Alum. Footing on Wood Arrows....

[OkKeith]

Hey Guys,

Following my post about our exciting cow patty hunt, several folks were wondering about the way we foot our wood arrow shafts with alum. arrow material.

I apologize for the delay, but have had the creeping crud and missed a few days of work on account of it. Now that both cheeks are sore from injections, and I have met the medical insurance deductible for the year I am back in the saddle (gingerly...) and have some explanations and some photos showing what we do.

To be honest, this process was born out of laziness, rather than any scientific desire for ExFOC or anything. It was simply annoying to me to have to heat-up hot melt and swap out points on arrows. I never seemed to have the right points on the particular arrows I wanted to use for whatever purpose. The adapters you could purchase were a little pricey for me and weighed quite a bit, and to me seemed clunky and inelegant. So I looked for a way to get what I wanted with what I already had. Here is what a few buddies and I have come up with.

Here are some of the materials you will need:

     
The tubing cutter is to trim the sections of alum. arrow to size. A high speed cutoff saw would be better and eliminate a few steps, but I don't have one. I did have the cutter. The protractor (or any ruler or measuring tape) is to measure your sections and along the arrow shaft. Pen or pencil for marking, and the small hammer and tapered punch for resizing and deburring the sections.


     

I prefer to put these footings on finished arrow shafts. It gets cumbersome to try and clear coat dip the shafts with the footing on. Make sure the arrows are shootable straight. Trying to straighten a footing on a crooked arrow is difficult at best and an exercise in futility at worst. You will also need alum. arrow shafting sized to snuggly fit over your wood shaft. A too loose fit results in misaligned footings which amount to a permanently crooked arrow. I don't know about you, but my shooting doesn't need any help in the WORSE direction. Of course, you will also need inserts that fit the shafting. All the shafting I used was scavenged from my own junk arrow pile or from my buddies’ arrow graveyards. I only had to buy a couple of handfuls of inserts to round out my supplies. Even if you needed to purchase alum. arrows, one shaft (depending on how long you make your sections) can yield a dozen or so sections if you’re not picky about labeling and such.

Figure out how far up the wood shaft you want the footing to go. These are some arrows that my girl friend Lisa made. Since they are smaller dia. shafts I am using Easton 2314 alum. shaft. Most of my wood shafts need 2413 alum. section (yes, confusing with the transposed number thing). She decided on an inch and a half, add to that the three-quarters of an inch the insert will take up and you get two and one-quarter inch sections of alum. arrow shafting.
 
   

Mark your sections and cut one at a time to avoid compounding measuring errors.

   

When cutting the alum. arrow sections with the tubing cutter, try and avoid deforming the shafting. Again, a high speed cutoff saw would be best for this. I even considered asking the folks at my local archery shop to do this for me (and they would for free most likely, they are mostly wheel bow shooters but get great entertainment value from me and my kooky ideas) but could never think of it during business hours.

   

Get the cutting wheel on the line you marked and make sure the first turn cuts well, otherwise it likes to walk and the cut will not be clean.

   

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I did that last year, I footed/fixed some broken tips on my wooden arrows using Easton 2417's. I used 6" of alum, I added in insert then sanded and pushed the footing till it stopped. Worked great. Will be doing more like that later this year.

You can also do it the other way around. Footing a Alum shaft with wood. This works great for those that like gluing on their own points.

[OkKeith]

It is impossible (at least it was for me) not to crimp the sections of shafting some during the cutting process. I used the tapered punch and the hammer to resize each end of the sections. BE CARFUL HERE. My initial touch was too heavy and I split the side of a few before I got the right amount of force.

 

Use an insert to check for the right amount of resizing. If it goes in with just a touch of friction, you are in good shape. Use a rolled up piece of sandpaper to deburr the inside of the section and to flatten the outside edge.

You should then have a neat little section of arrow shafting just the right size. Most of the shafts run between 8 and 10 grains per inch and the inserts are 12-15 grains each, so calculating how much weight you are adding should be simple.

 

Test fit your insert once again just to make sure everything is fitting nicely. I use super glue on both the inserts and when mounting the footings. At this point you should glue inserts into each of the footing sections.

   

Measure and mark the arrow shaft just shy of where the footing will come up to. You may have to sand this area lightly to bring down what ever finish you might have applied to the arrow. Be sure and do this evenly around the wood arrow shaft. Any high spots or flat areas will cause the footing to be misaligned. As I said, I use super glue to put these on. On the first few I tried epoxy, but it got into the insert threads from the back and screwed them up.

Besides, with a little applied heat I can pull these off in the field if they are damaged, or replace inserts. If you pack a few glued up footings, super glue applicator and a disposable lighter, it makes for a small and handy field expedient repair kit.

Mount all the footings and align them as straight as possible.

 

Here are a few arrows with the footings applied, as well as one from the dozen Lisa did (in the center with the red fletching).

         

Well... There ya go. A quick and dirty explanation of how we do it. I doubt we are the true originators of this. I am sure many of you are saying,

"Geeze, we been doing that for years!"

Well OK, I admit I may be a little slow, but for some this may be new.

[OkKeith]

Here are a few pictures of the last batch of alum. footed arrows I made. You know how rednecks are. We always have to see how snazzy a job we can do on something that should really be simply utilitarian.

I went to my local archery shop and picked up an Easton legacy shaft to fit my arrows, and some inserts. I put these on just like all the others, trying (and failing) to match the grain lines.

   

These footings weighed about 35 grains; I shoot a 150 grain point/broadhead. The total arrow weight is in the 750 grain neighborhood. Much heavier than that and my bows complain about it by shooting poor groups.

