Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Kegan on August 16, 2009, 03:18:25 pm
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Lookee at what I made ;D!!!
I have no idea where I got the desire to make this, but I couldn't sleep so I started thinking it out. Went through about six designs and came up with this. So I spent all Saturday afternoon working on it- even though it's very simple. Hardest part was figuring out what sort of scraps I needed. It works pretty well, not perfect (sometimes the front or back are off the shaft slightly at first and you have to be careful about putting them down), but much better than I had ever hoped. I've been using my brother's Bohning jig, but it's been slow on big batches. This jig fletches it almost as well (same helical as the other jig, and they haven't fallen off yet :D). It's just a few scraps of red oak, some screws and glue, and some clamps. Either way, for the price of a nice multi fletcher I think this one is simply great. Once I get used to using this one, I'm sure I won't have any issue. I'm really happy with this :)
I only had two arrows to test it on though. Two are done with this, two are done with my brother's jig. I can't really tell much of a difference, can you?
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Necessity is the mother of invention! Well done, young feller.
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Thank you! Apparently insomnia is too :D
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Cool Kegan. Just like in the old days. Well done.
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That's a pretty cool, simple, Idea, Kegan. I like it. :)
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A little build-along would be fantastic!
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Very cool,use what you have. :)
Pappy
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Thanks everyone ;D. As soon as I ind a few more clips I intended to make another one. "Super bulk arrow making". Not that I have enough to make arrows in bulk, but more for the comfort of knowing I could, so I would snap some pictures of it as I built the next one- so yoou read my mind Medicinewheel :D
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Howdy Kegan,
Thanks for sharing your invention.
Couple of questions...
-What are those laths (thin pieces of wood(?)) that are glued(?) to your little clamps? What are they made of, and how thick are they? (Length and Hight also, please?)
-Is there a twist in those little laths, or are they just offset? How much (in inches) did you offset those clamp things?
-Can you provide some dimensions to your fixture?
-The Knocks (ends of the arrows) appear to go into little holes. Are there little slots in the fixture for the arrows to fall into - in front of the fletchings?
-What / Why are those little sticks sticking out of the ends of your clamp things?
I just built my Spine Tester from a PA Build-Along - works great!!
So, now I can focus on building this fletcher.
Thanks again for sharing,
Canoe
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That's a neat fletcher Kegan.Good work!!! God Bless
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Thanks guys.
Canoe
-the clamps are just made from thin scraps of wood. They vary a bit in thickness, but are about 1/8" thick. They're the biggest I could get from the scrap I had- 1 1/2" high or so, and about 7" long. The little notches on the side are, I believe 3/8" square.
-no twist, just offest. Oddly enough, they look almost identical to a RW feather glued on with an actual jig. I got the offset really simply: I squared the sides of the slots up with the sides of the hole. So in front, the slot is flush with the right side of the arrow, and in the back the slot is flush with the left side of the arrow.
- about 7" wide, 6 1/2" or so long. It's about 1 1/4" high or so. It would be better it were longer, but that's all the longer I had my clamps.
-No slots. The front end, in front of the fletchings, is just attached with two small snubbed 1 1/4" screws. It only takes three or four turns of a screw driver to take the front off, into which (and out of which) you slide the arrows. COuldn't think of anything better than that at the time :D
- Some of the slots are a bit larger than the clamps, and so I jut shoved some little shims in there to keep them still. Gives me a little wiggle room too.
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Cool fletcher Kegan.. If you build another it would make a great article in the PA mag
It would be great I'm sure many would enjoy it.You did a awesome job.
Thanks Leroy
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Cool fletcher Kegan.. If you build another it would make a great article in the PA mag
It would be great I'm sure many would enjoy it.You did a awesome job.
Thanks Leroy
Thanks! Ya think? Hmmm :)...
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Genius and a gentleman :)
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Genius and a gentleman :)
Thank you- you're gonna make my head swell ;D!
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Hey Kegan, thought you might be interested in this. This one is pretty similar to the one you made; the major difference is that you can adjust the offset so you can use left or right wing feathers, or make small adjustments for different sized shafts. Here's some pics...
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A really newby question: What's the difference in spiral and offset fletching?
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great job, kegan.
barrage, how do you get the arrows out, after fletching? do you have to disassemble every time?
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Hedgeapple, at the end of the day, mostly just the amount of offset. Helical jigs will have a twist in them though, to account for the wrap around the arrow.
Dustybaer, usually I take off the front piece - it's really quick, especially if I didn't have a 3 foot bolt on it ::). But if you made the front holes a little bigger, you could just pull them out. If I were to make another one, I would make the front hole bigger (which I could still do now ;)) and I would consider a method of putting some pressure on the clamps to get better, more consistent feather / shaft contact. That said, this one works really well and I've been happy with my scrap heap fletcher.
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Hey, Kegan was that Mullet heading for his shop? I think he will have a couple in his shop. That is a neat idea. I had been thinking about something like that, but never got around to trying to figure out how to do it. Now I don't have to figure it out. ;)
Thanks for sharing that. 8)
Wayne
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Thanks guys :).
Barrage- neat! I was sort of guessing when I tried to get the offset the first time. I'll looking for more clips so I can make anothre set of clamps- this time with a curve in them to get some more helical.
Or maybe just a little sanding, or maybe...
Back to the shop :)