Author Topic: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels  (Read 4160 times)

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Offline Eric Krewson

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Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« on: October 10, 2017, 05:45:03 pm »
Troy Breading ran some ramrod blanks through his shaft making machine years ago and had a bunch with too much runout for ramrods, these were 48" long and really great hickory. He gave me a bunch of them when I said I was looking for a ramrod blank. I found a few with enough straight grain to make a ramrod or two but most have been used as dowels for various purposes.

The other day I decided to try to turn one of these dowels into an arrow shaft, I knew the spine would be out the roof. I chucked up one piece in my drill and ran it through my el cheapo dowel maker and reduced it from 3/8" to approximately 11/32". No matter how sharp my cutter blade was the shaft still came out like a beaver had ahold of it.

The spine of the 11/32 shaft was over 95# and I needed 57-60# so I chucked the ragged shaft in my drill and hand sanded it down to around 5/16 and 57# spine, this took about an hour.

Today I decided to make a few more and came up with a better way to reduce the spine.

I ran the large shaft through my dowel cutter;



Used a V block as a guide to put pressure on the shaft, spun it with my drill and ran the shaft in and out on my belt sander putting pressure on the V block. I was using a 120 grit belt that was a bit worn. I reduced the shaft in minutes, I would sand two or three passes after I got the size down close to 5/16" and check the spine on my tester until I had it in the right range. I did several straightening sessions during the process as well so I ended up with a perfectly straight shaft for the final trip to the sander.



The things are pile drivers, 5/16", 57# spine and weigh in at over 650 grains cut to 28". They fly perfectly out of my osage bow.


 

Offline DC

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2017, 05:53:48 pm »
V block and belt sander works great doesn't it? I wonder if the heat generated helps straighten it.

Offline Morgan

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2017, 09:13:26 pm »
That is awesome! looks like they worked out great!

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2017, 09:16:22 pm »
That kind of weight in that small of a diameter is a recipe for improved penetration!
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline BowEd

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2017, 08:37:26 am »
Excellent Eric.I found hickory to be an excellent wood for shafts too.Along with black locust.Better finished shafts yet then honey locust,maple,and ash diameter wise.Walnut comes in a very close second for me though but had to barrel them for extra mass weight.Oak is'nt too bad either.
BowEd
You got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.
Ed

Offline willie

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2017, 03:12:03 pm »
I Like your technique, Eric. Do they shoot as expected from your static spine testing?

Offline TSA

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2017, 07:02:04 pm »
very, very nicely done  ;D

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2017, 01:25:36 pm »
Willie, I made three arrows so far, two shoot like darts, one is an inconsistent shooter and went in the dead arrow bucket. I may strip it down, reorientate the feathers, recut the nock and see if it will shoot. It shoots fairly well cock feather in.

I had bare shafted my everyday  arrow shafts and found my bow liked 57-60 spine so that is what I made from the hickory.

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2017, 03:20:36 pm »
those look great, ,I love hickory for a shaft,, I am gonna look for some ,,

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Making hickory pile drivers from 3/8" dowels
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2017, 07:42:49 am »
Pine Hollow sells hickory shafts but they are real proud of them $$.