"Starting a new bad habit", as my wife says

[Locogear]

Lol well I got that far, but I wanna take it another step and get her hooked on archery

[Jason_L]

"3D shoots? And you mean to make arrows out of 3/8 wooden dowels?"

3D shoots are hosted by local clubs. They set out big foam animal targets in the woods and make a competition out of it.

Yeah, after my bohning, I bought a Bitzenburger with my xmas bonus, it's been a great purchase. For the dowels, I took one of my 45-50 shafts and made a simple spine tester on my wall and marked where they bent. I then sand the dowels until they hit that mark. I sand the tip and the nock end a little more so they fit in my taper tool and then put them together. They take a little straightening, but they turn out well. I am making dowel arrows at about $3 per completed arrow. Here's a 6-Fletch Flu-Flu I made for quail hunting.
   

[Shakes.602]

If you have the time, good old dowel rods are the Poor Mans Arrow! I use them all the time!!Not much in them but Time making them. If ya bust one or lose it, Ya aren't out too much!

[Locogear]

Idk what a "6 fletch flu flu" is but it looks real nice, like I said I'm as green as they come with archery lol so the terms still elude me a good bit of the time. I think I'll try out those dowel arrows for the heck of it and some good ol carefree target practice/fletching practice. What is the average spline rating for those 3/8 dowels?

[Jason_L]

It varies. For your first set of shafts, you could buy them from one of the online dealers so you know they are the right spine for your draw weight(3 rivers has an arrow spine chart on their site). You then can make a simple spine tester by placing 2 screws on your garage wall(or any wall you are okay with using) 26" apart and level. Place the arrow with the cock feather out and hang a 2 lbs weight on it and mark where the center of the arrow touches. You then sand dowels until they bend to that point. There's a tutorial on this somewhere. Though the dowels are all about the same diameter, some are stiffer than others. I go through them and buy the stiffest ones I can find and that usually allows me to get them to the spine I need. Sometimes a few end up being too weak.

The arrow I posted is used for birds in flight(like Quail). It has large feathers to create a lot of drag so it doesn't go very far.

[Locogear]

Ok I'll do that, I'm not afraid of doing work or spending money, lol I'm afriad of my wife hahaha an she prefers to not spend money

[Blackhawk]

I got into it years ago to save a little money, but that didn't work out as planned.      

This hobby turned addictive and now I have more arrows than I can ever shoot or lose.      

So many arrows, so little time.   :D

[Locogear]

Haha I'm the complete opposite, I have just 3 arrows until I learn to fletch my own haha

[Locogear]

I take that back, the bowyer I get my goodies from forgot to make those wooden arrows I ordered from him, so instead he gave me 4 carbon arrows with feather fletching for 17$