Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: BowEd on February 10, 2020, 07:19:01 am
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Hello...Here's a mess of shoot shaft arrows made and tuned.4" long 3 way fletched.All 50# spined at 30" long tip to tip.Most all weighing 550 to 625 grains.Most all full length tapered 9/32" to 11/32".All self nocked and wrapped.Except for the bamboo and hill cane left natural color all the others left natural were white so they were stained to some degree with leather dye.
From left to right...
Bamboo,hill cane,multi flora rose,ocean spray,dogwood and some sourwood,and plum.
(https://i.imgur.com/KBe2trL.jpg)
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Looks like you’ve been busy Ed. Any favorites? I’ve been using my supply of River cane from trapper Rob lately. I’ve got some I think hill cane from Pat B I need to give a try yet to.
Bjrogg
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They look great. That's a lot of arrows. I've actually got more bows than I have arrows.
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Nice looking arrows
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Very nice winter's work! A good variety of shoots.
Hawkdancer
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The plum are the most dense and heaviest.I did a specific gravity density test on a piece and it showed me 1.0 density.Someday I'd like to find a piece of that big enough for a bow.
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Whoa! That’s impressive, getting stocked up for the year?
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Those are great looking arrows, Ed. THanks for sharing.
T
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Sweet! That's a lot of work for sure.
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Dozen shafts and a half dozen heads done. Only like 6 dozen more shafts to do!
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Thanks fellas....I usually like to keep quite a few bundled in groups of 7 cure drying over a longer period.Sort of a small type assembly line.
(https://i.imgur.com/NMAIZZ5.jpg)
Final heat correctioning usually will keep them straight.I've never needed to do any grooving on mine.
I use different colored fletching/spine weight/and mass weight to identify what is what.
I did'nt show some hazelnut shoots that make excellent arrows also.
Most all shoot shafts are tougher than any split timber shafts.Although many woods can be used also for split timber shafts.I've experimented successfully with hickory/elm//DF/hemlock/honey locust/black locust//maple/walnut/spruce/ash/ and even osage[too heavy for spine gotten for a 50# bow].Always looking for a nice balance of diameter/spine/and mass weight.Some are too thick IMO for their spine.
Laminated bamboo flooring make excellent heavy mass weight shafts.
IMO split timber hickory shafts are about as tough as a split timber shaft can get.Good diameter with good mass weight and spine too.Think it might have to do with it's interlocking grain qualities.
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You always make nice arrows, Ed. What do you think of the hill cane? How does it compare with the other shoot shafting?
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Ed - really nice looking arrows, and it looks like you've got another set or three already drying. Kudos. Making a shoot arrow is a lot harder than it looks imho.
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Pat B....Thanks,the hill cane shafts made excellent arrows.Easy to work with and straighten.All relatively close in all final dimensions of diameter/mass weight/and spine.They must of been harvested all in the same area.I'll use them 3D shooting or hunting with my FG bow toting buddies.They shoot carbides looking like wood but are'nt wood.All shafts being same diameter the hill cane mass weight wise came in just slightly less than dogwood but still in the 550 to 575 grain weight range...perfect.Beautful looking shafts.
Although I do like to keep a few carbides around to shoot to compare the shoot shafts flight too.It's a good test.
gifford...Thanks,it seems when a person gets one made from a bunch you will have a template to go by[if they are harvested all in the same area].I make them with a pocket knife,and sand paper/drill/grain scale/spine tester and sometimes a sizing tool[chunk of moose horn with holes of different diameter drilled through it.It is time consuming.I do them in stages of straightening/spining/sanding/spining and weighing/bareshaft shooting/and then finishing and fletching.
I keep a close watch on my dogwood patches.I count around 9 patches.All growing in ditches along gravel roads or along creeks seen easily from the road within 2 miles of me.I guess 1 advantage about not having too many more self arrow makers around is that they don't get raided by anyone but me.
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Very nice arrows.
Lots of work.
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Thanks neuse....My goal was to try other shoot shafts from different parts of the country.The hill cane and sourwood came from South Carolina.The ocean spray came from Oregon.The bamboo anybodies guess is as good as mine.All I know that it does'nt grow locally.The rest were all local.
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What a great bunch of arrows! Thanks for taking the time to post them here.
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Thanks Swampman....There's still a heck of a lot of other types of shoot shafts out there.
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So how long do you season yours? I’m cutting ocean spray, red osier, wild rose, and there’s some what I think is another variety of dogwood.
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A good 3 months for sure.After collecting enough over supply of them I like to let them cure for up to a year.I don't lose many arrows any more nowadays.Might sound like a long time,but after any little final heat straightening they usually stay straight.
