making shafts

[minnesota_hunter]

I would like to try making my own shafts from boards. i was just wondering how you guys go about doing it. also,  what do you look for when selecting a board to use.

[Pat B]

Making shafts from boards is relatively easy. This is one way!  Find the straightest grain board you can. White pine, poplar, spruce, fir and a few others will suit you well.  Cut the board into 3/8"x3/8" blanks. With a hand plane(I use a cheap thumb plane from Ace Hardware for about $8). Take down the 4 corners of each blank and you will have 8 corners. Remove them and you have 16. From there you should be able to round off the shaft with sand paper. You may have to sand or plane a bit more to get to the spine weight you want.     Pat

[Blackhat]

There's a nice article in the Oct/Nov Traditional Bowhunter Mag on making shafts from 1/2 x 1/2 inch boards.  Very interisting article.  I looked at Lee Valley for the parts and noticed the dowling jig for arrow shafts.  bout sprayed my screen with coffee.  the dowel cutter shown in the article is much cheaper.