Hand made arrow shafts

[hunterguy1991]

Recently learned a good way of making my own arrow shafts so I decided to have a crack with some left over Ash I had.

Cut some roughly square lengths at a little over 1/2" and trimmed them to 33" long (making medieval arrows for my warbows)

Squared them up with a hand plane so they looked straight and parallel to the eye.

Next using a jig I made with a V channel along its length and a stop block at the end I gave them 8 sides while maintaining straightness as best I could.

Then I took the corners off and scraped them round before giving them a good sand with 80 grit then 120 and 240.

This is the result.

Hand planed Ash shafts Standards and Sheafs.jpg (79.34 KiB) Viewed 2469 times

The 4 on the left are parallel at 3/8" for distance arrows and the 3 on the right are 1/2" tapered to 3/8" for some heavier "battle" arrows.

Really makes you appreciate just how much work went into arrows back in the day when you make them by hand as they would have been.

Lots of fun tho!! Hoping to get some European Birch and do the same as its said to be lighter but stiffer than the Ash so should make excellent long distance arrows.

Colin

[AndyF]

Hi Hunterguy,

Wish I had the work space to make up my own shafts etc, but sadly small apartments in Bondi don't permit.

Anyway, funnily enough, I've just finished a set of rather 'blingy' (stained crown, yellow and green splicing in white feathers, cresting and what not (not very traditional but I can't help myself) war bow arrows in Birch. They're 1/2 inch tapered to 3/8 and I can confirm they're a bit lighter than Ash. Got the shafts from a place in Holland.

Also have bunch of Poplar shafts which are a touch lighter than Ash. Funnily enough I have a chunky, tapered Poplar shaft sitting right next me at work now. It has a Hector Cole heavy war bodkin point and 7 1/5 inch goose feather fletches. I'm going to spend my lunch hour binding on the fletches with some red silk I got the other day. Imagine the finished item will look rather like the arrow on the left in your shot.

Nick Lintern mentioned to me that he'd seen Poplar boards available at Masters hardware. Might be worth a try.

Andy

[hunterguy1991]

Hi Andy,

You could make these in front of your tv if you didn't mind having to clean up the mess... The jig I used to plane them in is only an inch longer than the bare shaft and not even 2 inches wide and high... Planning them just makes LOTS of shavings haha.

Would like to see those shafts mate!! I can get birch from a fairly local timberyard so will be very soon.

Unfortunately the Poplar they sell in masters is not actually true poplar like they use in the UK, its yellow poplar/tulipwood rather than Aspen, but it still works very well as arrows so its definitely worth getting if you can. Doesn't like being planed tho in my experience.

Id love to get genuine goose feathers but cant seem to find anywhere to get them... I base all of my arrows on the Canadian Warbow Society Sheaf, Standard or Quarter pound specifications...

Cheers,

Colin

[little arrows]

and then you put all the shavings onto the garden beds, makes very unique mulch, you can only imagine the amount of shavings I end up with..

Hey Andy - let us know how the poplar goes.

cheers
sue

[perry]

Smiling because I'm remembering when I first started Hand Planing Arrow Shafts. Really like reading about Folks learning new skills. Keep them coming Colin

Way back IKEA used to use Spruce and I think Poplar in their Pallets. I used to raid behind the big IKEA at Windsor. Might be worth a looksee as there is a lot of EURO Stuff being imported nowdays at different Retailers. Much of it will have Nail Holes but I think you'd be surprised how many good Arrow Blanks you can find in a Pallet.

Next Job learn how to do Hardwood Footings to repair the inevitable breaks or make those just too short lengths right !

regards Jacko

[hunterguy1991]

Cheers Perry!

I will be buying some birch next for a full set hopefully.

I do know the theory of footing shafts but have next attempted it. Down the track when I get a nice recurve again I might do some hardwood footed shafts.

Colin