First Ever Trad Arrow Build

[Adam Wyttenbach]

#136424

1. Hey there, im very new to traditional archery, Ive shot compount for 30 years, got bored with it and want to start pulling my hair out more, haha.  Building my first arrows this week and need a ton of input.  Heres what I got and what i plan to do, feel free to give me some feedback.
2. Recurve bow, 62” 28” draw 45lbs
3. Gold Tip Traditional XT Arrows 8.6 gpi 500 spine 31” iverall length
4. 125 grain points
5. 50grain gold tip fact weight
6. 4 inch feathers
7. and of course a standard GT Nock and Insert
8. plan on running 3/16 nylon rope down inside of arrow shaft for an extra 125-150 grains of weight.
9. plan on cutting arrow down to 28-29”, I believe that will give me the correct spine with the 175 grains in the head.
10. what do you guys think, this should put at around 550 grains give or take for whitetail hunting

[Robin Conrads]

#136426

Hi Adam,

Welcome to the tradbow family! We have some great arrow builders here. Might take a day or two for feedback, but they’ll be along. If you have any questions about the site, just let me know.

Robin (aka Webmother)

[Raymond Coffman]

#136480

Adam

I think your arrow will be just fine for whitetail hunting. I have made quite a few different arrows over the years ( wood , aluminium,  carbon etc ) I shoot the gold tip trad with a couple of my bows and like them. I have not tried using the nylon in the shaft to add weight. I would think adjusting the shaft for tuning might be complicated. I am curious to hear your report on how this turns out. Maybe one of our other members has gone this route and has some insight?

Razor sharp broadheads and a fine tune are the most important aspects of the hunting arrow imho.

Scout

 

[smiley1]

#136608

Adam,  personally I don’t like putting rope, wire, plastic tubes, weed eater cord or anything inside the arrow shaft. My suggestion would be to get different field point weights and experiment with arrow flight. A finely tuned arrow that flies as close to perfect as possible is most important for a hunting arrow. If you have access to an arrow saw, a few different field point weights and time to experiment you can find the perfect arrow to match your bow. I wouldn’t cut your shafts until you’re absolutely sure they’re weak to begin with. You may be surprised how much weight you can front load carbon to get a desired arrow weight after you start cutting. In my experience once you reach the 28″ bop length and below carbon starts to really stiffen up. Most guys don’t realize this because their drawlength dictates a longer arrow.  Good luck with your arrow build.

[David Coulter]

#138581

Hi Adam, personally I like to keep it pretty simple. I would not be stuffing weight into the tube. It could definitely cause some inconsistencies in flight. As the arrows spin they need to wobble as little as possible. As a suggestion, I’d read the Ashby studies on fletching as well as FOC. Also, if you listen to podcasts, there’s excellent studies on The Push Trad Lab series. So far this guy’s findings seem to support the Ashby studies. Good stuff.  Also, if you can find Troy Breeding’s posts on this forum, he has great coaching on tuning. Those posts were really helpful to me.

My arrow is a Beaman Bowhunter, 400, 3 inch four fletch, 50 grain brass insert, 75 gr steel adapter with 225 Tuffheads, or 300 gr field points. I’m shooting a 46# longbow. They fly great, wet or dry, and do well in the wind. My only issues is that my stumping arrows, set up to mimic my hunting arrows, can be pretty hard to pull out of stumps. Also, a dremel makes a good shaft cutter.

Have fun! Dwc

[David Coulter]

#138582

Ps, maybe WebMom can bring Troy’s tuning posts to the top. (In her spare time…)  He truly is s master at tuning and teaching the process.

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