Dave, I did these with cheap hand tools. You don't need anything fancy to do 2 wing footings, but the 4 wing footings require a jig, and it looks more complicated. I did these with just a small thumb plane like you get at any hardware store, and sandpaper. The first one took awhile, but the others went much faster.
I used the footing billets that 3 rivers sells. But with your bandsaw you could easily make your own.
my wings are around 4 inches. I cut my shaft to the length so that after the footing wsa attached it would come out the length I wanted.
Then I marked the arrow 3 3/4 inches from the point end. Now before we get down to wittling it down keep in mind that we are only planning down 2 sides of the shaft. You need to plane down the rift sides of the shaft. The idea is to take your small plane and wittle down from your mark to the point end. The arrow will come out as a wedge. Then take some sandpaper and smooth it up.
Next take your billet(either one you purchased or made yourself) and sand out the slot in it.
Now it is time to glue it together. You will need a good glue (I used gorrila glue) and three 1 1/2 in C clamps. Get the shaft wet on the end you wittled and apply the gorrilla glue. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Now just slide the shaft into the slot on your billet. Normally it is tough to get it in there on the first try, but after the glue gets in there, it becomes easier.
Once you have the shaft in there, eyeball it to make sure everything is straight. One wing may be sticking out further than the other, but it won't matter as long as everything is straight.
After the glue dries, take your small plane and simply start rounding off the corners of your billet. I normally start on the wings first. Take it down as much as you dare without getting into the original shaft.
Now just flip the arrow the other direction and plane it out towards the point. Once I get it close, I move on to the sanding stage.
For this I made a little tool that makes things easier. Take 2 pieces of 1x4 or 2x4 and cut them to about 6 inches long. Put them together side by side and tighten them into a vice.
Now drill hole longways, right through the seam where the two wood blocks meet. Make the hole just a shade bigger than the diameter of your shaft. Now undo the vice. You have 2 pices of 2x4 with a half circle groove down each side. Set one aside for now.
Take a piece of heavy grit sand paper and cut it to fit over the groove and down the sides. Clamp this into the vice with the groove side up.
Now take your shaft and sand away by pulling it back and forth and spinning the shaft as you go. At first, the shaft will not fit into the groove. When you sand it down to the point where it will fit into the grove, you can move on to the next step.
Take each block of wood and line both groves with sandpaper. Clamp it back together in the vice. Now just insert the shaft into the hole and start sanding again. You may at first need to adjust how tight the vice is. Eventually you will have it down to where the footing is exactly the same diameter as the rest of the shaft.
Clean the dust off it, straighten if needed and dip them in your sealer once.
From there you can go on to cresting and then dip 4 more times. After that all you have to do is put the nocks on, fletch them and taper the point end.
I hope these directions are not to difficult to understand. I'm making some more next week, and maybe I will try to do a buildalong.
The Spring 1991 issue of Traditional Bowhunter explains how to do all of this.
Topic: Footed wood arrows? (Read 779 times)
