S.G.S (Small Game Slayers) Build-Along

[Bowspirit]

Well, I've been wanting to do this for a while now. With the cold winter night that's keeping me inside for the moment and the JLMBH approaching faster by the minute, I figure now would be the perfect time to post a how-to on how I build my cheap, effective small game arrows....

[Bowspirit]

Here's all the materials I plan on using for this project.

   

The shafts are ramin dowels from the nearby hardware store. I can't speak enough about ramin; it's heavy, tough as nails, straightens pretty easily for a hardwood, and even manages to maintain that straightness.
Of course, ramin is getting harder to find these days, and even harder to find in good quality. Because of this, any dowel should do the trick so long as they're frugal, with a capital CHEAP. I've tried poplar, oak, walnut, cherry, and something labeled forester. When my ramin stash runs dry, I figure I'll turn to poplar...

[Bowspirit]

First thing that need's to be done it sort through the shafts. Don't be too stingy when it comes to discarding some; we're looking to be frugal, yes, but we still expect our finished arrows to be able to hit the target.
Look for any flaws in the shaft, such as grain runouts, knots, cracks, and the like. Here's a pic of a throw away and a suitable shaft (The throw away's on top)...

 

[Bowspirit]

My next move is to straighten these shafts. With hardware dowels, the amount of work need for this step can vary from quite a bit to almost none at all.
All the methods seem to work well with ramin. Heat, compression...I'd imagine with a little practice you could even straighten them by hand (although this was never a skill I could pick up).
I, however, have really taken a liking to straightening my wood shafts with a round-necked screwdriver. It's cheap, it's simple, and best of all...it's effective. Now, our own Guru has already done a great tutorial on this method, so I'll pretty much leave it be other than a pic and a link to Guru's tutorial...

   

  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000060

[LEOPARD]

Looking good Bowspirit!        

[Bowspirit]

Now, I'm going to stop right here for a moment to mention that I don't spine these shafts whatsoever. At least, not this particular set. Sometimes I sort them a bit by hand, but they are unspined for the most part. I leave 'em long to help with this, seeing as 3/8" ramin carries alot of spine with it.  
Now, most of my small game shots are far from, well, far. These shafts still fly okay, and I still kill game with them. But, if you're going to hunt seriously with these shafts, buy/make a spine tester. It should really help in the long run. Or at the very least, shoot your finished products into a target and cull the ones that don't meet your preformance standards...

[Bowspirit]

After each shaft is straightened, I go over them with varying grades of sandpaper. I do this to remove the toolmarks that can sometimes plague wooden dowels and because aggressive sanding helps to decrease the spine.

 

For this reason, I like to go from 60 grit all the way down to 600 grit. A bit excessive, yes, but one can't argue with results...

[John C Keith]

Very interested in these arrows. But I could not see what was bad about the arrows you said was a throw away.  Could you explain it.  I only see it being darker than the bottom one. . .

waiting for more!

Thanks
John

[Bowspirit]

Sorry, guess it just wasn't picked up through the camera...the grain is as curvy and full of run-outs as can be...

[Bowspirit]

Now comes one of my favorite parts...cutting the self nocks. Used to be I used a few hacksaw blades and small nail file for this. They worked, but the task was too time-consuming for my liking. So now I use a whole new setup...

   

With my dremel tool clamped in a vice, I use dremel's nifty little cutting/ shaping wheel. Here's a close up of it:

   

Not only does it allow you to cut the nock in nothing flat, it can also be used to shape the nock itself due to it's abrasive sides. Think of it as a cross between a bandsaw and a belt sander.
Better yet, with these results that were achieved in mere seconds:

 

...think of it as the best tool around for self nocks.

[deadpool]

yup thats the only way i go when im rabbit huntin!

[Bowspirit]

Once the self nocks are cut, I move right on to finishing the shafts. I prefer about 3 coats of polycrylic for my small game shafts, applied by hand/rag and rubbed with a medium grade steel wool in between coats.
Now, poly isn't my favorite sealer for wood shafts. In fact, if these were a fine set of custom hunting shafts, I'd be using twice as many coats of some form of Spar finish. But hey, poly is cheap, quick, and it doesn't stink up the house. The last two seem to lend themselves to arrows that I'm bound to loose at some point.

 

Yeah, they're hanging up in my shower. Some sort of drying rack is yet another thing I have on my ever-growing to-do list...  

[adkmountainken]

great thread brother! would love to make a few with ya this weekend if ya have time!

[Chisler]

Keep it going bowspirit. I'm heading downstairs to try my dremel in the vise.  I'll be back to see the rest.  Thanks!

[adkmountainken]

ttt

[Shawn Leonard]

Very cool Chris, keep it coming. I xpect to see these finished arrow at the hunt!! Great thread! Shawn

[Bowspirit]

Sorry about the wait...had a few things that needed attending this week.

 

Same arrows, now with a coat of spray paint. Quick to apply and quick to dry. I make sure the majority of these arrows have these bright caps for visabilities sake. Chose hot pink because somehow...it just seems right for the JLMBH...  

After two quick coats of poly, they'll be ready for fletching...

[Bowspirit]

Now comes the feathers. I've got three orange, full-length feathers given to me by a local archery shop owner to try out, so I'm going to use them with these shafts. However, I also intend on showing you all how I cut costs by using feather scraps to create workable fletches...

[Bowspirit]

Here you see I've already fletched one of my shafts with an orange, uncut feather. The two turkey feather scraps lying in front of the jig will be the next one. I've used two different feathers (a secondary and a tail) so that it will be easy to tell the difference. Already, both fletches have been cut so that, when placed end-to-end, they form a 4" fletch.

 

Wish I could have taken a photo of the seam where the two feathers meet in the jig, but as you can see, the metal clamp did a good job at reflecting the flash...

 

Now all it takes is a quick squirt of Duco and its all set for the jig. Now, Fletch-Tape would probably work best in this situation (as it does in most of them, IMHO), but seeing as I have to order the tape online, I'll save it for my carbons and use the Duco. Which, by the way, can be found in any local hardware store or walmart...

[Bowspirit]

Well, it appears I am without my fletching jig at the moment. No problems though...I figure I can still continue with 3 outta 4 feathers. Just missing one, is all...