Originally posted by woodystyle777:
just with a piece of sandpaper in your hand and going over it? How accurate would you say that is as far as diameter consistency down the entire shaft?
No, I left out a lot of detail and I apologize for that. I use a v block with sandpaper in the v. I hold it down into the V with a flat piece of wood with sandpaper glued to it. By sanding the entire shaft until the flat sanding block no longer cuts anywhere along the shaft, I arrive at an even diameter for the length of the shaft.
The V block is made with a base and two top blocks with 45 degree angles planed or cut into them and the angles butted up against each other. The V blocks are adjustable by screwing them to the base block at varying separations.
I don't spine them at all. I make up the arrows at full length and start to shoot with 125 field points then adjust point weight, arrow length and centershot to get to a point that they shoot. However, before maiing any adjustments to the arrow, I try them in all of my bows to see what will be the best starting point. I always arrive at a combo that shoots well using this method.
Board selection is crucial. I suggest a straight fine grained doug fir board for starters.
Also, the doweler comes with some instructions on setting up that will not be adequate, IMO. You need an infeed guide that is the same diameter as your corner to corner dimension on your blank. That needs to be set up centered on the infeed of the doweler and very close. An inch or less. Then, there needs to be a series of outfeed guides that are just a bit larger than the finished shaft. The first right at the exit and then a series of them about eight inches apart. My set up has three outfeed guides and I'm going to add another.
The guides are important because the shaft will tend to whip as you run it through. Some of that whip can transfer down the shaft right to the cutting edge of the doweler. Variations in whip will cause variations in diameter. I like to have a helper at the outfeed end wearing a pair of heavy work gloves and holding the shaft very gently between palm and thumbs to cut down on vibration.
I have cut 72" atlatl darts from teak blanks without any infeed or outfeed guides with fair success by having the helper on hand.
That brings me to the next caveat. The harder the wood the less likely that you will get variations in diameter as per the teak above.
Some other factors that are important.
A sharp blade is essential
The more rpms the better. Using your portable screw gun is not the best way to go. Use a high rpm corded drill.
Once you start, don't stop or change rpms. It will result in variations in diameter. This is another good reason to have a helper to make the shaft go straight into the outfeed guides without any stoppage or slow down.
This is a fun exercise and is also an economy measure if you get a good set of shafts that match at least one bow when the project is done. Otherwise, it is better to spring for a good set of matched shafts that are spined closely and weighed to within a few grains.
If I can be of any further help, just let me know.
Topic: Veritas Dowel Cutter to make wooden arrow shafts (Read 1305 times)
