I've had a bunch of fun and built a couple of bows now. The real fun part is taking them out and shooting them...

Question is this what all you selfbow shooters hand look like after a couple hundred arrows or am I doing something wrong? My arrows are going where I point but tearing me up pretty good....


 

Wrap the front of your arrows with sinew. once drove a shard of wood through the skin of my hand. didnt now my arrow had small splinter in it. you can wear a leater glove on your bow hand as well. another option is to incorporate a floppy rest on your bow.

Haven't had shards go thru my hand but I have had to pluck a couple of feather from it... I'll try the floppy rest thing and see what happens?

Thank you

Contact Ted Fry, at Raptor he can tell you how to add a rest to the side, ("L" shaped plastic, wood or leather built out). Early shooters used a leather glove. It is still important to trim the front of the feather flush with the shaft, using a sharp knife or sand paper (Dremel Tools work great), then put a little glue over it and smooth it out and sand it smooth.

Yep, happened to me shooting a self-bow off the knuckle.  I turn the cock-feather in or use a glove on the bow-hand.

If you wrap the leading edge of the feather you won't have that happen.
I prefer silk or nylon thread but real sinew or artificial sinew will work, too.

 

Guy

Heat-shrink works too, so long as you're really careful with the heat source and don't burn your feathers. May be a bit high-tech for shooting from a self-bow though.

WOW nice arrows Guy  
Wrapping is the way to go even if you use a rest because selfbows can put a lot of strain on the feather and glue and if you have ever had a feather come off shooting at game, well I now wrap all my hunting arrows

Yep, a simple forward fletch wrap as was suggested is all that's needed.........Art

Kip, I will take a small,fine file or emeryboard and sand the leading edge of my fletches. Then I will seal with superglue or duco,once the glue dries I will check them again and sand as needed.
I do this to all of my arrows and then it will not matter what bow I shoot them from.
Have fun.

Chuck

Put a leather rest on it like this.

 

A friend of mine showed me years ago how to eliminate this problem.  Take a dowel or round piece of metal like a screwdriver shank or another arrow shaft, place it at the front end of the fletching at a 90* angle, press down with your thumb and roll the piece back and forth hard on the leading edge of the feather.  It will squash the quill down flat to the shaft.  Put a drop of fletching glue over it afterwards.  No more hand cuts.

Even with smooth feather ends, you will get this cut just from the feathers if you shoot a lot of-the-knuckle. Use a glove or make a rest like in Roy's picture. Its not a "self bow" thing, you get the same cut from glass bows if the shelf is very close to the hand and you shoot large fletching.

Fix it right away as you will be real sorry if you shoot an arrow with a loose feather...

Cut the front of the feathers down and then use a glass bottle to rub that edge till its a perfectly smooth transition.

I began using a floppy rest to help prevent this from happening. I've added a wrap to the forward end of my fletching for years but as I got older the skin on my hand has gotten thinner so I started using a floppy rest with excellent results...and it still feels like shooting off your hand.

I'm going to try the rest and the wraps...

I went to the dollar store and bought a couple of wrist wraps and cut a whole for my thumb. It works pretty good but after about 50 shots I can start to see the wear, but there are two in a box for a dollar so the experiment didn't cost much,,,



I also made one cane arrow and wrapped the front of the goose feather fletch with artificial sinew. It flys great and I didnt feel the fletch much. I only did one for the test I'll build more now that I know they work. This one is a flu flu because I wasn't sure of the spine but I think it's going to fly great with a regular fletch from my Kentucky Coffee Tree  




Thanks guys

Try shooting cock feather in.  This worked for me on one of my Hill style longbows with a vary narrow shelf.

ive been a framing carpenter for more than 20 yrs. never had to use a floppy rest or a special glove on my bow hand.  the skin on both of my hands is as tough as alligator hide. sorry you got busted up a little abrasion wounds do suck. im in agreement with the 2 solutions provided. or cut in a rest on your bow. or you could start framing and not wear gloves to toughen up your hands. not washing any dishes helps too. rv

Be sure to get the transition of the fletch wrap as smooth as possible. Once I get a wrap put down I seal it with super glue. When that cures I sand it smooth with fine sandpaper making sure it is smooth all around with no abrupt areas them a lay another thin coat of super glue over that to seal it and give it a smooth finish. The super glue in the bottle with a brush works well for this application.

rv, I don't think any of the contractors in my area would be to interested in a 60 year old apprentice and it would probably kill this old desk jockey as far as the dishes go well LOL    

Pat I'll take more care on the rest of the arrows and try to make a floppy rest on one of the bows. I kind of got is a hurry on the first arrow and it's not as smooth as it could be. Well got lots of new stuff to do Wednesday and Thursday (my days off) ....