My First Hand-Made Wooden Arrows!

[LimbLover]

#3791

I figured I would start a new thread for these as the other “What do I need” thread really wasn’t the same topic.

I built these last weekend while my wife was out of town.

The yellow are 85-90 Chunduu shafts with 145g tips, Nirk nocks and 5.5″ high back shields. The orange are 80-85 with 145g tips, Nirk nocks and 5″ shields. I used a red mahogany stain for the orange and a dark walnut for the yellow but I only dipped them once. As Fletcher mentioned – these were really straight and shiny out of the gates so I would assume they were compressed. I put 5 coats of wipe-on polyurethane and straightened/sanded with steel wool between each coat. On coat number 3 I got bored and decided to primitively paint the black rings on with some black paint that was lying around. 😀 Yes, it could have been better but they are my arrows so I didn’t really care. I was going for something really raw/primitive looking. I’ll get a crester later.

[Rocks]

#24063

Very nice! That’s something I want to try soon. Good job.

[Steve Branson]

#24423

Those look great!! What kind of jig do you use? Do you do all of your shooting with wood shafts? I have tried them, but couldnt really keep em straight very long….

[LimbLover]

#24441

I used a Grayling jig. A really cheap crappy, plastic, Grayling jig. Same one I used when I started. lol That is the one thing I REALLY need to upgrade. The Bitz gives you more accurate gluing and less bubbling and what not.

I have been shooting them exclusively since last week. My first test was shooting 3Ds with Ripforce today and we were both really really impressed. The penetration was excellent, the heads stayed on fine, and I only had to straighten one because it was REALLY stuck in the target and came out funny.

I shot better then I have in months with woods. I love them. I’m going to start stocking up. I’m definitely hunting with them.

[Steve Branson]

#24453

Glad theyre working well for you!! I love the satisfaction of crafting my own arrows!

[MontanaFord]

#24559

Nice job!! They look great. Congrats. Keep up the good work.

Michael.

[SteveMcD]

#25028

They are beautiful! Very Nice! Chundoo is real good wood too!

[lee c]

#29192

Nice work! They look awesome! Stay with it!

[Larry O. Fischer]

#29213

Soon you can post a photo of them bloody and broken!

[ToddRvs]

#29800

Very nice, Beats my first wood arrows I made. I used wood dowels from Home Depot, They actually worked quite well but I could not maintain a tight group with them. Switched to ceder and solved that problem. I have also used bamboo with good results.

I would suggest to limit your coats of stain to two maximum to limit changing the spine as much.

[LimbLover]

#30004

ToddRvs wrote: Very nice, Beats my first wood arrows I made. I used wood dowels from Home Depot, They actually worked quite well but I could not maintain a tight group with them. Switched to ceder and solved that problem. I have also used bamboo with good results.

I would suggest to limit your coats of stain to two maximum to limit changing the spine as much.

You mean coats of poly? I only have one coat of stain. Two coats of poly seems pretty thin. I would imagine it would start coming off easy when removing them from 3D targets and what not.

These fly great out of both of my bows with 5. I think I’m in good shape.

Were you weighing and spining the dowels at Home Depot after you bought them or did you just make arrows out of them? If the latter…I can imagine why you had problems.

[ToddRvs]

#30168

No when I first started to make arrows I knew nothing of spine weight. I just bought the ones that looked the straightest and went with them. I was only shooting a 25 pound draw and believe it or not they shot ok Now there were no olympic size groups bu after some practice I was able to hit a papper plate 3 out of 5 times at 20 yards. Pretty funny when you think about it. When I started moving up in weight that’s when I started to see all types of crazy things starting to happen. So I bought some ready made ceder wood shafts from Outdoor world. They worked real good. Then I made my first set of real ceder arrows with correct spine and everything. As for the poly, I at first used 5 or 6 coats like you but, doing that my groups got erratic. I spoke to an old timer at my club and he told me that I was using too much poly and changing the spine of my arrows. So I now use only 2 coats. Thank for the reply.

[LimbLover]

#31031

ToddRvs wrote: No when I first started to make arrows I knew nothing of spine weight. I just bought the ones that looked the straightest and went with them. I was only shooting a 25 pound draw and believe it or not they shot ok Now there were no olympic size groups bu after some practice I was able to hit a papper plate 3 out of 5 times at 20 yards. Pretty funny when you think about it. When I started moving up in weight that’s when I started to see all types of crazy things starting to happen. So I bought some ready made ceder wood shafts from Outdoor world. They worked real good. Then I made my first set of real ceder arrows with correct spine and everything. As for the poly, I at first used 5 or 6 coats like you but, doing that my groups got erratic. I spoke to an old timer at my club and he told me that I was using too much poly and changing the spine of my arrows. So I now use only 2 coats. Thank for the reply.

Hmmm…I’ll tray a thinner coat on my next set. I usually spray a quick layer of Shellac top coat on there too.

Nice avatar! Ol’ Oliver Queen. I love Green Arrow.

[LimbLover]

#31032

ToddRvs wrote: No when I first started to make arrows I knew nothing of spine weight. I just bought the ones that looked the straightest and went with them. I was only shooting a 25 pound draw and believe it or not they shot ok Now there were no olympic size groups bu after some practice I was able to hit a papper plate 3 out of 5 times at 20 yards. Pretty funny when you think about it. When I started moving up in weight that’s when I started to see all types of crazy things starting to happen. So I bought some ready made ceder wood shafts from Outdoor world. They worked real good. Then I made my first set of real ceder arrows with correct spine and everything. As for the poly, I at first used 5 or 6 coats like you but, doing that my groups got erratic. I spoke to an old timer at my club and he told me that I was using too much poly and changing the spine of my arrows. So I now use only 2 coats. Thank for the reply.

Hmmm…I’ll tray a thinner coat on my next set. I usually spray a quick layer of Shellac top coat on there too.

Nice avatar! Ol’ Oliver Queen. I love Green Arrow.

[Frank H V]

#32559

Limblover, have you tried fletching tape? I started using it a couple years ago & really like it. No drying time, but you really need to have the feather in the right position when you put it on the arrow. I use Bitzenberger fletchers & two years ago my Wife bought me a jo jan left wing fletcher so I’d be able to use left wing feathers. I really like it.
Those arrows look like they will work well. It’s fun isn’t it? Nice job.
Frank

[Fletcher]

#44913

Steve Branson wrote: Do you do all of your shooting with wood shafts? I have tried them, but couldnt really keep em straight very long….

Wood arrows require a little more care than cans or carbons, and you need to start with good shafts. I see lots of them being bent just by the way folks pull them from the target. Just remember, if it can be straighteded, it can be bent. They also need to be well sealed. I’ve been shooting wood arrows for over 25 years and have some that old that are still straight.

[LimbLover]

#45488

Fletcher wrote: [quote=Steve Branson] Do you do all of your shooting with wood shafts? I have tried them, but couldnt really keep em straight very long….

Wood arrows require a little more care than cans or carbons, and you need to start with good shafts. I see lots of them being bent just by the way folks pull them from the target. Just remember, if it can be straighteded, it can be bent. They also need to be well sealed. I’ve been shooting wood arrows for over 25 years and have some that old that are still straight.

Exactly. I don’t let anyone pull my arrows. I politely tell them I will get it myself. People tend to pull on an angle or twist. Yikes. It makes me cringe every time.

Mine are holding up great. I just did another dozen out of some POC shafts I picked up from Lost Nation. Had I gotten to the Hastings shoot early I could have grabbed some from Fletcher but he was out.

FYI…I still like the Chundoo the best.

I’ll probably small game hunt with aluminums. I don’t care about them as much.

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