If you want fancy, don't look here.....Arrow Build Along (Update PG6)

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 03:30:00 PM

For those wanting to try their hand at building some not so fancy but, functional wood arrows, I thought I'd share how I do it. I start by using 1 doz. Surewood shafts spined 60-65#, 32" to start and 410-420gr. These will be for my Howard Hill Tembo this year.

I then, using a white cotton t-shirt, so no inks bleed through, stain with a Colonial Maple Minwax stain. This gives them a very traditional look in my opinion and really brings out the wood grain. Let them dry for 24hrs.

magnus · January 21, 2011, 03:33:00 PM

Keep going TW. A lot of folks can use this.

**DONOTDELETE** · January 21, 2011, 03:35:00 PM

Didn't You say "Not fancy" Keep it coming..

Pon · January 21, 2011, 03:38:00 PM

where do you get the surewoods?

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 03:38:00 PM

Hold on guys, gotta let 'em dry. :D I'm doing this post as I go so, it will be drawn out over the next week. Believe me, they won't be fancy but, they'll shoot straight!

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 03:39:00 PM

Pon, I live right down the road from where they build them. All I have to do is call in what I want, and when they're ready, go pick them up.

Stumpkiller · January 21, 2011, 03:43:00 PM

I like the Calabash pipe in the left corner. ;-) (And the burl ones, too).

Now see what you've done. I'm gonna have to drag my pipe out and get stern looks from THE ADMIRAL.

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 03:46:00 PM

Stumpkiller, it really helps me relax sometimes to just sit at my work bench and enjoy one of my pipes. The Alpha wood pipe, I got from Dick in Seattle and it is my favorite.

lpcjon2 · January 21, 2011, 03:47:00 PM

Sherlock Holmes the arrow maker,You will finish up with a flight test after your all done won't ya

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 03:50:00 PM

Absolutely! I will bareshaft one to get it to the right length before finishing up arrows.

magnus · January 21, 2011, 03:50:00 PM

Pon you can order direct or you can get them from Tim @ Braveheart archery.

Red Tailed Hawk · January 21, 2011, 03:54:00 PM

Thanks for doing this arrow build along wannabe

Stumpkiller · January 21, 2011, 03:57:00 PM

Understood. I got started to keep the blackflies and mosquitoes off while fishing and now it's just an occasional treat. I have an old briar bent-stem bulldog that is small but my favorite. I used to go through a "Missouri Meerchaum" every couple years - corncob pipe to the uninformed. Sweet smoking and light enough to keep in your teeth without hands or geting a stiff jaw.

A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth. (C.S. Lewis)

January 21, 2011, 06:15:00 PM

The high grade Missouri Meerchaum, never thought I would say that, with Balkan Sobranie, very expensive English blend, is the best string making, arrow fletching, canoe paddling, flyfishing combo I have found. Don't shoot your bow with your pipe in your mouth. That is not being a wise man. I know of two people that did, talk about your teeth rattling bow shock.
While i puff I wonder, what is the spread of grain weights on say a hundred surewood shafts versus the bulk order of 100 cedar shafts.

Bowwild · January 21, 2011, 06:38:00 PM

These smoke signals are killing me -- like a foreign language to a licorice eater like me!

Bowwild · January 21, 2011, 06:40:00 PM

Actually, I get a HUGE kick out of many of these threads that start out on a topic and then take a couple forks here and there ...very entertaining. Like that commercial on TV where the search engine BING helps focus a search better than Google!

Course like the great Yogi said (Bera not Boo-boo's mentor), "When you come to a fork in the road...take it!

Rooselk · January 21, 2011, 06:44:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by magnus:
Keep going TW. A lot of folks can use this.

Agreed. And I'm definately one of them. :D

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 08:07:00 PM

Getting some minor things together. Tomorrow I will seal the shafts with Varathane, Spar Urethane. It is an outdoor urethane and is water clean up for easy use. I will do one coat, dry 15 minutes, rub with a very fine steel wool; coat and dry 15 more minutes; steel wool and coat one final time. This actually seals the shaft very well!

Wannabe1 · January 21, 2011, 08:09:00 PM

Note my J-8 fletching jig. I made it so's it's portable and I can fletch anywhere I feel like resting my south end.

JEFF B · January 21, 2011, 09:01:00 PM

hey Buddy they is looking good so far!!