I find most all my dogwoods here generally come out close to the same as each other.Ocean spray is very close to the same as dogwood.My multi flora rose is generally thicker in diameter at same spine as dogwoods,but mass weigh at least as much or more than dogwoods or at same diameter of dogwoods they are generally 5#s' weaker in spine.
That's figuring they are all the same length.[30" overall].It's the way I like my arrows but is not for everybody,and will still shoot fine.
If a person has a rock solid anchor it does not matter.
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Awesome, thank you! I’ll just keep collecting, dating em, and bundling then to the side like yours.
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Good...You'll like them.They are very tough shafts compare to split timer shafts.Remember to prestraighten them every other day or every 3 to 4 days.Then rebundle them all the while in between[I use bale twine length or rubber bands or zip ties].Most times I bundle them butt to tip every other one in bundle.
Picture of straightener used for stiff end areas.I wear gloves straightening most times as shaft is very hot.
(https://i.imgur.com/Vxm6HpQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/i1rdmH3.jpg)
Eventually you'll see the bark begin to shrink.That'll take at least a month though.Bark can be removed also to hurry up drying if shafts are long enough [36"] to cut off any checking.You can seal ends if you want but I have never needed to.It won't be much anyway.I had a couple multiflora rose check length wise after bark removal,but not any dogwood though.
Trick for less work is to harvest them very close to diameter that you want for less work,but eventually most can be made into useable shafts.The final weeding process for keepers is shown when you shoot them.
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Good stable arrow wood is like good stable bow wood, the longer they season the better the end product will be.
Also, I've found that if you remove the bark too soon on most shoot shafting they will check. Give them a month or so before removing the bark. Viburnum may need longer than that.
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Good comparison....I agree.
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So I got cane near the house but I have had some seasoning for about 7 months or so now and it’s still green. Am I doin anything wrong?
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Put the cane in the sun and it will bleach out to the typical tan color.
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The hill cane I got I got from Pat B.They were seasoned a few months before I got them I think.I let them season a few months more before making arrow shafts from them.
Most are a combo of light tan to light green now.The color of them never really bothered me that much.I don't think just because they look light green after 6 months means that they are still too wet yet to make shafts from.
7 months sounds long enough to season to me.
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Very nice collection!!
I cutted dogwood, hazel, plum, and service berry this Winter.
Plum seems to be heavier and maybe not so easy to plane down.
Could only get two serviceberries shafts, but imagine they would make great arrows too.
Thanks for showing your work. Only the ones who made arrows of shoots know how much work this is.
B2W
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Thanks backtowoodB2W.I agree about the plum here too.I did'nt show the hazel but overall here they make same spined shafts like dogwoods too but slightly larger in diameter.
I guess I use dogwood shafts [maybe most are familiar with them] as a comparison standard to all the others.My preference is for as narrow a shaft as I can get that fills that bill with dogwoods/sourwoods/and ocean spray coming in second.
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Multiflora is the only wood I have used that you can start on them green. I've made arrows in less than a week out of it.
cut the stock,
knock the thorns off with the back of the knife.
Use blade of knife to scrape off the bark.
Lay them in the truck bed in the sun and hand green straighten heavy the first day and light second day.
Heat straighten over candle with bacon grease and a wrench like you showed.
reduce to spine, nock, fletch and point.
The stuff green straightening well but doesn't like hot straightening on aggressive bends. When trying to do so I've had it split with the grain.
tried that with other white woods and they split length wise shortly after you remove the bark.
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Cool.....I don't doubt multi flora rose cures faster than wood shoot shafts as it has a noticeably larger pith than wooden shoot shafts.I agree though that they make excellent shafts too.
I don't think multi flora rose is considered a grass like bamboo or hill cane yet though.Maybe a wood or some sort of shrub???Generally cane and bamboo seem to stay straighter easier than wood shafts in my experience and are considered a grass.
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when you do your cane arrows, do you put a wood plug in the end before you taper for the glue-on point?
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Yes....I use a section of a bamboo skewer.I just super glue it in there.Only the ones that need it though.Hill cane are top notch beautiful shafts.
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Those are really beautiful shafts. Jawge
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Thanks....The Jawge man.
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I used to plug the ends of cane shafts but don't anymore. I found it is not necessary. I cut in self nocks and add a wrap of sinew(thread will work too) and have never had a failure. I also use glue on points(commercial), trade points and stone points without plugging the ends. The sinew wrap takes care of that too. With glue on points I do use my belt sander with a taper jig to make the taper. I never had luck with the pencil sharpener type taper tool with cane shafts. Others may.
Everyone has there own way of doing things and there is not necessarily a right or wrong way. If it works for you then do it.