I pick the straightest end and cut the nock taper on all the shafts. I take a yardstick and mark each shaft with pencil in one inch increments from the nock end, 8 marks. that puts the last mark 9" from the end which gives around a 10" taper. I chuck a shaft in the cordless drill which stands on it's own. I draw a pencil line completely around the shaft at each mark by spinning the drill on slow.
take 80 or 100 grit sandpaper and sand off the first 2 lines from the nock. redraw those 2 lines and sand off the first 4 lines, redraw, sand off the first 6 lines, redraw and finally sand off all 8 lines. I wear a cotton work glove on that hand because it will get hot, and use back and forth strokes, taking care to go clear back to the nock taper on each stroke so you get an even taper, while spinning the shaft at high speed.
it sounds tedious but actually it goes real fast. after all the shafts are done, assuming that they are 23/64, I take the 11/32 guide from the taper tool and mark how far it slides up each shaft, usually just a little less than halfway up the taper. then put some additional tapering on any that need it till they are all pretty uniform. but your hand gets educated real quick and you would be surprised at how uniform they can end up after just the first go-round. I do not put that much taper on that the 5/16 guide would go past the nock taper, I don't want to have to use super small nocks.
I don't generate near as much sawdust when doing 11/32 shafts, just a real light taper, and just trust my instincts as far as getting them uniform. I guess a micrometer would come in useful but that seems to be splitting hairs a little too fine.
they fletch up just fine, and thanks for asking, tradshooter.
Topic: Question for arrow builders (Read 444 times)
