive never heard of anyone making a short bow from hack berry i like my first bow its 47 Inches long I want the hackberry to be the same if possible. Now for arrows I have a few different wood types im not sure what they all are Ill get a pic posted on my blog, but the issue is i dont have any feathers. No goose vulture or turkey. I live in Iowa but i cant go after a turkey without my bow and its useless without arrows.. Hense the loop of terror rains on. :(
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Well as for the goose feathers, you can pick them up around ponds and lakes when they molt. Turkey feathers are not that hard to come by in the trade section. As for the vulture feathers, unless you want to spend some time possibly in jail along with a heavy fine, I would not suggest you even go near them. They are protected FEDERALLY. And even in your possesion is totally illegal
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Ah always good informaton, there are literally thousands of turkey vulturers where I live, seems odd that they're protected. But I will keep aways. I will have to check out the trade section. Thanks again!!
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DOG WOOD ,HEAVY, TUFF AS NAILS
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I cant seem to identify dogwood Im sure its here but to perfectively identify it is above me.
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I found an indonesian wood...looks like mahogany but stiffer. At 5/16..it spines 73lbs! Weight is around 500gr. Also some leopardwood 5/16 that spines 60 lbs at 5/16...(I turn that one down to a 50 lb spine and shoots perfectly from a 60 lb longbow). True.
Kevin
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Stalking Fox, like String Stretcher said, stay away from the vulture feathers, and any and all of the raptors, eagles, hawks, owls. Do you live near the woods? are there turkeys in your area? A little cracked corn, uh..... accidentally spilled..... ::) in the area they frequent, and you should be able to find feathers there, that they shed normally. If not, then is there anyone who raises chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, guinea fowl, etc. The wing feathers of any of these will work well. Turkey is much better, but if you don't have access to them, try the others. You won't be able to make the high style of fletching, except for the wing feathers of the Peacock, but they will make good fletching. Oh do you know of anyone who has a parrot, or cockatoo? When they molt, they have nice feathers also. Do you have a turkey season ? Use a gun, and then you have the materials, plus fine eating. ;) I have Turkeys come in my yard regularly and every now and then, they lose a feather. I also gather them in the fields. We have LOTS of wild turkeys out here! I have some wing feathers from the one group that comes here daily, when they were about chicken sized or so, and the are the perfect height for my style of fletching. Anyway, I hope that helps, and for a heavier and stronger spine weight, you might try using fiber glass resin :o :o :o, on your shafts. ;)
As string stretcher said, wrap those areas. Also, I would recommend that you use a smaller diameter thread, like upholstery thread, and cover all of the wraps,with super glue, or pitch glue, and smooth it out, so there is a smooth transition from the arrow head, to the shaft, and there is nothing to grab and slow the penetration. Also it water proofs it. ;) As Lost Arrow said, your body is arranged in a very well thought out process, and you can use arms, and such as measurements. For instance if you have normal arches, you can measure from the wrist joint, to the inside of your elbow , and that is your foot size, and from the wrist joint to the armpit is your inseam. Some kind of nifty designing thought went into the making of the human! Of course there are some areas where the chief engineers left for lunch, while the new guy stayed, and proceeded without them. ::) ::)
Good luck with the search for fletching, as a last resort, trade, or buy.
Wayne