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What all glue and varnish do yall use for whipping on arrows?

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toomanyknots:
Or on arrows in general? I have been using the plain old elmers glue for the whipping, but it doesn't look super sexy, and wouldn't work with a varnished arrow really. I thought maybe I could use glue, and varnish over that, over the whippings, but no matter what I always get varnish running down (or up too) the fletching. I don't know if it is too wet, or I need to do super super thin coats, or what? The varnish I have been using was tru oil though. I gather the two main ones I have found people use a lot are super glue and pva glue. I think elmers ( the pva glue I use) is ok, but two coats or more looks like dull crap, and if you don't coat it with something else, then it can turn white when wet. It also cracks easy when hit on impact, or with lots of shooting. Just curious what yall are using...

Archeress:
Gidday.....i use tru oil on the shafts..about 5 coats with a steel wool sand inbetweens.   i put thread at fron at back of fletches and if i need to whip them along the shaft i will.  I used a touch of superglue just to hold the silk to shaft..then start wrapping.  same at the end of it all.       final process is to use a correct width brush so i can delicatly paint tru oil on the shaft between each fletch and on top of whipping..the other parts of the shaft are simply wiped on.

toomanyknots:

--- Quote from: Archeress on December 19, 2013, 11:36:37 pm ---Gidday.....i use tru oil on the shafts..about 5 coats with a steel wool sand inbetweens.   i put thread at fron at back of fletches and if i need to whip them along the shaft i will.  I used a touch of superglue just to hold the silk to shaft..then start wrapping.  same at the end of it all.       final process is to use a correct width brush so i can delicatly paint tru oil on the shaft between each fletch and on top of whipping..the other parts of the shaft are simply wiped on.

--- End quote ---

Thank you Archeress. Guess I just suck at painting it on, haha. It's good to know that I am not the only one using tru oil on arrow shafts. I will give er another go. I was having ok success tonight painting it on real light, the whipping was coated first with some clear wood glue though.

WillS:
Once I've done all the horn inserts, and cut and sanded the string nock, I fit the head then do about 3 coats of Danish Oil (beeswax, boiled linseed oil and turpentine mixture - probably the same stuff as Tru Oil?) all the way up the shaft, so I do the whole lot.

I then glue the fletchings on, over the Danish Oil using superglue usually, then whip with silk starting at the base of the fletching.  I always whip all of mine all the way up, then finish at the nock end with a dab of superglue again.

At this stage, I then paint PVA glue over the shaftment and whipping, doesn't really matter if you get it on the feathers as it's clear anyway.  Once the PVA has completely dried (I usually leave it a day) I go over it with actual varnish (not the Danish Oil) that dries clear.  I've found that using Danish Oil on its own doesn't do a whole lot to keep the whippings in place if they really want to come undone, say you get a through-and-through on a target, or it goes into the ground and drives along the grass etc, they'll come undone if not properly glued in place.  As you say, the PVA turns white if it gets wet, so that's why I go over the dried glue with proper varnish at the end - something like yacht varnish works really well.

mikekeswick:
Another way to coat the shafts is to dip them. Use a tin tube, I use a length of copper plumbing pipe, bung the bottom and fill with your varnish/oil of choice. Just dip the shafts in and pull it back out...done! Hang up to dry.
I use a water based two part lacquer for arrows. It is designed as a bar top coating for pubs etc.
The only thing is make sure you have finish/glue compatability!!

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