arrows

[pascooter94]

would like to learn how to make them from start to finish anyone around the new ulm, mankato,st peter area do this?

thanks.

[Deitz Dittrich]

When you are talking "Making Arrows".. are you talking cedar arrows out of wood?.. Or are you talking buying bare shafts, cutting to length and fletching?

[pascooter94]

yes deitz,getting bare shafts and going from there.

[DonBo]

Any good archery shop in your area will be able to get you started.

There are many types of fletching jigs available. They all do the same thing, glue feathers or vanes on your shafts at all the same angle.

Different arrow materials need different tools to cut them. Wood, a fine tooth saw will work, followed by a tool that tapers the ends to accomodate tips and knocks. Aluminum, a tube cutter. Carbon needs an electric chop saw of some type.

There are also dippers and cresting jigs if you really want to customize the look of your arrows.

Again, any good pro shop should be able to hook you up with all this stuff and be able to explain how to use it. They will also be able to get you the correct shafts in the first place to make sure they will fly good for your set up after you're done.

Good luck.

[pascooter94]

thanks.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yep, what DonBo said.. Cutting arrows is probably the hardest part.. I usually have the shop do that, but always fletch my own. I have a bitzenburger, but there are others out there that are good too.. The Bits is nice as you can do just about anything you want, a ton of twist or little to none..

[DonBo]

Here's a good example of how carried away you could get. Beautiful, but sure hurts to loose/break one.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Nice looking crest Donbo!

[brassman]

I give a vote for Bitzenburger fletching jigs, but thats my experience. As for cutting them, I just have the place I buy them cut them. other than that, its really easy to do things yourself. An awesome way to crest your own arrow is to tape it off however far down you want it to go, clean the shaft with alcohol and use quality spray paint for the base and let it dry and do other stuff after it has dried so you mask it off again. This doesn't throw the balance off for the arrow since after it dries it only adds about a grain total. I have seen some really top quality crests done with just Krylon rattle cans. if you don't like it, just use another rag with alcohol on it and rub it off.

[charliepete2]

I've got a high speed saw. Nice and cheap from the bargain cave at a certain sporting goods store. Add another vote for the bitz. I love mine. One thing you can't pay enough attention to is getting a nice flush seat for the inserts. That is where good broadhead flight is made.

[Bucksnort101]

I build my own arrow saw with a cheap "Chop saw" I picked up from Harbor Freight Tools. Attached it to a board with a yeards stick glued to it, and then rigged up something to set the length of the arrow. Got a picture of the rig somewhere, I'll try to post it later.

Replaced the mini saw blade that came with the chop saw with a cutting wheel. Works slick as snot on wood and carbon shafts.

Bitzenburger is also what I use to attach my feathers. Just need to take a few minutes to adjust it to have your feathers/vanes seat properly.

Process is really pretty simple. I think Byron Ferguson sells a DVD on making arrows, you make want to check with him if you head to the Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo, he usually has a booth set up.

[KLoopBinaction]

You guys that get your arrows cut at place of purchase...are you meaning wood????

If so, I'm not experienced in that, but if carbon or al... I hope you use a A>S>D when you get home, if so then forget I mentioned it, But if NOT, you best buy one. you'd be amazed at how off they are, pressure used in cutting (downforce) and just mfg out of box. I use a G5 ASD, but there might be a lot of diff brands I like mine as you flip the blade and do al and do carbon on other,... something to look into if stores always cutting them. Like aforementioned WOOD hmmmm not going there!

[Archerysniper]

As Kloop said you should use a arrow squaring device their not to hard on the pocket but make it up in accuracy the G5 is the way to go for me also since I shoot fullmetal jakets wich is aluminum outside carbon inside. On aluminums just look at where the insert and shaft meet I bet you have a few in your quiver that were cut crooked wich causes bad insert alignment but dont over look the nock end it will cause the same problem