Homeade Arrow Shafts- Anyone making them?

[Archer Dave]

I was curious if anyone is making their own wood arrow shafts? I am looking at getting a bandsaw and would like to start making my own arrow shafts. I have every other woodworking tool besides a bandsaw, so I am covered there.

Who makes their own shafting and what wood do you like? I have read that some people are using regular clear pine that they find at Home Depot. Anyone try that? Also I have read a few stories of guys making them from other flooring boards such as bamboo and Douglas fir.

Any input or pictures of you making wood arrow shafts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

[monterey]

Dave, I've made quite a few.  At first by hand planing and more recently with a Veritas 3/8" dowel cutter.

So far I have used D fir, hemlock and plain clear pine.  All from the big box stores.  There are some poplar blanks on the bench waiting to be spun out.  

I like the d fir and the pine was much better than expected.  The pine are my current small game arrows.  The hemlock was not very impressive, but worth trying again.  The first run with hemlock was a board with very wide growth rings.  Am on the lookout for some tight grain hemlock.

I cut blanks on a table saw.  The Veritas calls for a 1/2" blank but the next batch (the poplar) is 7/16".

I group them by the board they came out of and look for boards showing consistent characteristics throughout.  I don't bother to weigh or spine them.  They are what they are and I find that they can be tuned to shoot pretty easily.

What method do you plan to use?  Not sure why you need a band saw.  Am interested in your project and results.

[Archer Dave]

Thanks for your response. I was thinking of just ripping 3/8" - 7/16" squares and planing them by hand right now. I have looked at the Veritas dowel maker, but I have the time that I think planing them might be enjoyable.

I sold my table saw when I sold my house this summer. I could have used it to rip down the stock, but alas I no longer have one. I have wanted a bandsaw for some time now and this would be one more project to use it for.

So I take it that you would need tight grain wood for arrows? I have made arrows from dogwood shoots, but never a board.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dallas]

I've made shafts from walnut, poplar and pine.  started by hand planning, then used the Veritas dowel maker and now I use my table mounted router with a home made jig.  The router gives me a little more control over finished sizes.

[Tedd]

What are some diameters you have found to make X spine with a certain wood?
Tedd

[Archer Dave]

Originally posted by Tedd:
What are some diameters you have found to make X spine with a certain wood?
Tedd

That is a good question. Also I wonder how much impact growth ring width makes in spine?

[Jack Skinner]

I make all my own shafting. I have hand planned and I have veritas. Hand planning is great but slow and tough with hard woods. If hand planning use tight straight grain of cedar or dougfir. Hand planning gives me a smoother finished arrow. If using doweling gig the sky is the limit. Favorite at this time poplar. To try and give you best board for weight and spine is difficult. Wood varies a lot as do boards from the same woods. Boards here in WY can get too dry not much humidity. At tmes I have found df to brittle but a lot of people love it. When it does make arrow I find it moderate to heavy spine and of light to moderate grain weight. When I want a heavy weight shaft I go with ash. When I want moderate to heavy spine and moderat weight I go with poplar or sometimes birch.

My arrows are 29 long self nock with three fletch and 190 grain tip.
Ash will be 700 to 800 grains
Poplar/birch 550 to 700
I turn to 25/64 and then hand sand to my spine weight. It may come in at 3/8 or 11/32. Does not matter to me just spine.

[Brently]

I make my own shafts also.  Favorite is pine.  I get most of my pine from shipping crates at work.  I have used fir, hemlock, birch, mahogany, oak.  You just have to try making them and see what works for you

[Archer Dave]

Anyone care to show your arrow shaft making set ups?

[JamesV]

5/16 poplar dowels from Lowes work pretty darn good.

[monterey]

I'll see what I have for pics.  

When I hand plane, I start with a 3/8" blank and end up sanded to 23/64 or 11/32.

It seemed to me that thick growth rings were softer, but that's just a few observations on my part.

I foun hand planing to be a pleasant exercise but it is time consuming.  Both methods generate large quantities of tinder.  

[Stone Knife]

I have made them using a Veritas jig, then I sand them and run them through a 3Rivers compression block. Any shaft that survives the process is usually pretty good. Doug fir works the best I made some out of old porch flooring that was Doug fir it was old stuff with tight grain.

[Jack Skinner]

My process. Some of the photos show footed arrows but it is the same process if doing by hand for full length arrows.
 

 
 
 
 

[Jack Skinner]

If I am going to use for footed shaft the arrow has to be at least 15 to 20 lbs of spine above what I need for finished shaft. Footing really drops the spine with FOC. If not footing in the 65 to 70 spine range is good so that I can clean up the shaft by sanding it down to my spine.
 
The hand process I will show you is for footed arrows but as before the same for full length saft if you dont have dowler.
 
A tool I sometimes use once the corner are rounded.
 
A lot of hand sanding down to the size you want.
 
 
reinforced self nock
 
 
Some finished arrows. See the tooling marks on the second from right, didnt need much sanding to make my spine. The first arrow if you look close shows some chip out but very little. The best of the best are set aside to make broadhead arrow.
 

[atatarpm]

Birch and Oak for myself

[monterey]

Jack, looks like you have that classy adjustable Veritas?  Does it sharpen well?

[Jack Skinner]

With moderate use I have not had to sharpen it, I have maybe turned over 100 to 150 blanks. But I think it is time, I had more tear out this time when turning some poplar. I am a little nervous about trying to sharpen it, I am pretty good at sharpening but would like for these to be as perfect as possible for best cutting. Also it does take time to get it set up to cut the diameter you want, so I will probably have to go back thru that setup process. I really do like it though and would buy one again. I have all the inserts and can do any diameter shaft I want.

[Triphammer]

I use a router setup with a homemade jig. I found the instructions for the jig online. I've used poplar, maple, ash & Douglas Fir. Maple & ash are heavy and tough. The easiest to work , by far, is poplar. The biggest problem with Doug Fir is tear outs but this can be dealt with best by using a round-over bit in the router so you cut from the side & bottom at the same time. The Fir makes a tough shaft only a little heavier than the poplar.

[monterey]

I have contemplated the adjustable Veritas, but so far the fixed 3/8" unit has sufficed.  The adjustable would allow making the smaller diameters for kid arrows.

I use a Lansky to sharpen but it did require a modification to get the correct angle.

[monterey]

Jack, what glue do you use for your footings?

I have done epoxy but it's such a mess and wonder if something else will do the job.