If you ever broke a wood arrow this looks interesting

[Van/TX]

Cool, but my single splice footings break right behind the point where the original arrows break.  I've re-footed some more that twice and they always break behind the point.  That's a good thing.  When I run out of reparrows (I've even single spliced footed some of them) or get tired of single spliced process I may get one of those conical drills.  Thanks for the info    ...Van

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Been sitting on my hands here for a while, since I make and sell Reparrow footings...

Tecum-tha, you say you have been using this repair method for 10 years or so. Were you using tooling you made yourself?

Another issue that will come up with time is that a tapered drill wears unevenly so that the taper changes. The point end of the drill cuts the full depth of the hole with every use. The rest of the taper of the drill cuts proportionally less depth depending on its position on the taper, so that the large end of the taper cuts very little depth of the hole each time.

The result is that the small part of the taper wears faster and changes the angle.

This may never happen with the small number of times the Arrow-Fix owner will repair arrows. But if the tool is not used enough to worry about wear, will it pay for itself.

Van, as for using a conical drill without the fixture, you would find the shafts splitting even when the drill bit is new. When it begins to dull, think shattered shafts.

Also, Van, remember the first Reparrows with the square shoulders? That was the result of using a tapered drill to make a hole in the end of a piece of square hardwood. The drilled blank was then put between a matching tapered center and a normal but small wood lathe center in a metal lathe and the square was turned round for all but the last 1/8 inch or so.

I might have kept making the footings that way but for the fact that the drill wore unevenly, requiring  frequent sharpening to restore the 5-degree taper. Of course I was making hundreds of them. Most Arrow-Fix users will not make anything like that many.

I note that the Arrow-Fix name was registered quite recently. "On Friday, May 21, 2010,  a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for ARROW-FIX. This trademark is owned by DiFis Engineering UG, Lange Furche 13, Fellbach 70736"

Jim

[stringstretcher]

For someone that is building cane or bamboo arrows, that would be the ticket to do footed ends and nocks???????????

[rraming]

I purchased 100 Shurwood shafts for that price - I would pass

[Jeremy]

Originally posted by Van/TX:
Cool, but my single splice footings break right behind the point where the original arrows break.  I've re-footed some more that twice and they always break behind the point.  That's a good thing.

That's my experience with the single point footings too (I'll say "Thanks" again for the idea Van  :D )

Assuming an archer wants to do that kind of repair (and with arrow prices, repairs are a good thing) the options are buy that jig, or ~11 doz reparrows?  I've been repairing every possible shaft for the last 8 years and I'm not close to 11 doz repairs.

It's nice to see the jig on the market!  

[gilf]

Originally posted by rraming:
I purchased 100 Shurwood shafts for that price - I would pass

Not that I'm promoting it one way or the other but it's not about the shaft price, it's about the whole arrow price, fletch, nocks and all.

You break the point off the whole arrow is useless, so the replacement cost is for every part of the arrow not just the raw shaft.

Personally I use one of these...

 http://www.archers-review.com/arrows-and-arrow-making/footing-jig

... I help run an archery business where we get 50-60 people a week shooting nearly 4000 arrows. On average we break 20 or so arrows each week and this has saved a huge amount of money.

These fixed arrows of course then get shot a lot and we have never had a failure. I would add that we are using low poundage bows and generally only repair them towards the point end.

I'd totally echo about checking your arrows, my wife still have various bits of an arrow stuck in her hand, she is waiting for an operation to remove them.

[tecum-tha]

Gilf, I was doing those repairs for a few years ,too,but they're pretty messy and time consuming compared to a reparrow or using this jig.
The drawback with the reparrows is, that he uses nice looking woods, but by far not the toughest ones, because these are hard to feather out to a zero edge..
We fiddled a long time around with the right drill and getting prototypes made is pretty costly. If you have a small lathe, then just get the conical drill bit.
Anyways, to each his own, but don't bash a method you have not tried. If it would not work, would 3rivers offer it then?

[Old York]

It is not clear to me  why a 5º tapered glue joint is sufficiently strong enough to repair an arrow in back of it's point, yet not strong enough to make a repair joint, say in the middle of the shaft.

I have made very good repairs using Jim's "Reparrows" and Tite-Bond III. I grind my taper, glue-up the parts, wrap the joint with thread to close up that fine feathered transition, and get it dead nuts straight whilst the glue still is fresh using my AAE arrow straightener. T.I.R. near the joint on a good day is +/- 0.005" maximum.

