Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: arachnid on November 10, 2015, 12:13:28 pm
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Hi Guys.
So I desided not to buy Chinese shafts. Instead I'm making my own boo shaft from garden stakes.
2 questions:
1. What is the best way to attach field points to a boo shaft? I know the boo arrow build along explains it, but its pretty hard for me to use this method without that sharpner looking tool (forgot its name...).
2. What is the best way to make a set of arrows matched for my bow? I have 1 boo bare shaft tested with a good result. How can I match the other shafts to it?
Thanks
Dor
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i bought glue on target tips from a local archery store. You can also use duplex nails and cut the head off with a grinder or dykes.
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Problem is, the target tips I have are 8mm in diameter. The shafts are 7-10mm in diameter.
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Problem is, the target tips I have are 8mm in diameter. The shafts are 7-10mm in diameter.
Are they tapered inside? Wrap your shaft in nylon thread first?
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Problem is, the target tips I have are 8mm in diameter. The shafts are 7-10mm in diameter.
Are they tapered inside? Wrap your shaft in nylon thread first?
Yes the tipa tapered inside.
I didnt wrap the shaft. If I do, it will increase the diameter of the shaft
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I use a big pencil sharpener because i'm too cheap to buy a tapering tool. If they are too big or not I taper the tip and then glue on the target points.
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I taper cane shafts just like with doweled shafts. I use a belt/disc sander to taper. I've not had good luck on cane with pencil sharpeners type.
Also, I cut cane at 3/8" at the point end and 5/16" at the nock on a 30" arrow and they will usually fly well from a 45# to 60# bow.
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I taper cane shafts just like with doweled shafts. I use a belt/disc sander to taper. I've not had good luck on cane with pencil sharpeners type.
Also, I cut cane at 3/8" at the point end and 5/16" at the nock on a 30" arrow and they will usually fly well from a 45# to 60# bow.
The big ones for carpentry pencils work well. Home Depot sells one in a pack of like 10 or 20 pencils for pretty cheap that has worked well for me.
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I taper cane shafts just like with doweled shafts. I use a belt/disc sander to taper. I've not had good luck on cane with pencil sharpeners type.
Also, I cut cane at 3/8" at the point end and 5/16" at the nock on a 30" arrow and they will usually fly well from a 45# to 60# bow.4
Do you mean you don't tune them somehow? You just make qnd shoot?
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I'm not attempting to answer for Pat B, but two things about bamboo arrows, one, they are pretty forgiving on spine so it's not as big a deal as wood, two, if you're buying like 500 stakes or cutting a whole patch at a time, you can afford to eyeball it through making the arrows then toss aside what doesn't shoot well for you.
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I have been tapering mine with a belt sander and using clue on field tips. Sometimes there is a space on the shafts with a smaller diameter but it hasn't caused me any trouble yet. As far as getting a good group of arrows, I use a spine tester I made. It might be unnecessary and extra work but it has worked great for me. I made a little amateur 'how to' a few posts down if you haven't read it already.
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I do check spine to find out which is the stiffer side and that goes against the bow.
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have you seen this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_4w482Oty0
Not very primitive but it seems like it could save arrows, and cheap
I still haven't broken any of my boo arrows with brass points, however...
I do check spine to find out which is the stiffer side and that goes against the bow.
Do you rotate it 45 degrees more or less, or is it stiffer somehow when being bent in one direction than the other in the same plane? Since some people talked about shooting boo arrows with cock feather pointing to the bow as if the stiffness would be different, though it didn't seem like that to me
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This is a very good topic / thread with some very good comments.....let's keep it going, any other comments from you guys that have done it once or twice? ??? ???
Maybe use some glue on tips then transfer the weight to your final target or hunting points.............. :-\ :-\
DBar
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Generally the nodes will be on the horizontal plain. The nodes are on the stiff side so you have 2 options. That's why sometimes all it takes is flipping the arrow over, cock feather in, to achieve good arrow flight. Cane is very draw weight tolerant and like hardwood shoot shafts the taper of the shaft will reduce the affective spine of an arrow by up to 10#. The natural taper and quick recovery goes a long way when making good arrows.
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I thought about using screw in points for the boo shafts (since it`s hollow).
Anyone have good experiance with these kinds of points?
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I've used them and they do seem to do fine but I haven't used screw in points for arrows for years, since my compound days. If you do use them I'd suggest a sinew wrap behind the point for insurance. Probably don't need it though.
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I thought about using screw in points for the boo shafts (since it`s hollow).
Anyone have good experiance with these kinds of points?
I had to drill into them because the hole wasn't big enough, and I also applied gorilla glue to the holes. They had nylon thread wrapping + glue yet a lot of them broke, split or eventually lost their heads. They were 200gr screw in points...
The ones with the brass screw-in heads with the teeth on the inside, that are more like glue-in points have proven much more durable so far.
Does anyone here drill the nodes before heat straightening bamboo? I think I recall that the nodes could blow up with too much heat
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I've never drilled a relief hole before heating and never had one blow up.
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I thought about using screw in points for the boo shafts (since it`s hollow).
Anyone have good experiance with these kinds of points?
Down toward the bottom of the page, my post
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,28697.135.html
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Down toward the bottom of the page, my post
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,28697.135.html
Yeah, I just screwed the points into the bamboo with a drill after applying glue and wrapping.. Your way might work better.
I'm still partial to the plastic "foreshaft" for shock absorption, though I haven't tried it yet. I've broken plenty of arrows and it does not give me a good feeling.
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The reason I wanted the insert was so I could change the tip weight when I was bare shaft testing. I should get back to that, kinda got side tracked.
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rachnid, I know that you have taken a different direction with this, but I have made several batches of garden stake shafts over the years, and this year bought a hundred of the Chinese bamboo shafts off Ebay. I will NEVER again bother making a shaft from garden stakes. TheC hinese shafts came 34" long, spined, not weighed, and I got a hundred of them for 129.00. The quality of the material is AMAZING, although there is styill a lot that goes in to straightening and building the shafts.
Now, regardless, One good trick for bareshaft tuning is to make several heads that can compression fit or screw on, of different weights. I use the PEX plugs for blunts, and you could chuck them in a drill and remove material until you had a set of 160, 145, 125, 110 grains, etc... that can be forces onto the end of the shaft. If it's too small, wrap it with tape or thread first, or whatever. You could do something similar with large nuts of different weights. You could even wrap them and insert differentm lengths of rods or 16 penny nails or whatever to play with head weight.
Some of the Chinese guys on Ebay sell field points that have parallel insides just for bamboo shafts. Search Chinese arrow, and look for field points. They slip on a bamboo or wood shaft,a nd are glued or crimped on. You can also do the thread wrap with glue and then slip that head over the wrap and glue it again.
Inconsistency of the diameter is a reality of life with the bamboo shafts, because while they are all the same diameter generally, they just vary from, say 5/16 to 11/32 and it's all about node spacing, and there is nothing you can do about it. Either your point end or your nock ends or both are gonna all be different diameters, just slightly. I Wrapped the head ends of my thinner ones this year with spiraling slips of tough paper, and either one or two layers soaked in superglue would do it. I stained the paper and a little sanding took care of the rest.