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+---- Thread: tuning wooden arrows (/showthread.php?tid=3680)
tuning wooden arrows - Tartar Horde - 12 December 2012
Any projectile weapon relys on the quality of its ammunition with regards to accuracy and the Bow is no different. Many traditional archers shoot wooden arrows as these compliment their age old bow designs. I too shoot wooden shafts, but not because they suit my traditional bow, I use wooden because I can't afford to damage and replace Alloy ones. The land I use is very thick scrub and I simply damage too many, if the land was more open I would use alloy shafts as they are definately more accurate and have tighter tolerances than wooden ones.
There are a few ways to tune your wooden shafts and the first is weighing them. I weight my shafts to within +-5grains, this means out of a dozen shafts i might only get 3-5 in the same weight range. The other shafts are not discarded they are simply weighed and put into batches.
I don't worry too much about shafts that are bent etc as I straighten all my shafts by hand over heat, you should do this for every arrow for obviouse reasons. I have used a kettle for this (steaming) I have also used an Iron. Sight down the shaft and mark the beggining and end of the bend, heat this area (without scorching) and gently flex the shaft in the opposite direction to the bend, reheat as neccessary. When the shaft cools down it will set.
When making up wooden arrows it is a good idea to make sure the grain on your shafts all run the same way. This helps "uniformity" as wood grain will perform differently when pressure is applied "behind" the grain or "in front". This affects the "spine" of the arrow, which is its propensity to bend under a given load (the weight of your bow)
When applying Knocks I always cut across the grain for the same reasons given above, it helps uniformity.
For added longevity I always bind my fletchings on after they have been glued. I shave the front and rear of the fletching with a razor blade etc and use silk thread/cotton to bind the front and rear of the fletching using a "whipping" style finish. The binding can be used to fine tune your shafts as the more you put on the heavier your shafts will be (within reason). I put the binding on wet so when it dries it will tighten, I also finish off with a bit of cellulose "dope" as a protective layer.
ISHI the last Indian said "any old stick can make a bow, but it takes a damn good stick to make an arrow" wise words indeed
RE: tuning wooden arrows - Metroyeti - 12 December 2012
You can use a paint stripper blow gun for your arrows
RE: tuning wooden arrows - Tartar Horde - 12 December 2012
(12 December 2012, 14:00)Metroyeti Wrote: You can use a paint stripper blow gun for your arrows
Yes you could use that, be careful of scorching though.
RE: tuning wooden arrows - Highlander - 12 December 2012
Why is none scorching important?
RE: tuning wooden arrows - Tartar Horde - 13 December 2012
Yeah if you overdo it the wood will char and lose a bit of strength making the area weaker