Arrow footing

[Dave Schneider]

I am planning to undertaking my first footed shafts.  I have read all of the articles and website I can find but still have a few questions.  First, what are some good ways to work down the shaft to fit into the footing and how do you keep the taper even?  I was thinking of a guide for a belt sander, or is not important how accurate the taper is?

Next, does it matter whether you taper parralle or perpendicular to the grain of either the shaft or the footing?

Last, what are some good footing woods?  I have some scrape osage but what other woods will help me add weight?

Thank

[Glenn Newell]

Dave you can use your belt sader or a small hand plane works well also. You can eye the taper no worries, it's a lot easier than it looks. Purple Heart and Osage Orange make good footings, I bet Ipe would work well too, you can use just about any hardwood for a footing.
I normally taper parrell with the grain but I doubt if it wold make a big differance...Glenn...

[Frank V]

Maybe Bob will answer this question. He has loads of experience with footed shafts. Frank

[aromakr]

Dave:
From your questions I assume you are doing a two point splice (the easist for the beginner), If so the old timers said to have the points parallel to the growth rings, but I don't know if its important except for looks.
Your Osage will make excellent footing. As to rounding the foots, that can be done a number of ways, probably the easiest is a very sharp block plane. Take a scrap piece of 2X4 and cut a "V" groove down the middle. Place that in a bench vise and the shaft in the groove with the foot pointing towards you. Now just start taking the corners off the footing, turning the shaft slightly after each cut. You do want this as accurate as possible. You will eventually get down to a multi sided foot that is almost the right diameter. Now make what I call a sanding book. Its nothing more than two pieces of 2X4 hinged together, a hole down through the middle 3/8" or slightly larger. Line the hole with sand paper. Then chuck the shaft up in an electric drill place the footed shaft in the book and start sanding, until the desired dia is reached.
Bob
P.S. Woods like Osage are best glued with Epoxy not wood glues.

[Dave Schneider]

Glen and Bob, thanks for the help.  Always good to have some confidence going into a new project.

I may try some hickory to salvage some broken shafts before I use my limited supply of Osage.  I like the sanding book idea will have to give that a try.

Anyone know what the relative density of woods species are?  One of my goals is to add weight by footing shafts.  I assumed Osage is heavier than POC but what about hickory or other species?

[Glenn Newell]

Dave the density of osage is around 950 kilos per cubic metre which is around 2000 lbs, that's heavy, compared to ebony which is around the 1000 plus kilo mark. I don't have any figures on hickory but I suppose there are many species of hickory, but not as many as our eculaptyus trees of which there are over 770 species.
I prefer around 20% foc but my main quarry is pigs and shot at close range, this gives me the best results and penetration on them anyway, that might not suit what your are doing...Glenn...

[Dave Schneider]

Glenn,

I am mostly looking to experiment with getting more weight on the front of my arrows.  I figured Osage was about as dense as I was going to find, but was not certain.  I prefer to stay with local materials for my projects.  Have some Osage scraps from selfbow projects but easier to get hickory for expermenting.  Hickory is a tough wood.  Mostly pignut that I have access to.  

Other than being prettier, any advantage to four point splice vs the two point splice?

Dave

[Glenn Newell]

Dave I prefer the two foot to the four foot. The two footed splice tends to want to compress back onto the shaft whereas the four foot doesen't, but the four footed shaft does look nice. My two footed arrows seem to break less than the four footed shafts.
I spent a bit of time in Ohio and saw pignut hickory when I was there, it is tough timber alright. Hope to be over there in 2008 again and have a shot at a whitetail...Glenn...