Woodie FOC

[monterey]

I have been playing with FOC and woodies for a while to see what could be achieved using my standard 190 point weight.

This arrow has been the best so far.
   

This a shaft turned out on a veritas doweler  from a plain pine board footed with teak. The footing was glued on prior to spinning the blank out. The footing is drilled and has a 5" piece of 1/8" solder glued into it.

FOC came out at 23.09.

The surprise here was that the arrow flew beautifully out of two bows.  launching it from  a 68" 43# ASL and a 62" 44# Static recurve.  It flew better than arrows made from these same shafts without footers and the same 190 points.  I expected it to be way under spine with the added weight but according to the way it flew, not so.  

I know!  I can do this a lot more easily with woody weights, but I'm just stubborn!  

[WESTBROOK]

Nice work!

Never been a fan of woody weights, they are too skinny even on a 11/32 shaft. He should turn them to 23/64.

[monterey]

I didn't know they were only one diameter.

I have my fall big game arrows all made up but now I'm rethinking.

This arrow came in at 725 grains but not too heavy for my max range.

[JimB]

What formula did you use to calculate the FOC?

[Orion]

That's pretty close to the best FOC I've been able to get using POC.  With a wenge footing, 160 grain head and 9-inch rear taper to 5/16, my 11/32 POCs came in at just shy of 20% FOC.  

Difficult to get much more than 20% FOC on a wood shaft. I'd say your solder insert helped bump it up. 190 grain points as well.  I've found that every 25-30 grains I add to the front increases the FOC about 1%.

[monterey]

Jimb, I used a calculator downloaded from here on TG.  It was done by Rob difestano.

Orion, I forgot to mention that I put a similar taper on the rear of this arrow.  Not sure how the pine compares weight wise to POC.

[goobersan]

What jig did you use to drill the footing ? I've been collecting some teak and douglas fir to make some arrows of my own.

[monterey]

Josh, I drilled my own block not with a piece of square metal stock.  The hole the shaft fits into is 3/8" and the hole that guides the drill is 3/16".

The 3/8" works for me because my doweler produces a 3/8" shaft.  If you are going to work with smaller stock then you could adjust accordingly.  You need a long shank on the 3/16 to get the depth.

I glue the footings with 7/16 to 1/2 square stock before running them through the doweler.  The "wings" are planed or sanded off after glue up.

I think 3R sells the drilling jigs.

I'm about out of teak so I'm looking for some heavy wood.

[Jack Skinner]

Blood wood was the heavist footing I found you may try that. I like the idea of removing wings before running thru doweler. Tried it square once just ripped the shaft apart. Good luck

[FJTOYMAN]

One of my favorite woods to foot with is IPE. Its nick named Iron Wood due to its hardness. Its used in decking due to its long wear and natural resistance to water rot. It sounds like I'm cutting steel when I cut the blanks on my band saw.
I'll try and get some FOC figures when I get a chance.  

[monterey]

Ipe seems like it would be a good choice.

Nice looking arrows  

[Fletcher]

High FOC's with wood arrows is a challenge and the further forward you move the balance, the less effect more forward weight has, due to the shorter arm.  Starting with a lighter shaft material such as Sitka Spruce will make a big difference.  Also, taper the tail end of the shaft and try shorter fletching.  Reducing weight aft makes a greater change, again due to the length of the arm.  Footing helps, but really not very much; the weight difference isn't that much and it doesn't concentrate at the end of the shaft.  I have some 1/8" lead wire, heavier than solder, if you would like to try some.  Woody weights work very well, too.

[monterey]

The value of tapering showed up in the arrow I pictured above.  I first checked FOC before tapering and before Fletch and nock.  After tapering and fletching, the balance point was identical to what it had been before tapering.  So, by coincidence, the weight of the shaft at the rear was reduced by the exact same weight as the nock, Fletch, glue and the two coats of paint.

[monterey]

Forgot to ask, where do you find the lead wire?

[WESTBROOK]

Rick, where do you get the lead wire?

That would be pretty easy to get an extra 50-75g up front.

Not looking for FOC so much as just more weight than a Zwickey Delta 4 blade has to offer.

[monterey]

Yes Westbrook, it would make it easy to stay with a favored lighter weight broadhead.

[Jack Skinner]

I got some lead wire from a sponsor on here don't remember who. Only thing was it was heavy but malleable so it added weight but no strength to the front. If mounting in hardwood footing though it may not be issue. I think the lead wire was for welding you might check local welding shop.

[goobersan]

You might find 50/50 lead solder. I have some and a 3" piece weighs 83 grains.

[Fletcher]

I forget just where I bought the lead wire, but I have several pounds of it, so if you want to try some let me know.  It weighs 35 gr per inch, so can add weight pretty quick and is the heaviest without getting into expensive stuff like tungsten.  I used two inches to make my Zwickey deltas 200 grains.  Worked very well.

[monterey]

Thanks for that kind offer.  I'm going to pass and look for something local so as not to put you out of your way.

I think the guys who swage bullets use some kind of lead wire.