Woodchuck Arrow Taper Tool Improvement

[Stephen Graf]

#3858

As the season gets a little raggedy around the edges, I start to work on things I’ve thought about while spending so many hours in the fall woods…

One of the things I mulled over was the dang sand paper disk on the woodchuck taper tool and how it’s always peeling off and flying around the room. The disk is just stuck to the spinning plate with a sticky adhesive backing. Anyone familiar with the tool knows of what I speak.

My first “fix” was to just put some clamps on it when not in use. This kept the disk on pretty well. But it still tended to come up here and there and make crappy tapers as a result.

My woodsy mullings led me to wonder about changing the system so that the sanding disk was held in place with hook-and-loop. So I took the tool apart, cleaned all the adhesive off the sanding wheel and then put some hook material on it (obtained from home depot) I then cut a disk of loop backed sanding paper and affixed it to the tool.

Works good now. An additional benefit is that I no longer need to buy sanding disks from 3Rivers, I just cut them from sand paper for my palm sander 😀

[Arne Moe]

#52598

Steve,

I’ve had a Woodchuck for several years and have never experienced what you describe. In fact, I find it a pain to change sanding disks. Getting them off then cleaning so a new one can be adhered to the plate. Guess I’ve been lucky??

Arne

[Stephen Graf]

#57256

Yea… I don’t know. I’ve heard from others that the disks come off, and I’ve heard from others who have had your experience.

Maybe if you get one bad disk, it contaminates the plate or something.

Anyway, no more bother with cleaning the plate for the next disk for me…

I had another idea the other day about that tool. Probably others have had it as well, but here it is anyway:

It’s a bother to adjust the stop for point tapers and then readjust for nock tapers.

So when I get it perfect for the point taper next time, I’m going to wrap some tape around the shaft on the back side of the lock down mechanism.

Then when I get the perfect fit for the nock taper next time, I’m going to wrap some tape around the shaft on the front side of the lock down mechanism.

Seems like the manufacturer could supply some set screw lock down collars for that shaft. If they had a website or email, I’d send them a suggestion about the shaft and the hook-and-loop sanding pads.

[Arne Moe]

#58013

Guess I’ve been living a “charmed” Woodchuck life. My WC is set so both points and nocks have the same stop adjustment. No readjustment necessary. Not sure how I did that, just set it and never thought about it again. I get great tapers for both points and nocks with no adjustment.

Sometimes its better to be lucky than smart??:D:D:D

Arne

[Stephen Graf]

#61202

Maybe that’s the way its supposed to work, don’t know.

I made spacer blocks to adjust for each taper. The point taper block is about 0.50 thick, and the nock taper is about 0.90 thick. So that’s a fair amount different.

But if you were able to find a single adjustment that worked for both tapers, I aught to be able to as well… I’ll scratch my head on that one a while. Seems like that’s the way it should be though.

I got to thinking about the stick on sandpaper peeling issue and wonder if it has something to do with our famous southern humidity 😥

[Ptaylor]

#62759

Like you Steve, I am working on winter projects during these long-dark nights. I’ve started hand planing arrows. I made a spine jig, but have been contemplating getting the woodchuck taper tool.

[Stephen Graf]

#12368

It’s a good tool. But for what it costs, it should be more user friendly. Squaring up the sanding plate to the arrow grooves is a trial and error process. Replacing the sanding disk is troublesome.

If I had to do it again, I might just build something myself. The motors are easy to come by, the sanding plates probably are too. Make a nice platform and use a router to cut some nice grooves. Build a motor mount that is easily adjustable to square it up. All could be made from wood.

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