Home Depot Garden Stake/Bamboo Arrow Build-A-Long (Pic Heavy!)

[tenbrook]

Originally posted by Ferris Bugler:
Awesome build.  Any idea how stiff the spine might be on the stiffest shoots?

You can get em' anywhere from 30-100# just go through enough utill you find the spine you want.

 

Originally posted by ordcorpdw:
I second Ferris Bugler.....can these handle a 60# bow?

Yes.  

[David Dumke]

Originally posted by ordcorpdw:
I second Ferris Bugler.....can these handle a 60# bow?

Id have to think it depends on the actual spine and weight like any other arrow

[kpete]

Hats off to you for all the work to show us your craft.  I already have some Hdepot stakes, but will have to get some bananas!

[tecum-tha]

Get yourself some bamboo shafts from TIGER. Everything is done for you and they already come spined. The price is well within reason for a 100 pack. Remember:
1  out of 20 bamboo shoots is selected to become an arrow shaft by them. That is a lot of bamboo! It is not worth it doing it by yourself, although it is easy.

[bill langer]

THAT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE!!!

Thank you, Bill

[tenbrook]

Originally posted by tecum-tha:
Get yourself some bamboo shafts from TIGER. Everything is done for you and they already come spined. The price is well within reason for a 100 pack. Remember:
1  out of 20 bamboo shoots is selected to become an arrow shaft by them. That is a lot of bamboo! It is not worth it doing it by yourself, although it is easy.

What is TIGER?

[tenbrook]

Thanks guys!  I am having knee surgery on my ACL today so its going to be about a month until I can move on to doing the Bone Broadhead.

Stay tuned!

Tenbrook

[vintage-bears]

[Red Tailed Hawk]

This build along is great, thanks for posting.  

[Uncle Buck]

many years ago I copied a diagram for a low tech spine tester designed by Eldon Bingham. It was essentially the same as the 2 nails in the fence except it used a 30" span and a 3 pound weight.

Here are the listed deflections for various weights. the measurments are from one 5# step to the next starting at level.
-9/16=75#, -1/16=70#, -3/32=65#, -3/32=60#, -3/32=55#, -3/32= 50#, -1/8=45#, -5/32=40#, -5/32=35# I hope this helps some of you who dont have an arrow to compare with

God Bless,
Buck

[burnt]

I agree with tecum-tha about the quality of tigers shafts(chinese guy who sells shafts on **** and through archery venders) But I really like the do it yourself know how of this demo. If ya got the time I bet you could come up with a set of shooting arrows real cheap. might be my next project. I've done this but without knowing spine. thanks for teaching me something

[red hill]

Great thread, tenbrook. Good luck with the surgery. Hope it goes well.
I've got a couple dozen river cane that've been drying in the attic since early August. Now I know how to turn'em into arras!  

[Ed Q]

Hope the surgery goes well and that you have a quick recovery.  And many thanks for the tutorial!  Learned a lot and decided to try it out for myself.  

I think I used too much heat to straighten the nodes since they came out a bit too burned looking.  I tried steaming them, but that didn't work at all, so used a hand-torch.  Just have to remember to keep the shaft a bit more away from the torch's flame next time.

I used a field point instead of the nail since I can't find my angle grinder to grind the end into a point.  Also used some left-over scrap fletching from my feather chopper and turned them into short flu flus.  The Duco didn't stick too well, so I wrapped them with some synthetic sinew.  Here are a few pics thanks to this thread:

   
   
   

[Uncle Buck]

Since the shafts are hollow has anybody ever tried gluing an Insert in the shaft?

[Lone Ranger]

this needs to be stickied in the how to section!

[tenbrook]

Originally posted by Ed Q:
Here are a few pics thanks to this thread:

   
   
   

Now thats what I'm talkin' about......Those look fantastic.

Great job!  

[Ed Q]

Thanks, Tenbrook!  They pale in comparison to yours, but you laid everything out in such an easy to read, easy to follow manner, I figured I'd try my hand at 'em.

FWIW, the six-pack of 6' long stakes at the Lancaster, TX Home Depot was only $2.97.  And out of those, I found 3 that seemed thick and suitable enough.  So that comes out to $1 per shaft - not too bad for the price!

Hope your recovery is going well and that you get back soon to building more arrows and motivating the rest of us!