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Arrow weight

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WillS:
FWIW, my shafts are 1/2" and tapered to 3/8" with hand forged Tudor bodkins.

I think what I'll do to avoid this in future is buy the shafts 1/2" parallel and taper them myself.  If the density is low, therefore making the overall weight less, I'll leave the taper later on the shaft, keeping the first 2/3 or so 1/2" more or less, then a steeper taper towards the nock.    Cheers for advice though guys.

meanewood:
Hi Wills
Sorry about that, I thought you were talking grains not grams.
As for the drilling option, I tried it once to make up the weight for a quarter pound arrow but as the others have said it makes it point heavy!
Now I make all my shafts myself from the same piece of wood and get great consistency 

adb:

--- Quote from: meanewood on August 25, 2013, 05:33:28 am ---Hi Wills
Sorry about that, I thought you were talking grains not grams.
As for the drilling option, I tried it once to make up the weight for a quarter pound arrow but as the others have said it makes it point heavy!
Now I make all my shafts myself from the same piece of wood and get great consistency

--- End quote ---

How do you make your own shafts?

egstonvonbrick:
>>How do you make your own shafts?

I cut square blanks from a plank of Ash (or your desired material - think i've found poplar to light for certain EWBS arrows).

I then use a 'dowel cutter'... Google these as i don't think we are allowed to advertise, but they do them in numerous sizes (1/2", 3/8" etc.) and are like a big pencil sharpener.

Once i have a batch i then use a linisher (belt sander) to taper or a jig you can knock up with tapered sanpaer covered sides and whizz up and down with an electric drill... well that's how i do it.. hope it helps!

Cheers
Ev

meanewood:
Hi adb
I get a 150mm x 50mm board and cut it to the required length. Then run it through a band saw to get square shafts, the width required.
If tapering do this next by planing each side. Next, plane the four corners down so you have an octagonal shaft. I then gently plane the eight edges off and then sand using heavy grit sand paper to round off the shaft. The best one to use is cut from a belt sanding belt. It is very stiff so you fold it around some dowel to mould it into a curve. Once you have done this to all 12 shafts, start matching them to your heads to get the same weight. The lightest arrow becomes the benchmark, so sand the others more to get them all the same.
Once you finish up the arrows you have them all the same weight and spine!
I make board bows as well as stave ones, so it is possible to make a bow and set of arrows out of the same piece of wood. I made a 90lb bow and set of arrows with long bodkins from a piece of Beech and they look and shoot great!

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