The most important part of an archers equipment is not his bow, but his arrow. It is the arrow that must fly through the air straight and true to the target. The bow only provides the power to propel the arrow. Even a poorly designed bow will provide the power to make a well designed arrow fly true, but the best of bows cannot make a poorly designed arrow fly true.
Choosing your wood is the first step in making wood arrows. Many different woods will work to make serviceable arrow shafts, including maple, birch, douglas fir, norway pine, and sitka spruce. The most popular and most available and probably the best all around arrow-wood is port orford cedar. It comes from the pacific northwest and is supplied to archers by the dozens or hundreds all made up into dowels. Known as cedar shafts, these can be purchased from traditional archery suppliers in groups that have been weighed and spined. That means your dozen shafts will be approximately the same weight and stiffness. This is important for good arrow flight.
Be sure to buy your shafts spined to match the weight of your bow plus 5 pounds. The means that if you shoot a 50-pound bow buy shafts spined 50-55 pounds. Finished wood arrows that are spined to match the bow will fly like a dart.
Some of your shafts will need to be straightened. Wood has natural bends and warps and the raw shafts may have taken on moisture, causing them to warp. Sight down each shaft and correct the warps by applying pressure with the base of your thumb in the opposite direction as the bend. Heating over a hot plate (not an open flame) before straigthening will help with the warps. Once the shafts are straightened and the finished arrows are sealed with waterproof finish they will usually remain straight.
After your shafts are straight, the next step is tapering both ends. Us a simple tapering tool available from any traditional bowhunters catalog. It works just like an olf-fashioned pencil sharpener. One end of the shaft is tapered with the short taper fro the plastic nock to fit on; the other end is given the longer 5 degree taper for the arrow point. Both taper cutters are in the same tool.
Now comes the fun part, crown dipping, cresting and staining. There is no end to the possibilities for making a beautiful arrow.
At this point it is important to realize that all paints, stains and glues are not compatible. It is possible to make up a nicely finished arrow only to have your fletching peal off in flight the first time you shoot it because the glue didn't stick to the paint. Use Bohning paints, stains and glue, which are made especially for archery use. Bohning's fletch0tite glue chemically bonds with their paints so you won't have to worry about your fletching falling off.
Start by lightly sanding each shaft to remove any grease or oils from handling them. Then mark each one with a pencil mark eight inches from the nock end. Crown dip each shaft in your choice of paint color up to the eight inche mark. Hang the shafts from a string by clothespins to drip dry. It may take two dips to get a nice smooth, bright colored crown.
At this time you may stain the remainder of the shaft but this step is not necessary but it does bring out the grain and allows for a furniture finish to your arrows. After they dry, turn each shaft on notched blocks, or better yet use Bohning's motorized cresting tool to turn the shafts, while you crest them. Carefully paint your own pattern of bars and stripes in contrasting colors as a personal crest. A finishing coat of clear sealer will protect, waterproof and bring out the grain of natural wood.
Looking at the end of a raw shaft you'll notice the grain. It looks like small parallel lines across the wood. Wood is weakest when bent against the flat of the grain and strongest when bent against the edge of the grain. Therefore, the edge grain always goes against the bow, and the nock is placed so that the bowstring will be at right angles to the grain. Keep this in mind as your build your arrows. This will help keep them uniform and each one will shoot exactly the same.
Plastic nocks can be glued on the shafts. Since the shafts were tapered before crown dipping, the nock taper is painted. And since, Bohning fletch-tite glue chemically bonds to their paint, use it to glue your plastic nocks on. Remember, position the nock so that bowstring will be across the grain. This puts the stiffest side of the shaft against the bow.
Fletching is the final step of wood arrow crafting. Take your time and do a good job here because good fletching is the key to good arrow flight. There are many fletching jigs on the market that handle from one to dozens of shafts at a time. These are simple adjustable tools that are plenty accurate enough to make excellent arrows. Just put a thin line of glue on each feather and use the clamp to press them against the shaft until dry. After the fletching is dry carefully trim the leading edge of each feather down to a smooth juncture with the shaft and seal it with a drop of glue.
Use hot melt glue to apply the points to your finished arrows. This allows for easily replacing points or fine tuning your broadheads by turning them all the same angle. Simply heat the head over a lighter for a few seconds to remelt the glue, then remove or adjust the point. All modern glue-on points will fit the five degree taper perfectly.
Article written by Darryl Quidort. Published in Woods-N-Water News June 1999 issue.
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