How to make 3D woodies (pic heavy)

[Flying Dutchman]

In this how-to I describe how I make my 3D arrows. I am not saying this is the best way, I am just writing down how I make them. Hopefully you will find one or more useful ideas. Like Hubert, my German friend, shouted when shooting my set-up for the first time: “Those arrows fly like laser beams!” And indeed, I found my wooden arrows to fly very nice and I even won several big tournaments with them in The Netherlands and Belgium. Of course you can use this build-along also to make your wooden hunting arrows. The only thing you might want to change is your FOC.

 The shafts:
There are some reasons why I shoot with woodies. First of all, I simply love woodies! Easy to tune because they come in steps of 5 lbs. But there are also tournaments where it is wood only. And, If you want to shoot in the Longbow class, you always have to shoot with wooden arrows and real feathers. So carbon or aluminum is not allowed. But I found out that wood gives me all I want: the right weight (around 9,5 gpp) and the right FOC (around the 9 %)
At the moment I use Sitka Spruce which weights app. between 10 and 10,5 grains/inch. Sitka proved to be very strong and my supplier hand spines them, (53 lbs +/- 1 lb) weights them (all between 325 and 340 grains) and checks if they are all straight. For all this I pay only € 2,40 per shaft, not bad, is it?

     

Weight and speed
Some 3D archers like to use ultra low-weight arrows, even as low as 8gpp. They do so  because they want to gain speed and a flat trajectory. First of all, such low weights will shorten the life of your precious bow dramatically. Second, your setup will be very sensible, not forgiving and waiting for the slightest mistake in your release and/or form. Besides of that: ultra light arrows are also very sensitive for small branches, leaves and wind.
I found out that arrows around the 9,5 gpp just fly great. They are much more forgiving and less nervous and: your bow will live much longer.

Skinny Strings
I think that a better way of gaining some speed is move over to a skinny string. It’s my rule of thumb that for every strand less you’ll gain app. 1 fps in speed. So when you move over from 16 strands to a 6 strands string you can expect a gain of speed of 10 fps.
Modern hybrids are very fast from nature. On my Cari-Bow Peregrine I have a 6 strands ultra skinny SBD string and I shoot around the 9,5 gpp. This results in an arrow speed of around the 195 fps. That’s fast enough for me!
I found out that SBD (Silent But Deadly) skinny strings are just about perfect. They definitely are the best custom-strings I ever shot and added to that: SBD is sponsor at Tradgang and they are a pleasure to deal with!


L-FOC
I guess you all know what E-FOC is; many hunters are looking for more impact and thus high or extreme high FOC’s, even above the 25% if possible. As a 3D archer we are looking for the opposite, a FOC between the 7 and 11% gives us a trajectory which is very flat. We need this, because here in Europe the distances become bigger and bigger, 50 meter (55 yards) has become quite normal on more and more tournaments. This year I was on a tournament wereyou could win a special price for the distance shot…It was a bear standing at 65 meters (71 yards) and I shot it right in the inner kill with my first arrow. Perhaps I was a bit lucky, but hey, I trained for this! I actually train at such distances and believe me; a FOC of 9% or 30% makes a big difference at such distances. At 20 yards you’ll hardly notice any difference.  We also have to shoot trough holes in the branches. For all this we need a flat trajectory, which is achieved whit a Low FOC (L-FOC). I found out that a standard 100 grains field point exactly gives me the FOC I want. This has also to do with the weight of the shaft and the cresting of course. All my arrows are around the 9,25%. For me, a FOC around the 9% is just about perfect. By the way, the word L-FOC came out my twisted mind…
I always calculate the FOC based upon the full length of the shaft and not BOP (back of point) length. My shafts are  0,6 inch in the point; I add that to the length of the balance point after measuring it from BOP. But some of you might calculate this different then I do.
There are three ways:
Using the actual shaft length as I do (9.25% FOC in my case)
Using the BOP length (10,5% FOC in my case)
Using the total length, inclusive point. (7,4% FOC) in my case)
If you don’t know how to calculate FOC, google it or do a search here.
Anyhow, no matter how you calculate, there aren’t many weights to choose from: most field points for an 11/32 shaft come in 100 and 125 grains only and some come also in 80 grains. 125 is definitely too high, and 80 is definitely too low. That’s another way of looking at it…

