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Author Topic: Help making arrows?  (Read 4683 times)

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Offline Blaflair2

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Help making arrows?
« on: September 17, 2014, 03:45:13 pm »
So I have a 70# bow I need arrows for. What spine shafts and what points would u recommend? I saw a little leather fletchings tool I plan on making to help. Any advice would be great. I have a bunch if red oiser dogwood for shafts but no idea how to spine them :-\ so I'll probly just be buying some. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Trying to be budget friendly the wife says. Lol. So I'm trying to do it myself. How to tune arrows as well will be appreciated as wekk
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Offline DC

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2014, 03:58:20 pm »
Do a Google search for arrow spine. There is lots of stuff out there. You can make a spine tester for nothing. There's lots of instructions on making spine testers out there. I made mine from scraps I found in my shop.

Oh, watch this video. Very inspirational 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9907327A8447A869
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2014, 04:07:09 pm »
At your 29" draw you'll need an arrow at least 30" BOP. Id use 80-85 spine with 160 grain points. Should fly like a bullet. Keep in mind you need an arrow that weighs in the 650-750 grain range so your bow is healthy. That's why I suggest a heavier shaft and a heavier point.
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Offline Blaflair2

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2014, 05:54:51 pm »
Thanks Chris.
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Offline Danzn Bar

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2014, 06:15:21 pm »
Pulling 70# at 29" ........I would agree with Pearl , but stay on the lighter spined side....... To use your natural shafts.  Take 26 divided by 80 (arrow spine your looking for) should = .32  close to 5/16" this is the deflection needed.

Then take two nails driven into something like a wall 26" apart,  lay your shaft across the nails and suspend a two pound weight (water bottle, bananas etc.)in the middle of the shaft between the nails. The shafts that deflects or bends 5/16" in the middle will be very close to 80# shafts.

The main thing is knowing the poundage your pulling the bow at your true draw length, not just the bows poundage.  ;) 

Good luck and have fun with the arrows.  :)
DBar
« Last Edit: September 17, 2014, 06:47:56 pm by Danzn Bar »
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2014, 07:22:24 pm »
The bow was built for a 29" draw.
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Offline JoJoDapyro

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2014, 11:08:45 pm »
Or build a simple spine tester. The caliper was $12 at harbor freight, with 2 batteries. Besides that it is about 8 inches of 3/8 dowels, 2 screws and a few pieces of scrap wood. Oh, and a $.25 clamp. 2 dowels in front to hold the arrow, and 2 in back to hold it to my tiller tree, when I'm done the caliper goes back in the case, and the rest sits in the corner.
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Offline Knoll

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2014, 02:50:49 pm »
Thanks, Blaflair, for posting this.  Same to all who responded.  Big help to this newbie.
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Offline Dharma

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2014, 04:32:08 pm »
Maybe a few hints, maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn't. Not about spine or anything, but making arrows in general. Here's what I do.

When I'm prepping shafts, I have to be in a certain state of mind. Don't be in a bad mood or it'll reflect in your arrowmaking. You'll let little frustrations build into big ones and before you know it, you've messed up a shaft that otherwise would've been fine with a little patience. You can use arrowmaking to meditate, so to speak, but make sure it's putting you into that "sweet spot" where you become the arrow in progress.

Straightening is a very critical point where that little drive towards perfectionism can lead towards cracking or breaking if you're not careful. It's important to have the right "set and setting" there, if you know what I mean. I tune everything out while I'm doing this. I put on headphones and listen to the same song over and over again while I'm doing this.

Get rid of distractions while you're doing nocks and points. You need to be making arrows. If you're making arrows, be making arrows.

Breathe life into the arrows. Think of them like beings you're creating. Visualize them as you wish to see them and it will be so.
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Offline Knoll

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2014, 05:23:23 pm »
It's times like this ya wish there was a "LIKE" button.
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... alone in distant woods or fields, in unpretending sproutlands or pastures tracked by rabbits, even in a bleak and, to most, cheerless day .... .  I suppose that this value, in my case, is equivalent to what others get by churchgoing & prayer.  Hank Thoreau, 1857

Offline JoJoDapyro

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2014, 06:09:46 pm »
I couldn't agree more. Bowyering in general has taught me a lot about just leaving it till tomorrow. Some days I am just not in the right frame of mind to work wood!
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If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got.
27 inch draw, right handed. Bow building and Knapping.

Offline flungonin

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2014, 11:27:59 pm »
X2 When I run out of patience , I cancell all appointments and come back tomorrow.
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Offline JackCrafty

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2014, 11:39:25 pm »
DC, thanks for the link.   :)
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Offline lebhuntfish

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2014, 12:22:09 am »
Very good info guy's,  I will be using this as well. Patrick
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Offline lebhuntfish

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Re: Help making arrows?
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2014, 12:54:06 am »
Danzn Bar, could you explain where you got your numbers from as far as the 26 and 80 in your earlier post please. I would like to use your formula to figure some arrows for some of my bows right now. Thanks, Patrick
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Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout!

Missouri, where all the best wood is! Well maybe not the straightest!

Building a bow has been the most rewarding, peaceful, and frustrating things I have ever made with my own two hands!
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