Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Lumberman on January 21, 2016, 07:55:57 am
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Okay I cut some straight grained squares for arrow shafts a few weeks ago and have been letting them dry down a little more, being a hardwoods inspector has it's perks but any lumber I get is green. I have limited tools and with a baby on the way I cannot justify getting more. Any primitive ways to round these guys out without spending all day on getting one round? Of course rigging my skil saw into a table saw to get the squares wasn't exactly primitive.. I guises just curious to hear from anyone else making arrows from boards?
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You can do it with a rasp and scrapper, yes it takes a little while but very easily done. :)
Pappy
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A router and a speed drill used simultaniously can produce quick good shafts from straight grained stock.I still usually rasp and sand yet.Hav'nt made that gizmo yet but do plan to someday.
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Yeah there some good instruction on how to do it with a router that I have been wanting to try.. Once I start justifying the purchases though it won't end lol, always be something else I "need". I pulled some saw blades that are about 8"x5' from the dumpster at work for spear and trade points. Should I follow a stone arrowhead design or make it straight edged ( as far as the insert into the arrow shaft)? I made an ash spear and I can't seem to keep the head from coming out after a couple throws. Thinking about putting some hooks on the insert end to allow for more grab
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Lumberman,
I make a lot of arrow shafts from various hardwoods such as whuite and black ash, spruce, white and yellow birch etc. I used to use a sander and turn the "squares" into octagons and then hand sand them round. Another way is to glue coarse sandpaper inside various (descending) sized tube and "spin" the squares through them with a drill motor (use a 1/2" drive socket extension).....but the easiest way (and most cost effective) is a Veritas dowel and tennon cutter that costs about $20 and comes with extra blades. you can make thousands of shafts with that 20 dollar "pencil sharpener".
Being on a small fixed income I thought the 20 bucks was a big deal at the time....but turned out to be a good idea cause it paid for itself, and is still working great.
Hope that helps ya some....they do get easier after making a few
rich
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Thanks rich it certainly does, I considered trying one of those as well so hearing that they do work is really appreciated.
Thanks for the advice guys, this site is ridiculously addictive haha.
Hey beadman can you do more than one deer skin with one brain? Got a buck the other day (still using my compound) but I didn't keep the brain from a kill earlier this year so one brain and two skins. My wife tells me I always have only half the brain I need.
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Lebhuntfish is having success with this dowel-making jig.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9-gdNdZAA
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Hello Lumber Man, I've made some lumber arrows, on a budget. I cut some old growth fir at 3/8", and used a hand plane, that i picked up at a junk sale for like 3. just hit the corners until you get it knocked down and then sand by hand. I have since gone to shoot shafts. Good Luck! Ed
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The ones I made I used a cheap thumb plane from Lowe's or ACE Hardware(cost less than $10). Remove the 4 corners with the thumb plane, then the 8 corners then sand to round. That's about as cheap as I could get.
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Lebhuntfish is having success with this dowel-making jig.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9-gdNdZAA
Yes I am guys! It's pretty simple to make but the holes have to be drilled just right. Beadman, johnW and myself used the fire out of the one I made this last weekend. It works great but still needs some sanding when done. It's simple and cheap to.
Patrick
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My wife tells me I always have only half the brain I need.
My wife tells me the same thing
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I make all my wood arrows from lumber cut into square dowels. I use a small hand plane and shave the corners down (octagon), and then the remaining corners down (as was previously mentioned by another). It is basically round at this point. All you have to do is sand it until it it will run through a hole that is the size of shaft you want. The closer tolerance you cut your lumber, the less you'll have to sand. It's really easy and very cheap. A small hand plane is all you have to buy, and it will pay for itself with the first batch of arrows you make.
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I have made many o arrows from pine, dug fir, fir. all of which i got from lowes. I use veritos dowell cutter 21.95$. you can also get a compression block from 3 rivers. I have also made the router rig but find it hard to adjust. now i simply like the look of rivercane.
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i use a small thumb plainer. the cheap little red one you can pick up at menards for 5 bucks. that and a piece of sand stone with a groove in it. Tony
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Lumberman.....Same here about my little woman.....lol.There are lots of ways to brain a hide with success.I brain tan according to John Mcphearsons' [Praire Wolf] way of doing it.I make a brain slurry with about 1.5 gallon of water.When having multiple hides ready to be brained I used to reuse the brain slurry for the next hide.That can go on for about 2 weeks max in and out of the refrigerator with the slurry,but still adding new to replenish the potency of oils.It will begin to smell bad after that and not worth the trouble.I guess you could freeze it if time in between gets too long.Still a big deers' brain at best weighs 3/4#.[That's with the saying that a deers' own brain is enough to tan it's own hide].I like to use at least 1# per hide.Preferably fresh.The roping process is a lot of work and I don't like wasting my time.Used to be pork brains cost .89 a pound.Now they cost 2.89.Still a pretty cheap authentic tough piece of leather.A bigger Hy Vee store near me has the pork brains.
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Yep Pat that gizmo you made works great.Too bad the shaft material I tried did'nt suit my weight and spine.I stick the shaft in the drill and sanded the piss out of them.I don't think they were ash at all like labeled,but maybe some kind of exotic amazonian type wood.