Matching shaft and bow
Well, there is a lot written about this, and experienced archers know what to use. Of course the best way is to buy a test –set in different spine values. If you are not so experienced, and are not in form yet, it will be hard to shoot, bare shaft or paper tune consequently. In this case I can recommend Stu Millers Dynamic Spine Calculator. You can download it for free from the internet and it will give you a great starting point.  Look at it as tuning your bow on your computer, but remember, rubbish in means rubbish out. This is how it looks like for my set-up. As you can see my arrows are around the 9,5 gpp, have a FOC around the 9% and the dynamic spine matches that of my bow. Great stuff!
Stu’s calculator also gives you a good understanding what happens if you change things in your setup.

     


So what do we need?
- Time, when you are in a hurry, pick another day!
- A piece of foam to stick your arrows in when drying
- Shafts
- Field points
- The right size nocks
- fletching
- A paper towel
- A graphite pencil
- paper tape
- A tapering and/or compressing tool
- A small miter saw or something to cut your arrows on length
- Saunders fetch-tite
- AA two compounds epoxy
- Alcohol at least 70%
- Steel wool size 00
- Tung Oil
- Turpentine
- Primer
- Some lacquer
- White Spirit
- A pair of scissors
- A fletching device
- Q-tips
- A few beers, not necessarily, but I like it…
- A digital grain scale

Determining the grain
Only thing we need here is our eyes and the graphite pencil. Taking a closer look at the front- or backside our arrows, it isn’t hard to see the grains of the wood. It is important to indicate on the arrow how the grain is aligned. The meaning of all this is that the string of your bow comes perpendicular on these grains. Now we have full benefit of the spine-value of the arrow. Doing this not right means a weaker arrow (lower dynamic spine-value).
I always inspect both sides of the arrow and pick the side with the most obvious grain. Make the mark long enough that’s it still there after you have tapered the shaft for the nock.

     


Cutting your shafts to length.
As you are working with the pencil already, we start marking the desired length. Measure it up and indicate the length. I always check if all shafts are indicated the same, because an error is easily made. When they are all indicated right, I saw them to length with a miter saw. I cut them at 75 cm, which is 29,5 inch. The length of the complete arrow (with field point installed) is about 30,5 inches. BOP is 29 inches. My drawlenght is 29 inches at least, so the length of my arrows is very precise, for broad heads you might want to keep more room.

     

     

     

Installing the nocks
For installing the nocks I use an old-fashioned tapering tool. After all shafts are tapered, the nocks can be glued. I always use Saunders and nocks never came loose. I put a small ring of glue in the nock, put the nock on the shaft and turn it around so the glue will be divided equally.
I take care that the small nock indicator is in line with the graphite mark. In this way I am sure the string comes perpendicular on the grains of the arrow.

     

     

[Flying Dutchman]

Installing the points
I use a German system from Bearpaw here. They have a special compression tool and special glue-on points. The handy compression tool can be easily installed on your drilling machine.
The tool comes with three adaptor rings for 5/16, 11/32 and 32/64 shafts.
I use 11/32. Just start your drilling machine and slightly press the shaft in the opening of the compression tool until it can no further. After compression the shafts gives a perfect fit to the points. The benefit of this system is that it is stronger, you have a perfect fit, the point is always straight on the shaft and if the shafts break, it is predicted, always direct after the point, so you can re-use the shaft eventually.  I always glue them with a 24 hours drying two component epoxy and the points stay on forever. Before you glue them, clean the inside with alcohol! No matter what glue you use, if the surface is greasy, it simply won’t glue. So before I glue them, I throw the points in a small bowl of alcohol (70%) and then clean the inside with a q-tip. After that I make it dry with a piece of paper-towel. I dip the compressed part of the shaft in the glue (be sure to mix the two components sufficiently) , put the point on, rotate it over the shaft in order to divide the glue equally and remove the surplus of the glue, which will eventually pop out, with a paper-towel.  Don’t use too much glue1 For 24 arrows I need a small teaspoon of both components. If you are having trouble to get equal amounts of both components, use the cap of the tube to lock one opening. Then do the other one. Sometimes the white component is too hard to get out. You can see that, because it turned white instead of transparent. A few seconds in the microwave will cure that.

