Hey guys I want to start making my own split timber shafts and was wondering if someone could list some woods that are good for this, hard and soft woods please. Thanx
Poplar, aspen, pine, spruce, fir, hickory, maple, osage, locust, oak and the list goes on.
Hey Chris, 'bout any wood available to you will make fine arrows. One species wouldn't make a better shooting arrow over another one. Good straight grain, and proper seasoning time is the secret to making arrows. Remember, the more perfect the material, the more perfect the arrow. Good luck.......Art
I have often thought about this myself. I saw a Youtube video one time of a guy making his own wood shafts using 1/2" x 1/2" slats that he cut from boards, then ran them through a jig he made for his router table while spinning the slat with a cordless drill. The outcome was a perfectly straight and round shaft. I wish I knew how to do that, I might see if I can find the video again?
I found it!!
Check this out, man this is so cool. Somebody needs to duplicate this and send us all the plans on how to build one of these jigs!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lF2YXLdoiY
that is awesome. he should patent it.
don
Thats an awesome setup. Another question- If I went out and cut down a straight piece of pine or white ash or something how would I season it?
Plans are in one of the older Primitive Archer magazines. Mike Westvang of Dryad bows wrote the article. Maybe 40 or 5 years ago.
I researched this for years, literally. I found the best species to be yellow poplar ("tulip tree"). It has the best strength/weight ratio. It also has the straightest grain of the eastern hardwoods. You can buy "poplar saps" from a hardwood mill, cut them into 1/2" squares, and mill them by whatever method is available. I used a doweler. Unlike bow woods, the sapwood is better for shafts. Most sawmill lumber is cut without regard for the grain direction, and yellow poplar has the most naturally straight grain of any commercially available woods.
I've got some poplar in the rafters of my garage, don't know what variety but it's poplar. I'll have to ask my father he's a woodworker. I'm also going to get him to help me make one of those jigs to go on our router table.
Don- What is a dowler? It that an attachment for the router?
search veritas doweler- depending on style its like a pencil sharpener. I just got the $22 veritas and have been monkeying around with fir shafts so far-its pretty easy - just gotta get the grain rite
Lowe's sells poplar boards right next to the red oak boards. You can buy it 1/2" thick so all you have to do is cut 1/2" wide strips and plane it out or use a dowel maker.
Thats probly what I will do, Thanx guys.
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/dowelmakingjig.aspx try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwDjedeJCZ0 or this.. I will note that using this method I found alot of wasted shafts. the wood(doug fir) tended to stick and thus delaminate along the grain. out of 6 trys only 2 worked. the above jig I have yet to make but I just got a new router. I use doug fir because it is soooo easy to see the grain. Eric
QuoteOriginally posted by Pat B:
Lowe's sells poplar boards right next to the red oak boards. You can buy it 1/2" thick so all you have to do is cut 1/2" wide strips and plane it out or use a dowel maker.
That's exactly where ours came from, maybe it's the right stuff?
I made a dowel cutter similiar to the one on the highlandwoodworking link. For the outfeed guide I used a 3/8" aluminum tube so the arrow is supported it's entire length and I use a radius cutter. It's a good set up but you have to fit the blanks snug to the infeed block for the best finish.
I tried poplar once but when I cut my 3/8 in blanks out they sprung in every direction. It was crazy the tensions that were locked up in that board!! Probably was just a peculiarity of that piece of wood.
I have had very good results sawing 3/8" blanks from doug fir lumber and then planing in a "V" board jig.
I just got the high dollar dowel maker from Veritas and the arrow making set of inserts. It works pretty good. I've been finishing up the first 3 dz hard maple shafts I turned out. I got some hickory shafts waiting in the wings. I also got a 8 ft 6x6 popular seasoning out. Lots of arrows in that popular post. I like the doweling machine real good. Sure faster than hand planing and almost as fun.
I was thinking about putting a 1/2 by 1/2 inch blank in the drill and just spinning it on a benchtop 4by36 belt sander? How do you think that would work?
Chris that would be tough to accomplish I think.
It would be easier just using a little plane.
I did the set up last month from the utube and I finally got it working pretty good. But the cost of finding good boards turned out to be too expensive.
If I decide to do thjs again it will be with the varitas tool.
I really like the bamboo and cane shafts better right now.
Ron
QuoteOriginally posted by briarjumper12:
I just got the high dollar dowel maker from Veritas and the arrow making set of inserts. It works pretty good. I've been finishing up the first 3 dz hard maple shafts I turned out. I got some hickory shafts waiting in the wings. I also got a 8 ft 6x6 popular seasoning out. Lots of arrows in that popular post. I like the doweling machine real good. Sure faster than hand planing and almost as fun.
Briarjumper, What are the arrow maker inserts?? Have been contemplating one of these types of tools as well. I end up making arrows for a lot of family and that's a lot of planing or shaft purchasing.
Do you start with the 1/2" blanks? I see you are making hard maple shafts. You may not know the answer to this but here goes; If a guy footed D fir blanks with a hardwodd before running through, do you think it would create a problem in the operation?
SEMO, yellow poplar is not a true poplar. True poplars (cottonwood, aspen) are not so good. Yellow poplar is in the Magnolia family, and has different properties.
A doweler is a machine that makes dowels. There are several available, and they feature a cutting head with a hole through the center where the square is fed. The blades point inward and round off the corners as the square feeds through.
I would agree with Don about the poplar being an excellent choice for arrows. Runs from light to medium and tougher than you would expect.
I've made a few of the aspen, and there are some of the finest shooting arrow I ever seen. Not for the beginner, and perhaps not well suited for dowelling. But by hand planing, where one has better control and feel for quality, excellent shafts can be had.........Art
Is yellow poplar just a nickname for some othe rkind of tree then? What is the actuall name for this tree because there is no "Yellow poplar" In my tree identification book.
All kinds of info abound by doing a google search Chris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liriodendron
I got me a great piece of yellow poplar from a guy in British Columbia. Very nice looking wood. Or was it yellow cedar? Geeze:)
Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron tulipafera) also known as tuliptree.
Probably yellow cedar or yellow birch Roy.
I have one of Art's aspin arrows(with black walnut four point footing and BW 4 point footed self nock. One of my prized possessions!
Chris, if your book doesn't call it yellow poplar, you need a better book. That's the "official" common name for Liriodendron tulipifera, AKA tulip poplar.
Yellow cedar comes from British Columbia and other Canadian provinces. Most of it has been bought as standing timber by the Orientals, who prize it. Yellow poplar is a species native to the eastern US, and is very common.
Yellow birch is also an eastern species. It has coarser grain, and is heavier for the spine you get from it.