Feast your eyes, boys and girls. Arrows. I made them to go with my Lucky Silvertip Burnout Gator Bag Bow. (
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,70280.msg986733.html#msg986733)
Hickory shafting worked down from a lumberyard board, 28" in length, self knocked and 3-fletched helically. They weigh between 540 and 555 gr, spined between my thumbs, and decorated with acrylic paint, deck stain, and a Sharpie marker.
The broadheads were cut from an old dovetail saw. You'll notice in the pictures the broadheads are 3 different shapes. I'm testing to see which design stays attached to the arrow shaft the best. They are all secured with pitch (pine sap and coal dust), and tied down with deer sinew and TB III. So far, none of their heads have popped off, and I don't expect them to for quite some time, but I'll keep you updated.
The feathers are secondaries from a road kill turkey I picked up this spring, all tied down with deer sinew and TB III. The cock feathers are dyed in turmeric and hot water.
Its hard to tell in the pictures, but the nocks are not the same size. One of them is bulky, another is thin, and one is right in the middle. The half-dozen or so arrows I've made in the past had large, obnoxious nocks I did not like, so I trimmed these down to see what I could get away with. Even the thinnest one is holding up well so far.
The big revolution I had in making these arrows was my feather grinding process. My previous arrows were made with only 100% all natural, organic, homemade, non-GMO, gluten free, and kosher materials not known to the state of California to cause cancer so I struggled getting the quills thin, flat, and even. With these arrows, I stepped into the 21st century and turned on my bench grinder, quickly quelling my quill qualms and turning out some nice feathers. The smell though. Wow. If you've never smelled the smell of burning turkey feathers, I suggest you fire up your blow torch and give those scorching quills a quaff.
In the future, I'd like to improve my sinew wrapping. I am realizing that the little tiny handwork required in building archery tackle is a difficult skill that takes practice and patience to learn, but I am eager to get better. I often find myself practicing while doing daily household tasks, like cleaning silverware, untying knots, and buttoning buttons. I improve everyday, but I've seen some amazing arrows on here, specifically burchett.donalds latest (
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,70116.0.html), where the sinew looks like it was hand spun by a meticulous silk worm. Mine are always messy, hair-brained, and uneven, like I paid a drunk spider to do the work. Its not easy! You have to hold the feathers, the sinew, and the arrow shaft all at the same time, and then try to tie the feathers in a double helix around the shaft using only the sinew to hold the two together and you only have 10 fingers. 12 or 15 would seem expedient, but I imagine we could learn a lot from someone who fletches with just 8 or 6 fingers.
Other than that, I'm very proud of these arrows. They're spooky silent in flight, they seem to be very durable, and as you can see in the pictures, they always go straight into the bullseye.