 


 

 

 


 

 

   

[Flying Dutchman]

The cresting
I never use wraps; I like to dye my shafts. Any outside enamel paint will do, though I prefer extra strong.I admit that a wrap is easily installed, but it has a few disadvantages:
- Its is very hard, if not impossible to get the fletching off, if you need to replace one
- It doesn’t seal as good as lacquer
- It is far more expensive.
Making your own cresting by painting is much more fun. I even went to the paint shop with some purple feathers (my cresting is purple with white) They made the purple paint for me exactly in the same color as my feathers are, great! With a small can of paint you can crest 100’s of shafts.
I also don’t dip. I paint them with a small brush, first two layers of primer, then two layers of paint and then the finishing touch, to make them more pretty. Each layer is sanded with 00 steel wool to give a smooth surface.  In this way you get a very strong cresting, which won’t be damaged easily.

As first step we prepare the shaft: my cresting is 25 cm (app. 10 inches) long, inclusive nock. I measure this distance up and mark the shaft.

     

Now we are at the point were the tape comes in. I take a small amount, long enough to cover the shaft while turning it around it. Don’t forget to fold a small corner back and glue it to each other! In this way the tape can be removed very easily from the shaft once you’re done.

   

   

   


After all shafts are paper taped we do one final check if all tape is on the right side of the mark.

   

To give you an idea of the time-frame: all steps as described till here will last 4 hours for 24 shafts.


Then we take the brush and the primer and the party begins. I DON’T sand the shaft first, I’ll explain why later.

   

I just add a small amount of primer to the brush and start just under the nock, paying special attention to the transition area between nock and shaft. Since we want to seal the shaft. we take good care that the primer connects perfectly to the nock. A little overlap is not wrong, since my primer and nocks are both white.
Don’t use too much primer on your brush; otherwise it will become a mess. Remember this is only the first layer; there are three more to come. The first layer won’t cover the wood, but no worry, later it will.  On the other side of the shaft we have the paper tape, so it’s no problem if we overlap a little. Once you’re ready, give the primed shaft a check if there is nothing dripping. Hardened drops are hard to sand. Repeat this for all shafts. To give you an idea from the time frame: you will need app. 1 hour for 24 shafts. Let it dry for 24 hours. When we take a look at the dried shafts next day, they look horrible: all fibers are sticking out and the surface looks very raw:

   

This is exactly what we want, and this is why we did not sand the shaft before priming. Due to the first layer of primer, all fibers went up and now we can sand them away easily. For this I use  00 steel wool. The first strokes you can feel how raw the shaft is, but after a few strokes it goes smoother and smoother till you feel it is done. Treat all the shafts this way and now they are ready for the second layer.

   

However, before we start with this, I remove all possible dust from the sanding with a cloth damped with white spirit. Now the shafts are ready for the second layer. Each layer dries for 24 hours and is sanded with 00 steel wool. The first two layer consist out of white primer and the 3rd and 4th consist out of white paint (satin)
Of course the 4th layer isn’t sanded, because when you did the job right, the surface will be smooth like and looks almost like plastic. Now we have a very strong, mil-spec cresting which also looks great.

[Flying Dutchman]

Now it is time for some fun: we take the purple paint. When I started with this, I made another tape on the shafts and painted a purple ring of about 1 inch. Afterwards I found that dull. I thought it over and these days I do it in a different way: From the tape I make a ring of app. 1 inch wide, but I use a little more paint  then needed. I strike the surplus with careful strokes upwards, barely hitting the shaft with the brush. After a few exercises you are able to create a nice random artistic pattern on your shaft. At least, I like it…. Treat all shafts like this.

       

Once you’re done, your shafts are ready for the next step:

Sealing the shafts
These days I use Tung-Oil to seal my shafts and nothing else. Tung Oil???? Google it, you’ll find some interesting stories about this oil. In short words: it is made from Tung nuts, and this oil is used for centuries (some reports are even from B.C.) in Asia to make i.e. wooden ships waterproof.

