Main Discussion Area > Arrows

Primitive arrow stains

(1/4) > >>

WhistlingBadger:
Hi, all.  What do you use to stain your arrows?  Browns are easy--the lower bow in my pic below was stained with strong tea.

However, I've always painted my arrows orange, red, or yellow so they're easier to find when I launch one at a rabbit.  I've been experimenting with primitive arrows lately.  Here are some I made with home-processed turkey feathers, sitka spruce shafts, self-nocks wrapped with silk, and "stained" by rubbing them with dandelion flowers. 

(It takes about six blossoms per shaft to arrive at this depth of yellow.  Sometimes it's good to have a nine-year old daughter)

I'd like something a little deeper, easier to spot in tall grass, but still primitive (and hopefully not extremely difficult).  Any ideas?  What do you use?

Thanks--Thomas

EdwardS:
Poke weed berries will do a great purple.  Don't stick your fingers in your mouth while staining, wash up real well, and seal them with something as poke berries are poisonous, but even a coat of shellac will protect it once it dries.  Once dried into the wood it should be pretty safe to handle.

WhistlingBadger:
We don't have poke weed around here, but I've thought of using chokecherries for red/purple.  I suspect over time it would just turn brown.  Maybe coating it with shellac or grease would prevent that.  Might have to give it a try...

Pat B:
Most botanical stains will fade or brown out with ultraviolet light.
 Boiled onion peels will give you a nice yellow color as will osage sawdust.
Finely ground pigments carried with alcohol will give you more permanent color. You can use water too but it will raise the grain of the wood.

WhistlingBadger:
So, I wonder what would happen if I soaked chokecherries or onion skins in alcohol...

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page