moisture in wood when shaped into arrow

[bigozzie]

#125243

I am the newbie here but I have some ambitions and questions

I am working on getting a router set up to dowel or shape some arrows.  My question is at what point do I want to process the wood.

I am hoping to make lodgepole shafts.  When the roads clear up to my property I have access to green standing, dead standing, or a limited amount cut last summer and decked.

Which is the best to work with.  I don’t know alot about woodworking and moisture percentages.  I am not sure how the moisture will affect the machining process, or the brittleness of the shaft.

 

thanks for any input I would like to be able to run a couple of dozen shafts this summer and not learn everything by my errors.

oz

 

[Stephen Graf]

#125267

I’ve doweled a bunch of arrows.  It’s fun!

The best part of the log is the stump end.  This is true, I guess, because that’s the part of the tree that bore the most weight.

If you are going to start with logs, the thing to do is to cut a round from the stump that is several inches longer than you intend to make your arrows.  I like to go about 36 inches long.  Using an mall, or wedges and hammer, split the log into sections 6 or 8 inches thick.

Let these age for a year.

Split those sections into smaller sections.  Let them age for a year.

Split those smaller sections into blanks the size that will fit your router jig.  Let them age a while longer still.

Then go to town making arrows.

You can make arrows from boards too while you are waiting for your wood to cure.

The downside of doweling your own arrows, I have found, is that you end up with a lot of arrows outside your desired spine range.  I’ve had two shafts that were next to each other in the tree spine at 40 lbs and 100 lbs.  There is just no telling.

[bigozzie]

#125278

Thanks Stephen,

That is more time drying than I expected but that is ok.

I will split way more than I plan on using now for two reasons

1. after waiting two years I will make more than just a few arrows, I will make dozens so I don’t have to wait for the next drying to make more hehe.

2. sounds like the variation in spine will cause me to make lots of, ummm, tomato stakes or whatever I can find to do with the ones that don’t spine out.

thanks.

oz

 

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