Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Nasr on August 30, 2019, 11:09:19 am
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I went to the lumber yard that I always go to and asked if they had sitka spruce and he said yes and he showed me a bunch of it in the back which i never go to. I did not know they carried it. I was so happy I just took the shortest piece which was 7.25"d wide 2"thick and 61". Can anyone please tell me how wide the square stock needs to be? I want to get as much shafts as I can from this.
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Uhh you want to trade? ???
But seriously dude thats a big score!
do half an inch. That should get you get you... hm 4 per sq inch, so 8 per 1 inch heighthwise, 16 per 2 inch, 16*3, 48 for the first 6x2, plus 16 plus 4. If you dont break any and its perfect you should get 68*2 which is 134. You could get 134 if you do all the work and its perfect! Jeese dude! Thats alot!
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Doin the math again.
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Re did it, you can get 120 shafts if you do 1/2 inch cuts at 28-30 inches
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He has a bunch of this stuff and always keeps in stock. He said that people build airplane wings with it and has customers for it. I also took pictures of exotic wood for bows and I will be posting pics to see if anyone has built anything from them.
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Not to rain on your parade but making arrows from board stock is a tremendous amount of work. It's a numbers game you need to make a lot in order to end up with piles of matched shafts. I know that cuz I've done it and I know other people that do it. also if you're cutting them on a table saw a quarter of that board will end up on the floor as dust do the wide kerf. I've bought $30 fir boards and only ended up with a half a dozen shafts spine within my range. Now I've come to realize for 40 bucks to buy a matched dozen set of shafts is cheap.
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Not to rain on your parade but making arrows from board stock is a tremendous amount of work. It's a numbers game you need to make a lot in order to end up with piles of matched shafts. I know that cuz I've done it and I know other people that do it. also if you're cutting them on a table saw a quarter of that board will end up on the floor as dust do the wide kerf. I've bought $30 fir boards and only ended up with a half a dozen shafts spine within my range. Now I've come to realize for 40 bucks to buy a matched dozen set of shafts is cheap.
No its ok nothing you said wasnt known before. I know that not all of them are gonna spine the same for the same diameter but I should still be able to get them the same spine. As for the rest I have bows ranging from 30 to 60+ pounds If they dont work out for one bow they will just go to another. About the saw kerf you are right its about 1/8 inch so at .5 inches square stock (I might actually go lower then that) I should get about 70 shafts and they should be plenty big to adjust spine. I plan on learning with these as I dont really have much experience with making arrows.
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Oh i forgot to mention that I built a dowel jig thingy so idk if its gonna work but the plan is to start at 7/16 and see the weight there and if its too high go down a step lower until i get the weight I want.
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What spine are you looking for? I used some aircraft Sitka Spruce and got 55#spine from 3/8" shafts. It's beautiful straight grained stuff.
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What spine are you looking for? I used some aircraft Sitka Spruce and got 55#spine from 3/8" shafts. It's beautiful straight grained stuff.
I am looking for 50# spine but the bows I shoot range 45-55 and and have a couple that are heavier but I dont really shoot them much. I have made arrows before but this will be my first true arrow making experience so if I am off its ok. Do you think I can cut them smaller then 1/2? can I maybe cut them a tad over 3/8.
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Remember theyll get smaller as you round them.
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If you have a good blade on your tablesaw that cuts real clean, maybe, but it's risky. I cut mine at about .390-.400. The smart way to do it is to make a test cut in some scrap to measure the width of the kerf. Then figure your way backwards to see how many strips you can squeeze into 2". 2" divided by .375 is 5.333333. 5 strips has 4 kerfs. I doubt you'll get 4 kerfs in .3333333 unless you have a very thin blade. 4 strips is safer. If you have a real good bandsaw you could squeeze that extra strip out.
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Ill make some test cuts on a 2 in board from my scrap and see if I can get 5 but I am happy with 4. With 4 I can get 110+ square stock. Just trying to get as much from it without ruining it. This stuff not cheap.
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I'll cut 1/2" square blanks if I'm going to make shafts for heavy bows but for hunting weight arrows I find that 3/8" is plenty. I prefer making my own shafts, gives one a much broader knowledge base
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ill Try a few and see what spine I get. I’ll keep you guys updated with pics.
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Not to rain on your parade but making arrows from board stock is a tremendous amount of work. It's a numbers game you need to make a lot in order to end up with piles of matched shafts. I know that cuz I've done it and I know other people that do it. also if you're cutting them on a table saw a quarter of that board will end up on the floor as dust do the wide kerf. I've bought $30 fir boards and only ended up with a half a dozen shafts spine within my range. Now I've come to realize for 40 bucks to buy a matched dozen set of shafts is cheap.
I buy Hemlock board stock when I'm done that is complete with the plastic tips and metal field points I end up at $5 per arrow, but that's cheep compared to buying a dozen from an arrow maker for $140. When you do 3-D shoots and stuff you end up loosing and breaking a few.
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I finish my shafts at 11/32". I slice them on the saw at around 14/32" then I use a jig to hand plane the corners then chuck the shafts in the drill and sand them until I hit 11/32" at that point you can decide if you want to taper the shafts. It works for me. Time consuming though. I can build 2 sets of limbs in the same time.
At any rate try making them from that stock and good luck.
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look up how to make a dowel maker. seems like the best way to do a shaft. you just have to get the hole the right size.
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I tried the homemade dowell maker. I used up a dozen shafts just getting it set up and the finished item was not smooth. I still had to sand them in the drill. A shooting board and a block plane does a great job and they are just about done when you're finished planing. I'd also rather listen to the pleasant sound of a plane rather the the screaming of a router. It takes maybe 5 min to plane one. I think I spent 2 days making the jig. Could have made a hundred arrows. Mind you I find making jigs very satisfying ;D
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how do you make a shooting board? also how do you sharpen a block plane, mine has a lot of chips.
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I use a strunk arrow plane and cut at 3/8 then I check arrows as I go on my spine tester I can usually make them all end up where I need them
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how do you make a shooting board? also how do you sharpen a block plane, mine has a lot of chips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvwernxQi8A and google should tell you how to sharpen a block plane.
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Using a shooting board does do a cleaner job of making shafts, but does take a lot longer. I now use the veritas dowl maker. The set up is a pain, but once it’s set you can run shafts pretty quick. With it, the wood has to be just right or the shafts are terribly rough. When I buy Sitka, I have to find tight grained with mostly late wood, then the shafts come out perfectly smooth. Most Sitka isn’t like that tho.
When cutting out the square stock, the bandsaw is the way to go, avoid the table saw. A bandsaw blade is 1/4 the width of a table saw blade, even if you use a thin kerf table saw blade there is a lot of waste. 8 cuts with a table saw, and you’ve lost an inch of wood. While a kerf of a bandsaw is roughly .035, you get almost 30 cuts before you burn an inch.
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3/8ths - bigger is a waste of wood.
I made a dowel making jig to work with my router, staff bead cutters are best.
Support either side of the cutter , a sanding section then a burnisher. I cut at 36 for finished 32 inch shafts. They come out perfect. I will say it took until the Mk3 jig to get them perfect everytime. :)
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Definitely 3/8" is plenty. For either a bandsaw or table saw, do a test cut until you are cutting a finished 3/8", then just keep cutting until the wood is gone - you don't have to calculate the kerf. I believe Sitka spruce is a lot more consistent with spine than Port Orford cedar, but I haven't used enough of it to say for sure.