rml127

I am a compound hunter and a novice recurve shooter. My dream is to build my own bow and arrows to hunt with. Anyway, I still need lot's of practice before even attempting to hunt with a recurve.

I am interested in building my own wooden arrows. I read an article last night that said that hickory was the wood of choice. Where can I buy them? Are regular wooden dowels in the lumber yard hickory? Can I use regular dowels? I figure they probably aren't straight enough. I am also looking for a good book and/or website on traditional hunting and bow and arrow building. Thanks for any help.

JimPic

Check out stickbow.com-look in the sponsor area.There are a few in there that deal in shafting and will set you up to whatever bow you're shooting.There's also forums there if you have any questions.

stealthycat

My opinion ?? I played around with building my own arrows for a while. You need dip tubes, gasket laquer,woodchucker for nocks/tapers, time etc etc.

It IS rewarding, but its time consuming. I think THE most important thing is to have shafts that are all spined properly and weight close to the same. BUY QUALITY SHAFTS, I don't think theres a single more important thing and if/when I start huilding them again, I'll be sure to spend the extra $$ on them.



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Cliff_N_Di

I build lots of arrows, and work on the side for a archery company if I can help you feel free to email me.

Dianna

IrishLad32

Hey, Rml. Building arrows isn't that difficult. I believe Port Orford Cedar is more popular than hickory though. I'm not sure of the specific benefits of hickory, but there are a plethera of woods to choose from. PO Cedar is a light, straight wood. You can get other woods that are heavier and more durable though. Douglas fir is a little heavier, and ash is even heavier. There's an article in the current issue (August/September) of Traditional Bowhunter about wood arrows. It talks about the different woods. After I go through my cedars I want to get some Ash because it's heavier and more durable. I think the dowels you're talking about might be ramin. I'm not sure, but I've heard other people refer to such dowels from Home Depot and Lowels and call it ramin. I haven't used it myself, but I've heard good things about it. A woodchucker is used to taper the shafts for nocks and points. It's kind of expensive, but there are lesser expensive means. Cabelas offer a tool that'll taper, but it's not a machine like the woodchucker. Kustom King archery www.kustomkingarchery.com has one that's like two pencil sharpeners together. One for the nock and one for the point. It's about $5. You can also get them tapered from your supplier. They usually charge a couple dollars to do it, but if you don't have the means to, it's worth it. I never used dip tubes on mine, or gasket laquers; I haven't even sealed them actually. Still they've held up, and they have been in the rain. If you choose to seal them, you could use any wood sealer that's good for the elements, like a polyurethane for decks. It may be a cheaper way to go, but they're still functional. Allegheny Mountain Wood Arrows offers a good variety of woods and reasonable prices. I'm not sure all the different woods from Silent Pond, but they are cheaper than Allegheny. The cheapest I've found for Port Orford Cedar was from DJR arrows. The raw shaft, cut to length and point/nock tapers was about $20 for a dozen. I never messed with crowning or cresting either, just fletched them. You'll need a fletching jig for that. I bought a Grayling for $30. It works great. Bitzbenburg has a pretty good reputation and I think is a little better quality, but runs a little higher. I bought some Bohning fletching tape to try out and was very pleased with it. I actually prefer it to the fletching cement. It's very quick, unlike the glues. Instead of waiting 15-20 minutes for glue to dry on one feather, you can do a few arrows in that amount of time with the tape. It hold very well also.
There are some cheaper brands of carbon if you'd like to go that route. PSE has a model that runs about $40 for a dozen, and Easton Excels are pretty cheap also. One of the benefits of carbons of wood is that they aren't as spine critical. If you do decide to go with woodies, talk to some arrowsmiths and they can set you up with a dozen of a few different spines. If they're not willing to do this for you, they're not worth doing business with. There's a technical side to wood arrows, but it's fun shooting arrows you put together.

God bless,
Brandan

LBR

Dianna does a great job on arrows and I am sure she can give some good advice. There are other sites that give information, but be warned--opinions are often given as straight fact.

I've tried gobs of different woods--Norway Pine, Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, Maple, Ash, Chundoo, Poplar,.....but I always wind up going back to Port Orford Cedar. Hickory might make a decent shaft, but it is far from the wood of choice for arrows. I'm pretty sure POC is the most widely used, maybe more than all the others combined.

There are lots of dealers for arrow shafts--if you buy dowels from a hardware store you will need a spine tester and a grain scale to get matched arrows, and most likely you will have a LOT of culls.

You can use sealers from the hardware store, but in my experience they stick in the targets like glue--whether foam, cardboard, or excelsior (SP?). Getting all the supplies can be a pretty big expense, but if you intend to make a lot of arrows it is cheaper in the long run (if you don't count your time).

Like Stealthy said, get good quality shafting--that is one department I have found that it does not pay to skimp on. Lots of suppliers sell shafting and supplies for arrowmaking--my two personal favorites are Rogue River Archery and Lone Wolf Archery, but there are gobs of others.

I imagine talking to someone with experience (such as Di) will be your best bet, as they are not trying to sell you something in the process.

Good luck!

Chad

Long Bows Rule!

PowDuck

Good advice from all. Here's a link to Jackson's Archery that has TONS of links to websites for info.
click here

http://www.hotspothunting.com/common...end=0&id=18984

Romans 8:28