Wood arrow building starter help

[bearsfeet]

With the recent wood arrow threads I would like to start picking up a few things to be able to build my own down the road. I was hopping some of you could share a list of what is needed to get into making my own wood arrows.

Right now I have a bpe pro fletcher and just traded for a young feather burner and cresting lathe. What all else do I need to be able to have hunting ready woodies?

Thanks
Levi

[WESTBROOK]

You'll need a way to put nock & point tapers on. A taper tool or a disc sander.

[Hermon]

A taper tool for the nocks and points.  If you want to dip them to apply the finish you will need some dip tubes, or you could just use wipe on poly and you just need some clean cloth.  

You have the expensive, big items already.  Have fun and show us how your arrows turn out.

[bearsfeet]

Originally posted by Hermon:
A taper tool for the nocks and points.  If you want to dip them to apply the finish you will need some dip tubes, or you could just use wipe on poly and you just need some clean cloth.  

You have the expensive, big items already.  Have fun and show us how your arrows turn out.

Don't you need to dip the wood shafts to protect them from the elements?
With a tapper to how do those ones work that look like a pencil sharpener work?

Thanks for the quick responses! Right now I am shooting 2016 legacy's out of both my bows and have it turned in for hunting spring bear so I want to wait until after bear season to make the change to wood, but definately want to make the change by the time fall hunting season rolls around!

[wooddamon1]

The inexpensive pencil sharpener style works fine on the softer woods. Wipe-on is fine for the finish, let each coat dry and steel wool between coats. I usually do 3-4 coats with the wipe-on stuff from Min-wax.

[Shawn Leonard]

Yes, wipe on is fine or you can spray on as well. 4 ought steel wool lightly between coats, make sure they are good and dry between coats. If you want a crown, you can use some good painters tape wrapped around the shafts and spray paint on a crown color, several light coats are better than one heavy and again lightly sand with steel wool between coats. You really have everything you need, if you know the length ya want most wood shaft suppliers will add nock and point tapers for 5-6 bucks. You need nocks as well and if you use an oil based poly, which I prefer use duco to glue your feathers and nocks on. You are way ahead of me as I just use my cordless drill for a cresting machine. I also hang a small diameter rope about 10 ft long from the rafters in my basement, I than use wooden clothespins to hold my shafts while they dry and while I actually spray them, or hang them after wiping on the poly. If you do light coats you do not even have to worry about drips. Pretty easy to do and everyone has their own methods, most better than mine but I get pretty good funtional arrows and they actually look pretty good!! Not like art but than again I would not even want to shoot some of the beautiful arrows guys on here make!! Have fun and give it a go and let us know how ya make out. One last thing and sorry for the long post, a great way to start out would be to buy some seconds which are quite a bit cheaper(make them into stumpers) or even dowels(real cheap) and mess around with applying stain, paint and the sealer, you don't have to apply feathers or anything just makes great cheap practice and you will have some of the prettiest tomato stakes in the neighborhood!!(LOL)!! Enjoy! Shawn

[David Yukon]

Can some one point out a thread in here about how to wood arrow building, from start to finish, including stain, crown, crest etc...

Thank you

[Orion]

bearsfeet:  Down the road you're going to want to get an inexpensive grain scale and a spine tester.  Some vendors are pretty good at matching spine and physical weight, but some aren't.  And the only way you'll know for sure what spine your arrows are and how much they weigh (and, in turn, to build closely matched arrows) is to have your own equipment to measure those specs.  Have fun.

[Bjorn]

Do some searches, there is tons of stuff here-look in the buildalongs too.

[Flying Dutchman]

Here is mine:

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=106905;p=1

[German Dog]

It's actually not to complicated unless you want it to be. You already got the fletcher, cresting machine, and feather burner so really all you need is a wood block with holes drilled in it to hold the stained shafts or a clothes line and clips to hold the shafts. then minwax stain and wipe on poly, mineral spirits, and some rags and very fine steel wool. Use duco cement for fletching and nocks and then hot melt for tips. A small torch works best for melting glue.  
A nock and point grinder would be nice but you can get by without if you buy shafts already tapered(thats what I do).

 Here's some good info.   http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000119

[bearsfeet]

Thanks for the great threads you guys shared! Pictures are always helpful for me. Can't wait tell bear season is gone so I can start messing around with wood.