       

I shoot several 3D matches each year for fun, and several of them require wood arrows to shoot in the traditional catagory. I checked all the rules and these appear to be OK, at least around here.

BUT... I am first and formost a hunting archer! These arrows will be in the woods tomorrow looking for feral hogs here in Oklahoma.

Thanks for taking the time to look at the post, holler if you have any question or suggestions.

OkKeith

[Dave2old]

Keith -- This is perhaps the best build-along I've ever seen! Clear writing and sharp photos! My only complaint is that you keep bragging on Lisa but don't show us a picture of her holding her fine work, oh well. OK, I got tired of waiting on you(not knowing you had the "creeping crud" which I assume means getting older?), and so I did a quick-and-dirty version of my own: bought a 2413 Easton "super light" shaft, $6.50, and cut it into half a dozen 4" sections with a hacksaw ... put each section gently in a vice and smoothed the end flat and around the outside edges of each cut with a mill bastard, then smoothed inside with a round file. Heat-glued in aluminum inserts which is all the (foreign to me) wheelie shop had in stock, just to get going with this. (I'll switch to brass or steel soon's I can get some, as per Doc Ashby's warning about the3 weakness of alum hardware.) With just the lightest of sanding the alum tubes fit snugly onto 11/32 maple shafts. Since I cut off the tapered ends of the shafts so that the base of the screw-in inserts had a solid face to rest against, I can't tell that I gained any weight at all. However, I can now screw in any weight point I like, up to the 315-grain ABS "Ashby" tank-busting broadhead. And I have to think that the 4" alum collar will reduce shaft breakage on angled shots into elk bone (or rock-hard cow pies when stumping). And I rather like the odd looks of it, although Lisa and the Redneck's products are far more attractive than mine. I asked Ed Ashby about this idea and he basically said "Why didn't I think of that?" I'll be experimenting with this through the summer and right now, although I'm wholly pleased with Woody Weights for getting more umph! up front, this is cheaper, looks more substantial, and offers more latitude ... if you can get used to screw-in points, which I can in this perhaps perfect compromise. Thanks, Keith, you done great! dave

[Old York]

Nice how-to & beautiful photographs!

Mind if I add on?

I grind a 45º bevel at the rear of the aluminium
stub before it goes on the shaft -
this helps it come out of a target and
also helps it across the arrow rest.

[Dave2old]

Keith and dummies like me -- Wish I'd known about the SuperGlue being heat-meltable sooner. My first try, described aboved and before your post, was with Duco, and I can't get the sleeve off no matter what. But stepping back a bit, doing this presents a bit of a tuning challenge, insofar as it's almost certain, given the enanced weight up front, that spine will weaken, making it necessary to shorten shafts. So, I have an arrow that's too weak and needs cutting back, but I can't get the darned sleeve off. Once I get the proper length figured out I'll scrape off the feathers and shorten it from the back end. Meanwhile, after reading your excellent build-along, I used the generic "superglue" I had on hand, after shortening a second shaft an inch. That one is not quite dead on either, but getting there and I was able to get the alum sleeve off after extreme heating. So my question is: What specific brand of "superglue" are you using that so easily melts with a bit of heat? And my caution to my fellow dummies who dare to try this at home, is to figure out the spine and shaft length prior to gluing on the sleeve. But I will get it figured, and I do like the idea a lot. Thanks again for the obvious effort that went into this. Dave

[OkKeith]

Thanks for the compliments fellas! This was a fun thing to do.

Dave-
I'm glad this is working out for ya. I just use the regular ole' LocTite super glue. I've never had too much trouble getting it to come loose with application of heat. It seems to sizzle a bit then gives a small "POP" and viola it's loose.

As far as spine goes, I have a 31"+ draw length so the extra length works well for me. I use a POC shaft spined at 75-80lbs. By the time I get it fletched, footed and points on, it shoots great through my cut just past center, 45# bow (45# at 28", I draw 31 and 3/4, so more poundage). I can see how a little experimentation may be needed to fine tune from the start.

Tim-
Beveling the following edge of the sleeve is a good idea. Do you use a fine file or sand paper to do that?

OkKeith

[Bjorn]

Way to go! Really well done. Thanks.

[Old York]

Keith, I chuck the aluminium stub into a drill and run it opposite rotation of a fine grit stone on my bench grinder. I hold it at about a 50º, goes pretty quick.

[Dave2old]

Gee, I wish I'd have thought to buy wood-grained aluminums for the tubing. I will next time! thanks again, dave

[Greyfox54]

Thanks for the post , I rounded up some shafts on the arrows section as soon as I read your original post, can't wait to try this out , Fred

[OkKeith]

Tim-
Thanks for the tip. Do you use any paint on the tappered edge to knock down the shiney spot?

Dave-
Sure thing. I think the wood grain alum. looks pretty cool. You know what they say,
     "If ya can't BE good at something, you should at least LOOK good doing it."
Have fun.

Fred-
Very much my pleasure. This was my first "build along" sort of deal. It was fun. I think 2/3 of the enjoyment of knowing something, is sharing it with other folks who appreciate it.

OkKeith

[Dave2old]

Good thread, ttt.

[OkKeith]

Hey Guys,

Here is an added idea one of my Pards came up with recently. He put a dab of super glue in the hole at the back of the insert to plug it (this solves the clogged threads situation), then used 2 ton epoxy to put the insert in with and to put the footing on. He was fairly generous with the glue, and wiped off any that spooged out.

He said you have to hold it on for a bit so the epoxy (as it catalyzes) doesn't push off the footing, but he says the set up is nearly bomb proof. To break the insert or broad head ferrule would take a serious hit.

Just thought I would pass this on.

OkKeith