Home Depot Garden Stake Bamboo Arrow Build-A-Long (Pic Heavy)

[DC]

It would work but whether it would be worth the extra wait for it to normalize, if that even applies. If you were doing it over a pot of boiling water it would probably be slower. Ah ship, give it a try, it won't hurt anything.

[loon]

I used to cut nocks at a node but don't anymore. It's not necessary. I do try to set the nock end up so the fletching doesn't lay across a node but has a clear internode to lay on. I also don't add a filer to the center of cane arrows, point or nock end. Sinew wraps will hold everything together. My 30" hill cane arrows are about 5/16" at the nock and 3/8" at the point(55#@26"draw). I find it hard to make a matched set of cane arrows so I make them one at a time and see how they shoot individually. I pick the best shooters for hunting, the good shooters for target and 3D and with the poor shooters I make fluflus.

I just split one that wasn't filed at the node... but I've split some that were as well. Maybe the sinew wrapping wasn't enough/should've used glue :/
It was poorly filed on one side, sort of narrow

[loon]

A heat gun is making it easier, at a rather low setting for it (750 for large zones, I guess 550 or 450 for acute bends in a small area). Seems like I can take care of bending between nodes, but at the nodes all sorts of weirdness happens, I just end up putting a bend right next to the nodes. Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's at the node or near the node, or I put bend near the node when trying to take bend out of a node. This is with my hands this way (from the choctaw school website)



Previously I was doing it by grabbing the arrow with one hand and pushing it against the heel of that hand with my other hand.

I have one which is almost sort of done, has 2 bends I have to take out. One near the nock I already cut and one near the head. But it's a rather short arrow, 27" or so draw..

Also, has anyone had experience with which way to put the arrow makes a difference? If you put the thinner end towards the point, does it act stiffer or weaker than the other way around? Hoping I can find out today..

After a few times of spending several minutes cutting shafts with a serrated knife, I found out that just putting a knife (or chisel if you're afraid of ruining it somehow i dunno) and hammering it onto a shaft with a stone I found somewhere works pretty fast. But if the knife is thick or not sharp enough, the bamboo will split. :\

[jeffp51]

I like to straighten between the nodes first, then let it cool completely (work on another shaft) then I can see how much the node needs to move.  If I put the node right on the edge of my bending tool (stick from my tree out back) I can focus the bending force right on the node.  It will bend a little on either side too, but on the third pass that can be straightened.  It takes several sessions to get all the bends out.  Be patient.

[loon]

For the duplex nail points, does anyone put it on a drill but not use a grinder, but just spin the nail's head on a rock or something? It'd probably turn a lot of the rock to dust..

[loon]

I got some 16D duplex nails. Lowe's didn't have any, had to order on Amazon. ProFit brand, bright finish, 5/32" diameter (9 gauge, 0.15625") or 4mm (0.15745") measured with plastic calipers.. even though some chart says they should be 8 gauge

[selfbow joe]

Thanks for sharing this. I can't wait to get some supplies and try to make some.

[loon]

I can't stand fletching with Duco Cement. It takes too long to dry and many of my fletches are falling off. Maybe I should clean the shafts beforehand... and get a better fletching jig?..

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

I haven't done much fletching yet myself but I plan on getting some of that fletching tape since I intend to wrap the front and back of the feathers real well anyway I figure the tape will do a good enough job of holding the middle of the feather down.

[loon]

Yeah... true... good idea :p Suppose I will refletch my arrows with tape.
A bit hard to make my thin silk lay nice and even on the fletchings, and it breaks easily when passing through things. I should get some of that UV resistant thread.

[jeffp51]

superglue together with some instaset works great for me when fletching.  cut one, glue one.  Cut one, glue one.  Once they are all on, wrap em top and bottom.

[DC]

When I went on the Ravenbeak arrow building workshop Jamie taught me a neat trick. He dampens a small rag with the CA accelerator and wipes the fletching area of the arrow. Clamp the fletch in the clamp and apply a bit of CA to it. Then when you slip the clamp into the jig and it hits the arrow the CA goes off immediately. No waiting. Just for those of us that find waiting for CA to set is just tooooo long .

[loon]

bought tape, hopefully fletching by hand w/o a clamp won't be too hard.. ..

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

I'd just use the tape with the clap for ease of alignment. Just like DCs example above, you should be able to clamp the fletch, tape it, put the clamp home in the jig and bam, move to the next one.

[loon]

what jig? ..
Maybe I'll try making one some day