[David Petersen]

in reply to: What ya got goin? #49364

Richardson’s geraniums

Injun paintbrush

lupine (the subject of a great Monte Python skit)

Mariposa (Nutall’s) lily

I like the looks of that Trail Buddy … can you post another pic showing the blade better?

I would hope that at timberline here we still have wildflowers too, but with the damn drought I don’t know and can’t bring myself to go check and be disappointed.

Yes, for those of us who start hunting the last weekend of Aug., the time in well nigh to get our acts together. I’m doing plenty of indoor exercises but not nearly enough walking thanks to the heat.

Good stuff, thanks.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Oil rub arrow finish? #49210

I just bought a small can of Tung oil — my but they’re proud of that stuff! Can’t believe the cost, but I’m hoping it will go a long ways.

Meanwhile, has anyone ever finished arrows by rubbing with bee’s wax? I know some primitive bowyers use it on selfbows, but I’m thinking it might create too much friction for arrows? And what about shine?

After many years and countless dozens of arrows built, I’m just rather disappointed with the durability of all standard finishes, namely lacquer and poly, and they seems to have enough friction to pick up lots of foam when shot into foam targets. And with poly, the low-gloss finishes really wear off fast. While the high-gloss lasts much longer, it shines like a mirror. Thanks

[David Petersen]

in reply to: PTSD and the 4th of July #48950

Robin — Extended happy hour. 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Oil rub arrow finish? #48392

Thanks for the clarifications, Jans. Think I’ll go with Tung for the softer finish. Just one coat? I hadn’t thought about the oil adding weight–though I’ve long used standard dip finished to even out the weight of shafts, by dipping lighter shafts more times to bring their weight up to equal heavier shafts in a batch. I’ll track it with the scale. These spruce shafts are supposed to run about 350, which, with a 300-grain head gives the magic 650 minimum, so I can easily afford to let them gain a bit of weight as my idea of the perfect weight is 700, though that cuts FOC. Yes, I’ll take pics and boast if they’re any good. Otherwise you’ll never hear about it again. 😛 Thanks.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Bunker Buster UEFOC arrow #46100

Thanks fellers for your ideas. In my apparently never-ending and frequently revolving search for the perfect external footing for wood shafts, I’m (at this moment at least) back to wrapping … with real sinew. Given the luck I’ve recently had wrapping self-nocks with sinew dipped in TiteBond3 wood glue, I feel confident it will work well as a “splint” for the shafts as well. Compared to the synthetics I’ve tried–fake sinew and serving string–it goes on easier and more neatly, is thinner and doesn’t fray as easily in shooting. And I’m betting that in a showdown situation it will do what we’re shooting for here better as well–prevent shaft breakage behind a heavy broadhead. We should all experiment with everything that comes to mind and keep the idea exchange going. But I’m sort of stuck until I can score some more sinew, hint hint. 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Oil rub arrow finish? #46090

Thanks, Giggles. Which do you prefer and why, Danish or Tung. My ancestry is Danish … a mixed blessing and curse and nothing to do with the oils, I’m sure. If you don’t mind, please explain to me how you apply them–pain on and rub in with a soft cloth? I haven’t a clue, though maybe if I resorted to the Bowyer’s Bible arrow-making section there would be something on it there. Finally, I assume you are satisfied with the result or you wouldn’t use it? I have never liked shiny bows or arrows. Great to look at but like hunting with mirrors.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: String Leeches Vs. Beaver Balls #44952

Fellers, I wonder to what extent release quality–clean or dirty–influences string noise?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Let's see our Elk Country pics! #44950

Smithy, yes! Damned if I know why I’ve never indulged myself in my lifelong passion for the stone age, and taken a vacation dedicated to just searching for human history writ in stone. But it doesn’t mean as much if it isn’t local, eh? Although … many years ago, when we lived briefly in Red Lodge, MT, we visited the Madison River buffalo jump site, where there are still, or were then, several perfect small tipi rings (circles of stone that were used to anchor down the bottom edges of tipis). While poking around among the many bison bones at the bottom of the jump, and trying to avoid the copious rattlers there, I found a tiny blue trade bead. What a rush! I buried in within one of the tipi rings, forever I hope. Another time, after an old timer in Big Timber told us where we could find a historic Crow tree burial site along the Yellowstone, sure enough we found the remnants of burial platforms in ancient cottonwoods right on the river and a scattering of beads beneath. How the remained after a century of souvenir collectors I can’t say, but the visible ones I reburied on the spot. For me, history doesn’t count unless it’s prehistory. Or so says he, after a Mex and Margie dinner. What am I doing here?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Let's see our Elk Country pics! #44722

Alex — I found the pristine quartzite knife blade point yesterday in a place you have walked over many times. While the pic doesn’t show much of elk country but a few inches of dirt, to find what was once no doubt a skinning knife near where I’ve hunted for half of my life, well, I have to take that as a good omen for the coming elk season!

