Tapering your own shafts

[Stone Knife]

Does anyone taper their own shafts? I have been shooting some tapered cedars and boy do they shoot nice. Just something else I might want to try myself, and would like to see some of the methods available out there.

[southpawshooter]

I've done it with the Taper Plane made by the same folks that make the Woodchuck point/nock power taper.  Does a real nice job, but takes some time.

   

Bamboo made a jig with angle aluminum and sandpaper.  He chucks the shaft in a drill and tapers them real quick.  Does a great job too.

[fyrfyter43]

Originally posted by southpawshooter:
Bamboo made a jig with angle aluminum and sandpaper.  He chucks the shaft in a drill and tapers them real quick.  Does a great job too.

I also made a jig like that, but I used 12" mill files epoxied to the aluminum angle. Works good, and the files hold up alot longer than sandpaper.  http://tradgang.com/taper/

[Aeronut]

I made a jig like that and attached sandpaper strips with double stick tape.  The friction heat caused the adhesive to turn loose and jammed the shaft.  The resulting explosion of the shaft sent splinters everywhere.

Dennis

[LonePine Paul]

I taper 3/8 oak dowels 10 inches from rear side down to 5/16ths with small block plane.Not a qwick job but like always,wood warms you twice.PT

[BAK]

I'll try to explain this.  If you have a table top type belt sander most will have a metal plate that is mounted across the end of the belt that acts as a stop.  It will usually mount very close to the belt.   If you drill a small tapered hole very close to the edge, you can insert the tapered end of your arrow shaft in that hole and turn the arrow over the belt as it runs which will allow you to taper the arrow for about 10 to 12 inches.  It does a perfect taper job and is very fast.  You can taper a dozen arrows in less than 20 minutes.

[BUCK-EYE]

Has anybody tried the wooden jig from 3Rivers? Don

[SFB]

BAK....Sounds interesting ! Any chance for a picture of your setup ?

[pointy sticks]

I'd like to see some pics as well please

[Bill Carlsen]

I do exactly what BAK describes. I've done thousands of shafts that way. Very simple and very effective. I'll try to take some pics and post them in the next day or two.

[Fletcher]

I have a system very similar to BAK using a disk/belt sander combo.  The disk does my nock taper and the belt does the shaft taper, pretty handy as I do both together.  I have a separate block that I clamp to the stop so I can change the taper diameter and added a small table to the opposite end of the belt.    Here's a couple of pics:

 

 

[Bill Carlsen]

I'm waiting for company to show up so I ran downstairs and took a few photos of my set up. The first step is to make a nock taper.

 

The second step is to mark the shaft at the point you want the taper to end....I measure 10". Then you insert the point of the nock taper in the drill hole. The hole I use is drilled in a thick piece of angle iron that I attach to my home made stop with a Vise Grip on a very tight setting. This set up has never failed me. I attach the angle iron with the Vise Grip and then tap it down to achieve the diameter I want on the nock end....5/16". You achieve the taper by rotating the shaft with the nock end riding in the drilled hole in the stop (angle iron) and work your way down to the pencil mark. Rotate until the mark disappears and you're done. It takes some practice to get a feel for the rotation of the shaft on the sander and you will at times draw some blood...it's a learning process. You will, no doubt, ruin a few shafts so practice with some shafts that are expendable. This is also a good way to strip finish and old fletching from shafts you want to redo. In the picture you can see the pencil mark on the shaft. If you want to barrel taper then measure down and make a mark at 16" from the nock then make a taper on the front of the shaft and taper to that mark the same way. You can then cut your shaft to length and do a point taper.

 

[WESTBROOK]

Will this effect the overall spine of the shaft? How much?

Eric

[Fletcher]

I find that I lose a pound or two of spine, but not really any more than that and it has never made a difference in arrow flight for me.  Most all of an arrow's spine is in the mid portion of the shaft.

[Bill Carlsen]

Fletcher is right on...never lost more than a two pound rating. Usually it is only one. If you barrel taper, however, I would recommend using wood shafts in a spine group one step higher than you want to achieve. Use 55-60, for example, if  you want your finished shafts to be in the 50-55 range (for barrel tapering).

[WESTBROOK]

Thanks guys!

[John Cooper]

fyrfyter43:

I've been looking all around for angle aluminums like that, but no luck!  Where did you find them?  If I can't get that to work, I might try messing around with the belt sander.  I already have the nock and point taper set up.

Another question: do you guys always go down to 5/16 even with a 23/64 shaft, or does it work best going only one size down?

This was very helpful.  Thanks a lot!

John

[fyrfyter43]

Sorry, John. I've been spending the last few evenings working on a dozen new arras.

I got the aluminum angle at Lowes. It is pricey, but much more convenient that the 12' sticks I would have had to buy from a metal supplier.

[geno]

How much arrow weight do you think you loose on a tapered arrow (not barrel) ?

[Fletcher]

Offhand Geno, I don't recall the weight loss.  Probably about 25 gr. or so, depending on length of taper and shaft dia.  It's worth it IMO.