Tapering arrows on a belt/ disc sander

[wv lungbuster]

Anyone use this method instead of a wood chuck tapering tool.

[lpcjon2]

look at this from the How to section and yes many do use it.
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000059

[Dave Worden]

Sure, I taper woodies on my 9" disc sander.  I drilled a hole in 2 blocks of wood and glued them to a base at the proper angles.  Then I insert the shaft through the hole and rotate it against the disc till it's properly tapered.  You can also just cut V-grooves into a base and use that guide your arrows.  The V-groove will accomodate any diameter of arrow, while the blocks that I have will only accomodate one size.  Just don't let the sander pull the shaft into the disc (unless you want really short arrows!).

[Fletcher]

I like a "V" groove type guide and you will want a stop of some sort.  AMAW makes a V guide block with both the nock and point angles already set.  Several of the sponsor suppliers, incl me, have them for $11-12.

[Davesea]

I finally changed over to sanding my tapers.  Works great.  I try to keep my shop tools to a minimum, so I use a sanding disc on my table saw (woodcraft sells it).  I bought Tim's Taper tool which works great and allows you to set up quickly and accurately without using clamps.
Dave

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Absolutely! A belt sander clamped gently on its side on a lump of board (it becomes a portable arrow tapering tool, to lend to friends, and because I don't have a proper work bench), and a guide block from 3Rivers.

 

[magnus]

O use one as well. Love it.

Keeping the faith!
Magnus

[Jason Kendall]

I used a block like Bens above with the disc on the side of my belt sander, worked great, the cedar made the shop smell good too!

[JamesV]

 

[traditional beagle]

What's wrong with just using a 4 dollar plastic taper tool. These jigs are great but I don't see the logic. A taper is a taper isn't it.

[magnus]

Beagle. There is nothing wrong with the hand held. If you do a lot of arrow making though the blades will dull quickly. If you only do a few dozen a year then the hand held will be just dandy for you. Plus I like excuses to fire up my power tools.

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[Benny Nganabbarru]

I bought the very best hand-held taper tool, and couldn't get it to work on Douglas fir.

[portugeejn]

Yup, Doug Fir didn't work on my hand-held taper tool either.  It just tore out chunks of wood.  

RonP

[Green]

Here's what I made....can't take credit for it as I got the idea off Youtube, but it's simple to use and was easy to build.

 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Trad beagle the hand held style is too small on occasion. If you put an extra coat or two of poly on the shaft it wont fit inside nicely, causing burns and flakes. I prefer the disc sander. And as stated above doug fir splinters badly on a pencil sharpener style. Yes some gadgets are for fun, but some are out of neccesity.

[Gator1]

Great thread here.

Since I don't have a disc sander of any type, I was wondering, what is the most cost effective way to go?

I'd like to get into building some woodies, but I understand the importance of an accurate nock/point taper.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Gator I have never used anyhting but the plastic pencil sharpener style and my belt sander. I would look into the tru taper tool, probably much better than the plastic style. If you were to buy a woodchuck taper tool you could take the same money and buy a belt sander.

[wv lungbuster]

Originally posted by PEARL DRUMS:
Gator I have never used anyhting but the plastic pencil sharpener style and my belt sander. I would look into the tru taper tool, probably much better than the plastic style. If you were to buy a woodchuck taper tool you could take the same money and buy a belt sander.

Thats what I was thinking about the woodchuck taper tool. For less money you can buy a belt/disc sander combo. And have a tool for multi use.

[COOCH]

Besides I think we all have a bit of TIM TAYLOR the TOOL TIME guy in us.  

[Jack Denbow]

If you have access to a table saw you can replace the blade with a sanding disc and make a couple of guides to do your tapers. That is what I did for about 20 years.
Two years ago I bought a 4x36 belt/disc sander and a Tims Taper tool,  available from Wes Wallace and Bull Mountain Archery. This freed up my table saw and a big sander that I used to put on the 10" taper. I now have a stand alone unit to put my nock/point tapers and 10" tapers on my shafts, plus I can hook it up to a vacuum.
Using a sander type tool you can do any kind of wood you choose to use. If funds are limited I would buy the belt/disc sander and get one of the jigs from AMAW then when funds become available get the point/nock Tims Taper Tool. Then if you want to do a 10" taper you can purchase that part.
Jack