It takes far longer to make a decent set of Arrows than a Bow, I used to shoot a lot of Sapling Arrows - lots of Work. Here's a very abridged method to make expedient Arrows. I'll assume you have a Sharp Knife, Tomahawk or a Saw. Maybe you could find a pointy Rock or have enough nous to bang some Rocks together to create Sharp Edges.
Find a Shady Watercoarse or a thick Stand of Timber. Saplings will grow straigher in these environments. Cut Saplings about as thick as your Thumb at the Base and 3 - 5 foot long. Leave the Bark on. Build a small fire and put a couple of Rocks or Forked Sticks around it to rest the Sapling on so you can Rotate it to heat it evenly. Allow the Fire to burn to Coals. While your waiting for the Fire to burn down find a Forked Branch to use as a Lever to straighten the Sapling after you Heat it.
Heat the Bent sections and using the Forked Branch lever them gently reheat and repeat add nausium until Straight and dry [ good luck with that as it can take a long time for some Shafts to dry out
even with the aid of a Fire. You could test straightness by whittling a point on the Shaft and spinning. It only needs to spin with no wobble at the point and nock, does not matter if the bits in-between have 7 s bends and a loop, just so it spins straight on its axis.
So its been 3 Hours or so if your lucky by this stage and you have 2 Shafts prepared. Scrape the Singed Bark off, cut/grind your Nock. To help keep the Shaft Straight you need to incise a groove along the shaft. Check it's straight and heat gently and continue to check straightness, this also serves to harden the Timber some along the edges of the groove. The groove release's stress in the Shaft and helps maintain straightness.
Leave it 3 foot -5 long as this will reduce the need for perfect spine that shorter Arrows require. If you can salvage fletching from your old Arrows use it. If not no big deal as a very long Arrow will stabilize Ok. Many cultures around the world use 5 foot and longer Arrows with no Fletching.
Next salvage your old Arrow Heads and fit them, good luck without Glue. Maybe you could mix Dry Kangaroo Dung, Resin from under a Blackboy Tree, maybe some Sap you've found on a Tree and Charcoal you have mixed together over Heat. Good to Glue the Fletching also. If stinging Nettle is about Peel it to extract Fibres from it, maybe the Inner Bark from a Bush or Tree you could find and twist up Fibres into usable String to bind the Fletching. If you have no Points on Hand you could fire harden the Sharp end of the Shaft. Maybe you could. I carry a Roll of cheap Braided Nylon Twine for such emergencies
You could also find some Bone lying around that you could Cut into Slabs with your Tomahawk or Saw, find a abrasive Rock and Grind out a Head, add another 3 or 4 Hours to time frame for 3 or 4 Heads
So now youve worked Dawn to Dusk you might have 3 Arrows ready to go - Making Arrows is not the thing to do in a Survival Situation in the Aussie Bush, too labour intensive but a great Skill to have for long term survival and because we love Archery.
regards Jacko
