I run 1/2 square blanks through my veritas dowel tool, leaving the shafts a little over 23/64th in diameter. Then I have three different blocks made up with a 5/16th, 11/32nd, and 23/64th hole. Made them out of hard maple. As I slide the block up the shaft, it gets very snug and even puts a small edge on the wood ahead of it. I back it off and sand a little and slide the block some more. Takes about 45 seconds to do an arrow and the block puts a real nice burnish on the shaft. This video is the very first arrow I did in the jig, I need to make some minor adjustments to the block at the drill chuck to shorten it way up.


 http://youtu.be/RSoqV1bMNWE

Cool video...I am going to rig me up a setup like that.  I have in the past cut them with veritas and then used a sort of squeeze block with sandpaper to sand my shafts.  This looks way more exact and like you said would sure add a real nice burnish to the shaft.

Well Roy my boy that is simple. What do you have hold the end opposite of the drill?

I liked the end.    :p

Here ya go Kelly. The wooden end block has a tapered hole and I tapered the end of the shaft with the taper tool for putting on points.

 

 

 

hey roy , to follow up on our last conversation. i did some shafts that were from squares i had ripped about a month ago, and were lying on my bench- they came out just perfect- as if they had been burnished- so i got excited and ripped up some more stock- from the same material, and they came out a little rough- i though that maybe i had got the blades a little blunt- so i ran some of the old stock thru- and voila!! perfect again
very confusing- i was convinced the m.c.'s were different- as one bunch had been sitting for quite a while, so i immediatly did  moisture test- they all seemed to be the same moisture- but my tester is not that accurate i think- it just has the lights that come on for the different moistures.
i will look into this some more and keep you posted
regards
wayne

Wayne, I would say the squares that you ripped out a month ago were a little dryer. Think I will rip some out and let lay around for a month and try them compared to ones I just rip out.

hey Roy,
i was absolutely convinced of that, until i did the moisture test.
maybe i will weigh some cut fresh, and weigh them a month later and make an accurate comparison- .
but it was a huge difference on the finished quality of the shafts.
the "drier" ones were absolutely ready to go- no sanding required- just perfect!!

i assume that you figured past the shafts breaking- what did you do?
wayne

I slowed down and got the tool adjusted perfect.