Humble arrows

How to's, questions, and build alongs for those traditional archers who are interested in building their own custom arrows.
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stumper
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Humble arrows

#1 Post by stumper »

Finally fetching up some of my humble arrows. The blonde shaft is for my new elk seeker the dark brown shafts are going to be for one of my back up bows not sure which one yet. Based on the shafts I could do my Flatline recurve or lefty, slick stick, or prairie predator. Decisions decisions.


But this is not a look at my meager arrow building skills thread. This thread is to walk you through a simple tuning process for really good arrow flight. Stay tuned for lots of shooting and by the end we should have a pretty good bunch of arrows.
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Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.

Carpdaddy
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Re: Humble arrows

#2 Post by Carpdaddy »

Watching! :ugeek:

Captainkirk
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Re: Humble arrows

#3 Post by Captainkirk »

Tuned in, Dave...
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Graps
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Re: Humble arrows

#4 Post by Graps »

😁
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Grizzly
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Re: Humble arrows

#5 Post by Grizzly »

Ooh wee, itty bitty feathers on ceders :o

This is gonna be interesting.
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stumper
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Re: Humble arrows

#6 Post by stumper »

Grizzly wrote: Sat Sep 28, 2019 12:01 am Ooh wee, itty bitty feathers on ceders :o

This is gonna be interesting.
Spruce actually. :shock:
Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.

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White Falcon
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Re: Humble arrows

#7 Post by White Falcon »

Like

stumper
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Re: Humble arrows

#8 Post by stumper »

Alright. Started tuning today and already have an issue, what an opportunity for a tuning post! My Flatline which is 56 at 28 inches shoots a 55/60 shaft with my 125 grain heads. Based on this and seeing that my 52 pound elkseeker at 26 inch shoots these shafts slightly weak, I ordered 60/65 pound shafts.

So I fletch all but one arrow and leave all shafts full length. Normally at the start of tuning I can see how far I am off without needing to shoot the bareshaft. In previous batches the bare shaft would be so far weak that shooting it before initial tuning would likely break the arrow. Its pretty easy to tell if the tail of fletched arrow bumps out to the left causing the arrow to fly to the right the shaft is too weak. If the tail of the fletched arrow comes off to the right causing the arrow to fly to the left then it is too stiff. Supposing your arrow is weak you can make adjustments to the fletched shafts until they appear to fly straight. Then proceed with shooting the bare shaft to ultra fine tune.

So I get to the back yard and nock a few fletched shafts and shoot a few..... problem is I already cant tell.... which means I'm pretty close with full length shafts, which is not really what I want with a 26 inch draw. So I grab the bare shaft and start shooting it in relation to the fletched shaft. Same sort of deal and it helps to shoot your bow straight up and down when tuning because the cant will complicate the readings. For a full explanation of this watch clay hayes tuning 101 on youtube. So I grab the bareshaft and shoot some groups. Helps to have decent form when doing this. Because I use such a small fletch the arrows need to be tuned really well.

If the bareshaft lands consistently to the right of the fletched group with the nock facing left the arrow is slightly weak and you can shorten it slightly until all arrows land together. If it lands to the left of the group with a right facing nock we have a problem because the arrows are too stiff even at full length and then the only way to adjust is to play with point weight. Now disclaimer it's about 25 grains of weight to get you to next spine group so I'm not that far off. I like my bare arrow to be slightly nock high to allow the arrow to fly into an object and you can adjust this based on your mocking point.

So based on the photos you will see I can either buy new shafts to go with my existing point weight and have to start from scratch or buy new tips at 20 to 25 grains heavier which will also mean I need new broadheads..... decisions decisions.
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Graps
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Re: Humble arrows

#9 Post by Graps »

Just a little seguestion from Graps.
Your fletching will add weight to the back of the arrow changing the spine slightly.
I like to " Bare Shaft " by shaving the feathers off and leaving the glued on quills intact.
That keeps the fletch weight closer to a fletcher arrow.
"Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God as much." ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

stumper
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Re: Humble arrows

#10 Post by stumper »

Graps wrote: Sat Sep 28, 2019 2:58 pm Just a little seguestion from Graps.
Your fletching will add weight to the back of the arrow changing the spine slightly.
I like to " Bare Shaft " by shaving the feathers off and leaving the glued on quills intact.
That keeps the fletch weight closer to a fletcher arrow.
Great idea. I will do that. I'm probably going to go with heavier point weight also for these arrows. For the poundage of the bow they are on the light side at 480 grains. Wouldn't mind bumping thst up a tad.
Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.

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