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Att Dave Peterson #42168

Thanks for the tip, Jim. And it’s dirt cheap. In fact I’ll have to order some other stuff in order to justify the postage. 😛 Fair to assume there’s no so much slop in the 23/64 that it produces an off-center taper? One limitation to all razor taper tools is that you can turn it only one direction–the way the blade faces–while many shafts have enough twist in the grain that it can cause problems. Thus an ambidextrous tool would help. Anyhow I’ll give this little guy a try. I have another dozen SS shafts on the way so will order the tool today. Thanks

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Don Thomas Spot On! #41257

J. — I would accept the offer, then share the meat with your hosts …not just give them some raw flesh, but invite them over for a nicely prepared venison roast, and invite them to bring contributions from their gardening and gathering. This basic outline is also known as an “Orion dinner,” which that MT group stages (or used to at least) overtly to bring hunters and nonhunters together around a bounty of natural food. Locavorism, IMHO, should and often can trump hunter/nonhunter misunderstandings. Good going.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: A nice Father's Day present:) #40207

Jans — You make me commit the sin of coveting! 😈

So far as value, just the bow and case I’d say $500 to a collector who knows his stuff. I’ve owned two Black Bears and two K-Mags, but never this ultimate Napoleon of bows. I’m happy for you and through years of patient training your wife will come around. 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Emergency Kit? #40201

Come to think of it, you have two good points there! 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Emergency Kit? #40126

Gee, you guys sound like you want to be found should you become lost in the woods. I guess it’s an age thing. 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Att Dave Peterson #40064

Jans — I’m afraid you’re out of luck for Sitka spruce. Given your draw weight combined with a 30″ draw you won’t be able to find shafts with enough spine to handle a 300 head and maybe not a 225. I’m not even sure Hildebrand offers shafts longer than 30″ and you would need at least 31″ for your setup. I draw 28″ and my shafts are 29″ from bottom of nock to back of point and Neil had to really scratch around to find a dozen at 85# spine for my 52# bow and 300 Tuffheads. I killed an elk with one last year but the shaft broke right behind the head. It was a bare shaft. For external footing support I have gone from 4″ of alum shafting, to SmoothOn, to winding with string or fake sinew, and now I’m going to try just 2″ of aluminum tubing. I think deer or elk sinew would make a perfect footing as it goes on my tighter, stronger and closer to the wood than string … but it would take a lot of sinew and I don’t have enough. All of Hildebrand’s shafts are super good–closely grouped for spine and weight and at least with the premium shafts I get, straight as carbon. You can order them parallel or single tapered which is 10″ tapering from 11/32 to 5/16. Price depends on so many variable you’ll need to check the website and likely give Neil a call. The 85# spine shafts weighed on average 390 grains which with the 300 head gives a near perfect (for elk) 790 or so finished arrow with right at 20% FOC, the best I’ve been able to do with wood. Any wood strong enough to give the spine you need at a 30″ draw is going to be heavy, so you’ll likely want to go down to a 225 head and your FOC will not be good. Even so I have proven to myself that a really heavy shaft with a good two-blade head can deliver pass-throughs on elk even with zippo for FOC, and that’s likely what you’re stuck with. I’ve killed elk with the 225 but not as glue-ons; rather I used them with carbons and internals that brought the head weight up to 450 for EFOC above 25$. The “sensible” thing to do given your long draw is to go with carbons in order to get EFOC and keep the total weight within reason. I have some 190 Meatheads but have not yet tried them on game. While they’re not as thick as the heavier Thunderheads, they’re as thick as many good single blades and I’m sure they’d dandy. I have never used AA fletching per se, but I do use something close: 4×3″ shield cut. There’s plenty of room for them on a tapered wood shaft or a standard diameter carbon (I use Carbon Express 350s) and as I’ve commented on other threads here, they shoot better, are totally quiet, weight a bit less and I’ve not yet been able to get them wet enough to wilt, since they’re so much smaller including not so high. When I converted I went back and stripped all the 3×5 off all my arrows and replaced them. I’m sure the AA setup is even better for well tuned arrows, but this is good enough for me since I have a feather chopper in that size. For your final question, yes, you install nocks and field points and leave the shafts full length and then cut back from the front until you hit the sweet length. With Sitka spruce this presents a problem in that the grain structure of the wood doesn’t like a razor tapering tool and when you go to resharpen the point taper after cutting back a shaft to length, it will dig gouges and do a really bad job. This is a big drawback to SS, unless you have a sander taper tool. I get round it by ordering test shafts to bare shaft testing and then ordering my shafts pre-cut to the right length and point tapered from Neil. With most wood this isn’t a problem. This is what I just did yesterday with a dozen SS I’m building for my Osage selfbow, which is a snap since it’s only about 50# draw and relatively slow so I only need 60-64 spine, which I can get at about 350 grains weight, giving me finished shafts just over 650 grains with 300 grain heads. This is not what you wanted to hear, I know, but “it is what it is.” If you decide to try some heavier woods that can handle your draw length and that heavy head, you might p.m. Kevin Forrester or google Forresterwood Arrows, who has some gorgeous but heavy hardwoods with high spine capabilities.

Steve, with your lower draw weight and shorter draw length, you should have easy sailing working up some SS shafts for 300 Tuffheads.

[Author]

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