Arrow crests
 

How many of you crest your arrows? does it help when recovering them?

RE: Arrow crests
 

yup and yup!

I cant get over one thing though. THe fella' s with black, brown, green or in some cases white when these colors are obviously not going to stand out enough to make it worth while to do. Something about shooting an animal and not seeing where the arrow hits makes me cringe!

RE: Arrow crests
 

I jst started doing it last year. I did it the easy way though. I used the EZE-EYE arrow crests. Very easy to put on and very durable. I have the fade fire orange ( starts white and fades into a bright orange) with white and orange vanes on a camo Gold Tip XT. They look great, but more important they are great in low light to see your impact. I really like them.

RE: Arrow crests
 

I crest most of the arrows I make, usually with acrylic " Apple Barrel" type hobby paints, before sealing the shafts in laquer. I do it mostly because I like to personalize them. Bright cresting helps with arrow recovery on missed shots somewhat, but not as much as bright fletchings do. It obviously doesn' t help at all for seeing the arrow in flight. Really dresses them up though. :)

RE: Arrow crests
 

Yes I am a crester:)

And they do make them more visible

Ak - love the splice:D

RE: Arrow crests
 

I' ve never gotten into cresting and I don' t know much about it. Rack, they look like carbons. So carbons can be crested? How do you go about it? Does anybody know of any good links with info?

Thanks

RE: Arrow crests
 

By the way, those are nice looking arrows Rack

RE: Arrow crests
 

I cap and crest all my arrows. The ones below are Beman ICS Camo Hunters.

RE: Arrow crests
 

I do crest all my arrows not only does it help in locating your arrow as a hit or a lost arrow i use two different crests for absolute hunting arrows or for field point arrows i can recognize what they are immediately. I understand that some states require you to register your crest wich is also a good idea but in California you don' t have to do this. You will be surprised at how many less arrows you will lose. I use bright fletches flo pink and black say what you will about that but i lose very few arrows along with the crest and they stand out good and have never had an animal take notice cuz if they get that close its too late for them. Buy one of the cresting machines from Bohning it will spin your arrow so that the paint goes on smooth, and throw away the paint they give you go to a hobby or artsy type store and buy some paint that matches give it a try then if you like it laquer them and get to hunting and spend less time looking for your lost arrows. Good luck

RE: Arrow crests
 

If you really want to give it a try without sinking lots of moolah into it, you can do what I did last year: Go to your local sewing machine shop, and purchase a used sewing machine motor they' ve got lying around for about $5. (That' s what I paid for mine.) Attach it to a plank, fashion a V-block to lay the other end of the arrow in, and to couple the shaft to the motor, I ordered one of Bohning' s own couplers for their $130 machine from Custom King Archery for about $7. Total investment: $13 and some scrap wood.

I capped and crested all my Gold Tip XT' s with it, and they look beautiful. Also, I gotta say I got TONS of help with the project by typing in " cresting arrows" in various search engines, and from frequenting the Trad Forum while doing this.

RE: Arrow crests
 

I crest mine but more for appearance....doesnt really help me in finding them as much as the actual dipping does, thats helps out big time.

RE: Arrow crests
 

Mq thanks for the tip that seems like a huge savings on something that you only use once a year or less. Did you have to experiment with different size motors or at least different rpm or all sewing machine motors about the same? If my bohning ever goes i am going to replace it with your idea. I always had a hard time trying to figure out where they got there price for these kits but people like me still buy them.

RE: Arrow crests
 

Here' s a link where a guy made a cheap cresting machine using a sewing machine motor.

http://www.stickbow.com/stickbow/arrowbuilding/cresting.html

RE: Arrow crests
 

I made mine with a drill I had hanging around the house and some old wood...cost me nothing!:D

RE: Arrow crests
 

JD,

Did you just put a field point in the chuck and then screw the arrow on? I' ve heard of people trying that before. Does the arrow spin true when you do it that way?

RE: Arrow crests
 

yup...works like a damn. I made a little clamp instead of a v-block to hold the arrow. I basically took 2 pieces of wood, drilled holes (1/2 hole in each piece), then covered them in in fleece, used pipe hanger as the hinge and voila! You do have to strap the drill to the wood, thats easily done by using pipe hanger strapping. It' s great because I can vary the rpms too.