Lumberman....I can't seem to get everything in for info at once here but the key to brain tanning really is to get a goooood stretch on your rawhide prior[while fleshing] to and during braining.Opening the fibers apart to let the warm brain slurry oils penetrate the fibers.I like to freeze and stress the wet deer hide prior to fleshing and dehairing too.
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Thanks again for the replies guys! I will probably try the small planer and if I stick with making em graduate to the veritas and beyond.
Thanks beadman, yeah I get talow from the hyper would t be surprised if they have pig brains too.. Project for February or March before it gets too warm out
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I made a real nice and simple one. Just drill a 3/8ths hole and take a dremmel cut-off wheel and cut grooves across the hole like the numbers on a clock. Works awesome. Took longer to heat treat it than make it. Takes about 30 seconds to make 3/8 square stock round.
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I'll have to try that one John! Sounds simple and effective. Patrick
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I use a small plane and can cut, weigh out and spine a white pine shaft in 30 minutes. Jawge
http://traditionalarchery101.com/shafts.html
Jawge
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Veritas 3/8 dowel cutters are now about $37, but likely still good deal if gonna be making bunch of shafts.
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I made a real nice and simple one. Just drill a 3/8ths hole and take a dremmel cut-off wheel and cut grooves across the hole like the numbers on a clock. Works awesome. Took longer to heat treat it than make it. Takes about 30 seconds to make 3/8 square stock round.
How thick was the steele you used?
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I'll post up some findings of different types of wood soon here from square stock for arrow shafts.Gotta wait till they are dry to test them.
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Sounds good, going to try any from that erc?
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I got some poplar shafts from Charlie Jefferson(Stringstretcher) that he made with a Veritas dowel maker and a compression block. They are some of the best doweled shafts I've used, a little light(about like PO cedar) but tough as nails. Charlie found out after some experiments that if he stickered his stock and let them season for 2 years he got his best shafting. Also the sapwood of the poplar was better shafting than the heartwood. The heartwood made good shafts but was more brittle than the sapwood, both weighed about the same.
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Two years!? YoWza.. Must've been pretty thick stock? That's commitment for arrows
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There's a big difference between commitment and having enough stock kicking around so you don't use it for two years ;D ;D. I got a 18" dia Hemlock log to make arrow out of, I'm sure by the time I use it all up I will be using wood that has been seasoned for five years. Not sayin' he isn't committed, I think most of us should be ;D ;D
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Touché
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Charlie was making these to sell commercially until he got too ill to work on them. He had all of his stock cut to 2" thick, or at least 5/4" if I remember right.
Like good bow wood, seasoning makes the wood more stable so there is less of a chance of warping.
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Lumberman......ERC is way to low on the spine scale for myself unless you shoot 20 to 30 pound bows & it would be too low mass weight wise too.
Pat....Whatever happened to string stretcher? I know he became ill but tried to settle with people on trades etc.He had 50$ of my money on a trade for some of his pre spined tonkin bamboo shafts.I never heard from him again about our trade.
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Ed, Charlie's illness is progressive with no cure. It has affected his inner ear so his equilibrium, vision and hearing. I was surprised when I got the email from him.
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I'm very sorry to hear that.I don't think I ever actually met him but from what I've heard he was quite an arrow maker and am sure the PA family will miss him.Along with his own family.
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Ed, Charlie may have been at the Classic the year you came. He worked in the archery industry for quite a few years and did understand arrows well. He also got a lot of info from Art Butner(artcher1) when dealing with wood, hardwood shoots and cane.
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Hey I just wanted to thank everyone for their insight and help; not all the way there yet but churning out some usable dowels
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White oak guys down to 3/8"
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Walnut too, out of nearly 4 dozen straight grained squares I think I'll end up with about two or three dozen, the oak ones are tricky to avoid runoff somewhere in the length
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Lumberman-
if you can turn your skil saw into a table saw, you might like this method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e9F_1sGOXA
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Hm maybe I should have, I thought about it but I figured it would be more prone to ripping a chunk out, looked pretty fast though
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In the comments he mentions the size is within .010-.015". I think it would take a bit of sanding to true that up. A lot of the guys that make dowels on Youtube are making them to make joints and they don't have to be that smooth. Arrows gotta look perrrrrrr-fect :) I hope mine get close to that one day.
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Yeah it made a huge difference once I made that little block in front to prevent any wobble; plus it took out my tendency to error in pushing it through at the same angle every time. I hit em with 220 grit to smooth em down. It still remains to be seen whether I can make them shoot able arrows. I've got the metal for trade points but we'll see
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Looks good.Sizer,spiner,& a grain scale and to heck with buying arrows.Oh and a bit more sand paper.....lol.Bet your gonna like those walnuts bud.Went to a 3D shoot yesterday with mine and was very pleased with them.550 grain with 125 tip/50 to 55 spine/30" overall.The oak does'nt have enough spine for the thickness for me,and then they come in way too heavy to suit me too.
Finding some straight fine ringed old fir boards from joists or doors would be a bonanza.