Home made footed shafts

[stiknstringer]

Any homemade footed shaft pics? I've been messin around tryin to get some jigs built.Thought I give it a try.Thanks  

[Jack Denbow]

I have been thinking of the same thing but don't know when I will get started.
Jack

[Charlie Lamb]

How To Resources

[Jack Skinner]

How about these.







Look in the how to on this site. I found some good info on the web not much but some. Also the Renfro's DVD has good info. I watch the whole thing on how they did their shafts and at the end of the DVD was a friend of theirs who does them much the same way I do. I dont use as many power tools as they do, of course I dont have the shop they do either. My joints and glue lines are getting better with practice. If you are interested in how I do them let me know I have some pictures or can PM me and I can try and describe it.

[jonsimoneau]

Here are some that I made.  I did not use any kind of jig or any power tools.  You can do it with some pretty simple tools that you may already have.  They shoot great!

[jonsimoneau]

I've made about 2 dozen of them.

[hardwaymike]

And those simple tools are????lol those look awesome jon.

[Jack Skinner]

Hand tools all you would need is a small sharp saw, plane (small to med), small c-clamp(s), sandpaper of various grits, wood glue. A couple of tools  you could use but dont have to a spokeshave and some spring clamps, file,  small vice. I use a 2x4 about 12 to 15 inches long with a v-grove down the middle to hold the shaft for rounding using the plane or my favorite spokeshave. Once you have the corners rounded you can sand like crazy or use the file to reduce.

[jonsimoneau]

Yep, pretty much what Jack said.  All you need is a thumb plane, which you can buy at any hardeware store for around $5, some sandpaper in various grits, some gorilla glue (or wood glue would work), 3 small C-clamps and a little time.  A vice helps too.  Take the raw shaft..I used sitka spruce, and wittle down 2 sides of it to make a "V" at the end with your thumb plane.  Start at around the same spot on each side of the shaft.  You need to make sure you do this with the circle grain on top and on bottom.  What I mean is wittle down the two sides of the shaft that have the circle grain.  They will be 180 degrees from each other.
   Then take the billet ( bought mine from 3 rivers) and run a little sandpaper in the groove to smooth it out. Now apply a little Gorilla glue to the sides of the shaft you whittled down. Slide the billet on the V end of your shaft and clamp it tight with the small C-clamps.  Sight down the arrow to make sure the billet is on there straight.  If not, then make it straight. Let it dry.  Then when it is dry, take your thumb plane and shave the billet down until it is nearly round. Just shave down one corner at a time.  Then grab the sandpaper and do the rest untill it is completely round.  One trick I used here is this: take an 8 or 10 inch piece of 2x4 and cut it in half lengthwise.  Then put it back together and put it in a vice or in some clamps.  Then, drill a hole through it lengthwise that is 1/16 bigger than the size of your raw arrow shaft.  Take it back apart and line the new grove you just made with course sandpaper.  Put the two pieces back together, and put them in a vice.  Now just take the nearly rounded billed end of the shaft and run it in and out of the sandpaper lined hole you just created.  Keep doing it untill the entire billet easily goes through the hole.  Then change the sandpaper to a finer grit.  Repeat the process, and change the sandpaper to a finer grit again.  When you are done, the shaft, including the billet will be completely uniform.  The billet end will look like polished marble.  Then just use a taper tool to put the taper on it for the point.  
  Make sure you allign the nock correctly with the grain of the shaft.  Stain, crest, seal and fletch the way you normally would and you are good to go!

[jonsimoneau]

By the way Jack...the arrows you made look phenominal!

[jonsimoneau]

Also, if you are making your own billets...make them square, just slightly bigger than the diameter of what you need for the finished shaft.  This will minimize the amount of work with the thumb plane and sandpaper.
   As far as shafts..I use Sitka Spruce tapered shafts from Hilldebrant.  The tolerances are excellent, and the wood is very easy to work with.  
   Now that I am thinking about it...I think I will get the materials to make some more of them.  It's a great winter project!

[jonsimoneau]

Not sure if I explained it well in writting, so feel free to ask any questions you may have!

[illwhttail]

This sounds like a great project.
thanks for the info guys.
and the arrows look great.

[Hot Hap]

I'm getting ready to try my hand at that pretty quick. Hap

[Jack Skinner]

jonsimoneau
Thank you sir. And back at you, your shafts look great as well. I like your idea of the 2x4 sanding block. May just have to give that a try.

[jonsimoneau]

No problem Jack.  I may get ahold of you for some information on making self nocks like your arrows have.  Those look great.

[KentuckyTJ]

Nice Work.

[Jack Skinner]

PM me anytime, I think I have some pictures of my process but it isnt difficult nor does it take much in the way of tools.