Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: dueb on October 28, 2014, 06:33:57 pm
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Anyone know where I can get some shafts to fit my 32 inch draw length?
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In a cane field ;D ;D ;D .....seriously what type of shaft. And, you must be 6'10" tall or your just fishing.
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Haha, but seriously, I just finished my first bow and I don't have any arrows to put through it. My draw length is really 32 inches and my bow is around 40 pounds @ 32". I've never made my own arrows so I don't know what i'm looking for. Any suggestions would be great.
No cane fields where I live either. XD
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Cane or shoot shafts would be your best option....
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definitely a newbie question, but what is a shoot shaft?
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Hardwood sapling shoots like dogwood, as an example. There are many things to use that you can find. Where do you generally live, folks can give you a heads up on your environment. Bamboo garden stakes of the right diameter are always a starting point.
Good luck.
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I live in southcoast Massachusetts
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look for the sticky on bamboo arrows from home improvement store. You can make them any length you like. With a long draw and low (40lb) weight, longer is better anyway, because the bamboo is pretty stiff stuff. It is a good, cheap solution that you will like.
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I made a trip to Lowe's and found some 3/8 ths inch poplar dowels. I brought them home and made a spine tester and they match my bow very nicely! thanks for the help guys! ;D
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5/16" poplar dowel rods from Lowe's Hardware are 48" long. They usually have a spline weight of around 35 to 42 pounds. They cost about 85 cents each. Make sure to pick through them and only buy the ones with the grain running the full length.
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What I did was bought three different kinds of dowels, came home and tested the spine on each. Then I picked the ones that matched the bow and my draw length (happened to be the 3/8th poplar) and put them through the bow, They worked out great!!! I'll be sure to check the grain, don't want one splintering/exploding when I let loose. ;)
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You often can't see the grain in the Poplar dowels unless you stain the wood. I had one blow up on me the other day that I had hand picked. Turned out it was straight for 90% of the shaft but had a tight curl near the fletching that I never noticed. Luckily it held together and made it downrange.
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3/8ths is quite chunky diameter wise. You will likely get much nicer arrows from using cane. Most garden canes you buy are Tonkin cane (which is bombproof) it's best to buy a good few canes and they can be bought cheaply in large bundles if you look about. As mentioned above there is a great build-a-long on how to make them. They are a bit of work but well worth it in my eyes.
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Yeah, I'm going to try and find some cane locally. I feel they would make better arrows than poplar, but for now I have six poplar arrows to mess around with in the yard. ;)
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Much of the Tonkin cane that I have seen splines out in the 65# to 120# and up range. I bought a bundle of 500 Tonkin Cane to mess about with. Over 70% have spline weights over 65#.