If I had the $$$$$$$, I'd try this new jig in a heartbeat. I put a lot of work into making some fancy capped and crested and wire-footed arrows and to just toss them when they're broken is a pain. And I'll venture that the stresses on an arrow shaft in the middle are far less than at the point, with an acute angle impact.

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Tecum-tha is right about the reason I use walnut and cherry--they machine well. But, they are both much tougher than the cedar they repair.

I did try locust, hornbeam, purpleheart, oak and ash. They were not clearly tougher in use. None of those woods or walnut or cherry tend to break as footings. New breaks are usually in part of the original shaft.

As for repairs in other parts of the shaft, I have made arrows entirely of Reparrows. They were very heavy, but shot just fine. I did not test them to destruction, because I only made them as novelties.

Jim
   

[Van/TX]

Jim, you are the man.  But dang you wasted all those Reparrows on one arrow    ...Van

Was wondering when you would surface on this thread.  Thanks for the info  

[Jim now in Kentucky]

[Van/TX]

Jeremy, thanks.  Just passing on stuff I've picked up.  Someone passed it on to me    ...Van

[tecum-tha]

Of all the tests I was running with reparrow like footings, the wood of the Robinia pseudoacacia seems to yield the best results on solid concrete blocks. Only ash and maple arrows were doing as good as footed cedars with that wood. The 4 wing footings just splintered on impact, but I was shooting the same footed cedar arrow repeatingly into the same concrete block from 12 yards with a 60# bow. Will every arrow perform like that, heck no, but it makes them much stronger against breakage.
A lot of people in my old area in Germany were using these repairs, since excellent arrows are costly. Period.

[Anaconda12]

Originally posted by Van/TX:
Fixed these for a friend using single splice footings.  He killed an elk with one of the fixed ones...Van
 

Van although the "weak " rift in those arrows is pretty showing all the grain and such, dont you think rift as that in any wood arrow is generally inferior?  I try to sort those out of mine preferring long straight grain that does not "edge or feather" out .  Just asking

[gilf]

Originally posted by tecum-tha:

Anyways, to each his own, but don't bash a method you have not tried. If it would not work, would 3rivers offer it then?

Not sure how you got the impression I was bashing it?

My response was aimed more at the number of people suggesting you should never repair a wooden arrow. I was just giving the opinion that there were instances where doing so is cost effective and justifiable for some people.

[Grey Taylor]

Anaconda12, I don't see grain rift in those arrows but I do see the splice Van used to foot them.
Are we looking at the same thing?

Guy

[Don Stokes]

Tim, the difference is in the amount of stress on the repair when shot. If the repair is at the point end, there is practically no stress on the joint during the shot, because it is at the end of the shaft which flexes very little if at all. A repair in the center portion of the shaft is subjected to much more stress when the string is released, increasing the odds of failure when the arrow is still at the bow where it can hit your hand. Breaks behind the point are the result of impact, not flexure in shooting.

[tecum-tha]

Sorry,gilf.
This was not adressed to you at all.I was understanding your post as you described.
It was adressed to some of the people who were saying it is dangerous or foolish to repair arrows etc.
It is ok to say that one personally don't like to use it, but to make  it seem dangerous is questionable. I have also a set of TD cedar arrows, which are coming apart just in front of the cresting. For me, that is pretty close to the center of the arrow.
I think it is save to repair a high quality wood shaft, but questionable to use low quality wood shafting. Although I am personally not a friend of repairing it beyond the first third of my arrows.

[Van/TX]

Anaconda, what Grey said.  That's the glue line from the splice.  The glue line is 3 1/2" long (looks shorter because of the angle of the pic) so that's 7 total inches of wood surface that is glued together.  It's as strong or probably stronger than the original shaft.  You can take the shaft with your hands and bend it till it breaks.  It won't break at the glue line     ...Van

[Jim now in Kentucky]

It is my experience and firm belief that arrows never get past the spine tester only to break on the first release. They break on release only after they have been damaged by impact.

As far as splicing near the middle of the arrow, see above my photo of an arrow made entirely of Reparrows. I have shot that arrow many times from my 45# bow and it is as sound as a regular arrow--or more sound.