HOW-TO SINGLE FOOT A SHAFT tutorial

[Mike Vines]

As promised, here is a simple way to single foot a shaft.  Not including the time it took for the glue to dry, I have a total of 8 minutes into this footing.

Here is what I started with.  A douglas fir shaft, and a hunk of walnut that I have been drying from a tree that was cut down here at work.

   
 
More to come...

[Mike Vines]

Here is a simple jig I made on a table saw that allows me to get the angle I want on my shafts when I clamp it down to the sander.  
 

The jig is just over 11/32" closest to the camera, and then where I want to stop the shaft, I have it set for half the thickness of the shaft I am tapering.

Once I'm happy with the results, I insert the shaft till I reach my reference point to stop.

 

After doing all the tapers on one side of the shafts (it's much simpler to do a bunch at once, instead of doing one then resetting the jig each time), I move the jig to allow me to taper the other side of the shafts to form a long tapering V.

 

Then I insert the shaft again till I once again reach my reference point.

 

Here is the finished taper on the shaft.  I opted for a 6" footing for 2 reasons.  I like the look of it, and I believe a longer glue joint is stronger.

 

[Mike Vines]

I took my hunk of walnut over to the tablesaw, and made a block that is 1/2" x 1/2" x 12" to form the footing.

 

Draw a line down the center of the 1/2" that is 6 1/2" long and rip in the bandsaw.

 

A resaw blade would do a better job, but I can't have everything (atleast that is what my foreman tells me), so I make do with what I have.  

 

[Mike Vines]

Now time to glue the footing to the shaft.

I use a clamp where the footing and shaft come together to prevent the footing from being split from forcing the shaft into the saw kerf.  I spread plenty of Titebond 2 wood glue on the shaft and insert it in the footing kerf

   

I then use standard spring clamps to hold the footing onto the shaft untill the glue sets up.  I gave it 4 hrs.

   

No, that is not mustard on the table, it is what I keep my glue in...funny story though, one of my co-workers went into my cabinet to get some hot sauce to put on his lunch, and saw my "mustard" and decided it would taste good on his burger too.  I never said a word, because he never asked.  He figured it out when his food was covered and he and I still laugh about it to this day, and it has been 6 years.  If you look at the bottle, it has written on it "Tony, this is glue"...

Back to the build along,

[Mike Vines]

Here is the glued up shaft with the clamps removed.  I used a bandsaw to take off alot of the extra wood that I would otherwise have to handplane off (thank you Magnus, great tip)

   

Now I go to work with the hand plane.  Make sure to use a low angle plane for finer results.  It's not about speed here, and it really doesn't take to long anyway.

   

Once I get the shaft to where going anymore would cause me to go to far, and cause non repairable damage to the shaft, I go over to our drill press and chuck it in.

   

I turn on the drill press, using my leg to steady the shaft from spinning all aver the place.  Using 100 grit sandpaper I sand the shaft round and smooth.

   

After cutting the footing to be 2" to BOP, I hand sand and use a "No-Go" gauge that is 11/32" (piece of steel in the left side of the picture with a hole in it), and once the shaft slides thru the hole uninterupted, you end up with a finished footed shaft.

   

I got home and point tapered the "new" shaft, and will cut it to length once I figure out what length my arrows are going to be for my new RER limbs that are in the finishing stage right now.  Remember to cut from the nock end when cutting to length.  I know it sounds stupid, but I do learn from my mistakes.  LOL

Good luck everyone, and please post pictures of your footed shafts when done making your own.

Mike

[tim roberts]

Nice, thanks for sharing!
Guess your co-worker became pretty tight lipped after sharing your mustard!!!

[JohnnyWayne]

Very cool, thanks Mike  

[raghorns]

Thanks Mike,

Great pics...easy to understand..and makes a fine looking arrow.

That mustard sounds like it would really make a sandwich stick to your ribs.

[Bud B.]

Very nice!

I hope to see one first hand at Ray's in March 2012  

[Mike Vines]

Originally posted by Bud B.:
Very nice!

I hope to see one first hand at Ray's in March 2012    

I have a feeling the lurkers are going to start coming out of the woodwork.

[Cookus]

Nice tutorial Mike!   Let us know how they fly!

[Bud B.]

That's OK.....I can pray for a server crash but that'd be selfish. If I do get outbid they're gonna earn it.  

[Mike Vines]

Originally posted by Bud B.:
That's OK.....I can pray for a server crash but that'd be selfish. If I do get outbid they're gonna earn it.    

you sure got that right

[straitera]

Outstanding!

[magnus]

Great job Mike!     By they way that tip came from Stringstretcher. Just passing it along.

[Mike Vines]

I dipped it last night, for the simple reason of I just couldn't wait any longer.   It looks awesome.

[Jack Skinner]

I like the jig using the sander. Also using the drill press for final rounding and sanding is a great idea. Look forward to trying that on my next batch of footed shafts.

Thanks Mike

[DannyBows]

Well Done!