4 point footing..start to finish..pic heavy

[Tater]

Nice job on the footing..!

[lovethehunt]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. Here are the answers to a few questions.

1. I used tite-bond glue, I had it right there on the bench. Any good wood glue should work as long as the shaft is sealed well after its done.

2. My jig block is 5 inches long with a 1/8 inch bevel. This yielded a 3 1/2 inch foot.

3. I saw the jig done on a post by Jason Westbrock and on another forum. It was not to difficult to make. Web search "Footing wood arrow shafts"

I also made a 10 inch taper tool that I will post later. Used a drill to turn the shaft, very effective.

Todd

[Troy Breeding]

Todd,

I made dozens of footed shafts using about the same setup you are using.

Have you had any problem with the footing splitting as you push the two pieces together?

This was my biggest problem. I'd do my best to pick the straightes grain material for footings. Take extra care in getting as clean a joint as I could. Then crack,,, I'd hear a tiny pop or crack and see the footing split. Very aggervating...

Troy

[lovethehunt]

Troy, I did have a little trouble with that. Make sure you clamp the foot before inserting the shaft. I am going to experiment with a wider kerf saw blade on the foot. I used a .020 on the first couple and bought a .025 to try. A longer taper may also help cut down on the steep angle of the wedge effect. If they do split fill  the area with ca glue, it's much stronger then the footing wood.

Todd

[Troy Breeding]

Todd, that was going to be my suggestion to you. I had to clamp the footings at the end of the cut to stop it.

The problem with longer fingers on the footing is getting them all to come out at the same point on the shaft.

Using a wider curf blade really helped.

Troy

[wixwood]

I love the do it yourselfers that post on this site. I AM going to build some footed shafts one of these days.

Thanks,     sw

[Troy Breeding]

wixwood,

Be careful, very careful,,, It's habit forming!!

Troy

[Mike Vines]

Originally posted by Troy Breeding:
wixwood,

Be careful, very careful,,, It's habit forming!!

Troy

VERY HABIT FORMING.

[tecum-tha]

4 wing footings look beautiful, but hardly really add considerable impact strength to the arrow. It takes a long time, is messy and cumbersome. Especially the reduction of the 4-wings into the arrow diameter.
The conical splice, which the arrow-fix or the rep-arrows are using are much better for impact strength. I was shooting 1/2 doz. 4 wing footed cedar shafts footed with Jatoba (in the ironwood family)into a concrete landscape block. All 6 splintered and shattered along the arrow shaft and made the shaft completely unusable/unrepairable. After that test, I shot a single cedar arrow, footed with 1.5" of black locust wood behind the point using the arrow-fix conical splice method. I was shooting the arrow 7 times. After the 7th impact, the field tip split along the ferrule. The arrow is still fine. Distance for all shots was about 11 yards and with a 60# longbow. Assuming, that the little footed arrow would have broken off, the break would have been right behind the point and could have been easily repaired again. I have 1 arrow out of my 3D-shoot set, which is repaired 5 times within the first 4" behind the point. Works fine. I am currently evaluating hickory and ash....which can be bought in arrow shaft diameters...