 Warning:   Tung oil can cause allergic reactions, especially when you have a nut –allergy

What are the benefits?
- Cheap, I pay app. 17,5 per liter, enough for 1000-nds of arrows
- Very easy to work with
- The shaft stays flexible
- A very durable coating which is 100% waterproof
- It looks nice on your shafts
- It doesn’t add much weight

           

For the first layer I mix a small amount of Turpentine and Tung-oil in a 1:1 ratio. On the pic you see how much you need for 24 shafts.
Then you dip just a small piece of old cloth into the oil and rub the shaft with it. You can overlap the cresting a little bit just to be sure the shaft is completely sealed. After a few hours drying, I rub off the oil which isn’t absorbed. Let it dry for 24 hours. After that the shaft is sanded with 00 steel wool and a second layer is applied. This time we use 100% Tung oil. Don’t use too much, the wood will only absorb as much as it can. Rub the excessive oil off after a few hours. Let it dry for another 24 hours. Eventually you can add a third layer, but there is no real need for that. Now our shafts are sealed and ready for fletching!

       

Fletching; the final step
Before I fletch, I let the shafts dry for at least one week. In this way I am sure the paint  has damped out and the glue will hold. As glue I use Saunders. As a fletching devise I use a multi fletching-jig from Bearpaw. This allows me to fletch 6 arrows at once. Bearpaw has straight and helical clamps I use the helical.

         

Before I fletch, I sand the cresting a very light with 00 steel wool and clean the sanded area with alcohol. About fletching there isn’t much to tell: the Bearpaw jig does its job outstanding.  I leave the fletches in the clamp for 15 minutes and then start with the next ones.
When all fletches are on, I put a drop of glue on the front side of each feather. This is for my own safety, I don’t want feathers to come loose and force themselves into my hand when releasing.
And now we are rewarded for all our work: here they are, ready for some adventure! Aren’t they pretty?

         

         

Getting the same weights
Wood is wood of course, so the shafts will differ in weight. But I always try to get sets with the same weight. It starts with asking my supplier if he can weigh my batch of shafts I order. I want them around the 330, because I know by now I will end around the 450 grains when I transformed the shafts into an arrow. So he delivers them within a as close as possible weight range.
After the shafts are fletched and ready,  I start to weigh them on my digital grain scale. Some shafts will absorb more paint and/or oil then others do. Then I make groups within a range.
I selected 8 arrows who are in the range from 448 till 452 grains (besides of that: they are all straight and are 53 lbs +/-1). That's  not bad for woodies, is it??? I have two groups left, one is somewhat higher and the other is somewhat lower. If some shafts are totally out of range (20 grains or more) I leave it and let it wait till the next batch comes in.

[GRINCH]

Great job.

[saumensch]

great build along! THx for doing the extra work.

[Hubi]

WOWWW thats absolutly great work bro!!!  
I must visit you again to build some nice woodies    

[Grey Taylor]

Very nice write-up and great looking arrows. I especially like the purple cresting treatment, it's quite innovative.
That Bear Paw compression tool and the tips are very interesting. I wonder why those don't seem to be available here in the US?

Guy

[Osage61]

   

[Rob DiStefano]

very nice, good stuff!

i trust the tung oil yer using is resin based and not raw, correct?

[Flying Dutchman]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
very nice, good stuff!

i trust the tung oil yer using is resin based and not raw, correct?

That's a negative. I use 100% raw Tung oil. All nature... Here ya find a link:  http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html

[Flying Dutchman]

Originally posted by Grey Taylor:
Very nice write-up and great looking arrows. I especially like the purple cresting treatment, it's quite innovative.
That Bear Paw compression tool and the tips are very interesting. I wonder why those don't seem to be available here in the US?

Guy

You could ask Kustom King Archery. They import the German brand Bearpaw. I think they can get it for you.

[Lone Ranger]

very cool on the cresting- different way to do it for sure!

[Mike Vines]

Nice in-depth look at your technique.  Thanks for sharing your way with us.  There are a couple think in there I just might try.

[PowDuck]

I like the color. The way you faded the purple into the white looks really cool.

Oh, and THANKS for taking the time to show us your details.

[tradlongbow]

Very nice, I like'em too.

Darren

[JJB]

Very nice build along, I really like the looks of them.

[Flying Dutchman]

Thank you guys! I also like the fading! I always like to think that is was the speed that caused the fading... but maybe I should burn the fletching a little bit too then...  

[Easykeeper]

Nice write up.  I really like the Bearpaw points and compression tool.  Looks like a better system than the traditional cut taper.

[Flying Dutchman]

Everybody seems to like the compression tool! Is it because it is new for you guys ????