Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Arrows
Arrows
Selecting shafts
I use northern pine exclusively now for my everyday arrows (I use ash and poplar for
some specialist shafts). The sudden tree death disease is raging through the northern
states and badly affecting the POC. There is a stockpile and I don’t think the disease
affects the quality of the wood as long as it is harvested soon after dying. There is a
complete embargo on cutting live trees. Everything I say here goes for all wooden
shafts.
The shafts should be roughly straight. Gentle distortions can usually be removed with
a little heat and flexing but avoid kinks.
It is worth bearing in mind that the spine is static spine. It doesn’t take into account:
• Pile weight – heavy piles will make the arrows behave as though they have a
lighter spine.
• Fletching drag – large or angled fletchings will make the arrows behave as
though they have a heavier spine.
• Arrow length - the spine is measured over a 26” length longer arrows behave
as thought they have a lighter spine.
To some extent the diameter will be dictated by the spine. Heavier spines are only
available in larger diameters. Where there is an overlap it is a matter of personal
preference but the following might be factors:
Weight
The arrows should have enough weight to absorb the energy of the bow, too light ant
there will be some energy not transferred leading to hand shock and noise. Too heavy
and they will slow the limbs.
Grain
The grain in the wood represents the tree rings. There are three views that you need to
bear in mind.
1. The long grain edge should run along the shaft without twisting because with
changes in humidity the shaft will tend to warp.
2. The ring grain may show v-shaped contours. If these are obvious and
consistent they should point towards the nock end so that if the grain lifts will
not tend to catch your bow hand.
3. the end grain will dictates the orientation of the nock. The slot of the nock will
run at right angles to the end grain. If you run the nock parallel it will tend to
split along the grain.
A bandsaw guide
This is the guide I use on the bandsaw. The ‘keel’ fits snugly into the slot in the table.
Fine adjustments are made using the plastic blade guides.
Reinforcing the Nocks
Unreinforced nocks will break The arrow will flirt unpredictably and the effect of dry
loosing will do the bow no good. The simplest reinforcement is a few turns of thread
held in place with a coat of varnish or glue. I use linen thread and whip it on with a
‘lost loop’. This is much easier to show in picture than to describe in words: