[aeronut]

in reply to: OJAM Oklahoma Selfbow Jamboree #145695

The OSS board has made the decision to cancel OJAM XVI because of the health guidelines put forth by President Trump in yesterday’s press conference.  It is very late notice but is a needed precaution.
I hope the media induced panic subsides soon and people realize this is no worse than the H1N1 flu that the media barely mentioned at all.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142666

Here’s my bottle targets.  Lots of fun.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142665

I recently made these practice blunts to shoot at my hanging bottle targets.  They are Poplar shafts and weigh the same as my hunting arrows.  Had to wait about four days for the rain to quit so I could go out and shoot them.

My bees really like the yellow fletchings.

I make my blunts by pressing a 125 grain  11/32″ field tip into a .38 Special casing.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142655

Ralph, these bees are really docile.  The reason for waiting until after dark is not that I might get stung but the fact that the bees will fly into the liquid stream as it goes into the feeder and I have had to rescue a lot of them from drowning.  I have since changed from the chick feeder to a bucket modified to sit upside down.  The number of drowned bees has gone down substantially.

 

Old feeder

This is one of the modified bucket feeders.  Less mess.  This is one of two I have and set it on the end of my picnic table by my wood shop.  I work on the other end of the table and they don’t bother me a bit.  The wasps are the ones I watch out for.

My hives are right out in my range and I shoot my bows around them all the time.  I always have one or two bees checking out the bright fletching and cresting colors on my arrows.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Hunting truck #142369

1999 Dodge Ram 1500.  Over 275,000 miles and I’ve owned it for 15 years.

Also a 1997 Jeep Wrangler.

 

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142368

I haven’t seen the bee numbers here in SE Ks. like I used to in the past so I started keeping bees last July.  I’ve got four hives set up now.  I robbed five frames of honey from them this year.  Leaving the rest for their winter feed.

I went out to fill their feeder and decided to wait until after dark.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Smoking arrows ??? #138844

Possibly liquid nitrogen that they dipped the arrows in.  But that would make them brittle.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Can you consistently hit a paper plate? #137018

I go a different approach at times.  Instead of taking shots at my 3D targets from various places around the yard I have some other targets hanging around.  I tied some plastic water and soda bottles to some tree limbs so they can swing in the breeze and shoot at them with blunts.  Doesn’t take long to get the windage right, so to speak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VINLEUa-O4I

[aeronut]

in reply to: Wood Types for Light Weight Arrows (30-35 Spine)? #136508

Traditional and shield cut is the same.  What I and a lot of people call Cherokee cut is Cut Section in this link from Gateway.

NITTY GRITTY ON FEATHERS

And then there is this little How-to-d-it here.

Cutting Feathers for Arrow Fletching

[aeronut]

in reply to: Wood Types for Light Weight Arrows (30-35 Spine)? #136495

I’ve been making arrows for over 30 years starting out with multiple recommendations from a lot of different people and mainly just experimenting on my own.  We didn’t have something called internet back then.

My routine is what Ralph pointed out only I use 3# per inch, not 5.  First you need to know your actual draw length.  When I set up as a vendor at a lot of the 3D shoots it was fun to see the reaction of people when we did an actual measurement of their draw length.  A good 85% of those claimed a longer draw length than what we measured and most all of them were going by what they drew as a compound shooter.

The spine of an arrow is measured on a span of 26″ and that measured spine is figured with a 125 grain point as a standard.  If you use a lighter point the shaft will react as a stiffer spine.  Using a heavier point the spine is weaker.  Arrow length also has an affect on spine.  A shorter shaft is stiffer in spine.  Anything over 28″ will be weaker spine.

I have a hard time agreeing with the 3 Rivers recommendation of cutting the shafts to 27″ BOP.  That would stiffen the shaft.  Best bet is to start with a full length shaft and work back from that.  If they show too stiff at full length step up to a heavier point.  If they show a weak spine shorten the shaft in 1/2″ increments until they fly better.

As an added item to confuse people even further the size and shape of your fletching will also affect the flight of the arrow.  Short parabolic cut feathers are a little faster.  Shield cut are a tad slower but stabilize the arrow quicker.  A flat Cherokee cut will stabilize even quicker since there is no slope to the front of the fletch.

Now to answer your question about Poplar shafts Kristin.  Poplar is a lesser hardwood and is close to the same weight as a POC.  Maybe a tad heavier.  They take stain and seal well and I have made and sold a lot of them.  I would go with trying a 30# 5/16″ shaft.   Like I said, leave them full length to start.  You can always remove wood but it’s danged hard to put it back on.  Start out with the 125 grain points.  If they show too stiff for your setup find some 100 grain points.

I will look through my boxes of shafting and see if I have some 30#.  If I do we can probably do a deal.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Wood Types for Light Weight Arrows (30-35 Spine)? #136479

Poplar or Lodgepole Pine.  I shoot a lot of Poplar and they have a lot of the same characteristics as POC.  They just don’t smell as nice as POC when you break one.

I lean toward disagreeing with 3 Rivers on the spine selection for your draw length on your 32# bow.  If you are shooting 40# then the 30-35# would be good.  I shoot 40-45# and have a draw length of around 26″  I shoot 35# spine shafts with a 125 grain head.

Dennis

[aeronut]

in reply to: Longbow Selection #136473

I can’t help you with your question.  I have only shot one factory made longbow.  One of the guys in our club had a Hill style longbow, 70#@28.  I shot it maybe a half dozen times.  It shot well but that was 40 years ago and I don’t remember much about it.

I have several longbows that I made myself, all D/R design from 30# to 55#, and love them.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Glove vs tab… #136306

I started out with a tab 52 years ago.  Somewhere along the line I bought a Neet glove and haven’t used a tab since.  I’ve tried several gloves and settled on Damascus gloves.  They are not expensive and like Ralph, I have several around.

Even during the years I shot compounds I used a Damascus glove.  I refused to use a release because if I’m going to pull a trigger it will be attached to a gun.  I even got rid of the sights.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #136274

Been a steady drizzle here for the last two days ans foggy.  Been wanting to go see if I can call coyotes.

My youngest daughter Heather was headed to visit friends one evening and called  and said she needed help.  There was a pretty good lightning storm and her Jeep Wrangler died.  A passing motorist turned around to see if she was alright because she saw lightning hit the Jeep.  It fried the computer but everything else except the tach worked OK.  Never could find any mark on the Jeep where the lightning struck.

I started working for the electric company as a boiler fireman at a power plant.  Things get pretty hectic when you hear the stop valve slam shut on the steam line feeding the turbine.  When that happen steam pressure climbs very fast.  It turns into a race to get everything down where you can control the steam pressure and you won’t scour the bearings on the turbine and get everything set up for a restart.  If you have trouble walking up stairs this would not be a job for you.  It was a hectic run up and down three flights of stairs for the burner valves alone all in about a ten minute or less time frame.  It happened to us twice and I was the one on shift both times.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #136240

Here is one example of a trouble call I went out on.  Lots of lightning that night and I grabbed one of my GoPro cameras as I headed out the door.  I had to switch out a 69kv line and was going around to patrol the line while headed back to the service center.  It was about 3:30am and the strikes were less than a 1/4 mile away.

 

 

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