tapered arrows

[ramshead]

Does anybody make their own tapered or barreled arrow shafts? I can get tapered shafts from my supplier for 50p per shaft extra but I would like to have a go myself.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

[Miner Willy]

Originally Posted by ramshead

... I can get tapered shafts from my supplier for 50p per shaft extra but I would like to have a go myself.

Where on earth are you buying those from for any extra 50p per shaft!! Would you care to spill the beans??

As far as making them goes I don't really know, sorry.

[Macbow]

I make my own tapered shafts - 11/32 with the last 10 inches tapered to 5/16. I used to use the Rogue River Archery tapered shafts but even though I was getting them from the USA it was still working out pretty expensive. I bought the Woodchuck taper plane from the USA ($125 including shipping) and found it very easy to use for making tapered or barrelled shafts from standard parallel shafts. I set it up initially by putting one of my RRA shafts on the jig as a template. It takes about 10 minutes per shaft then a quick finish with sandpaper. I lose approx 2lbs of spine from a 10" taper. You just have to set the plane to make very thin shavings - too deep and it rips chunks out the the grain.
I saw another method on a US forum using two pieces of angle iron screwed into a board. Put a previously tapered shaft on the board between the pieces of 90 degree angled metal to use as a template then screw the metal plates into the board - basically you get a metal channel 11/32 at one end and 5/16 at the other. At the 5/16 end you put a stop so he shaft can only go so far. Using double sided carpet tape stick heavy duty sandpaper to the angle iron. Glue a field point on one end, stick it in a drill chuck and spin the shaft through the metal channel to get a pile of sawdust and a tapered shaft. Never tried it myself but apparently it works fine.
However, if you can get tapered shafts for a mere 50 pence more than the standard shaft I wouldn't bother making my own!

[Macbow]

As an update to the above posts Chris Boyton (my enthusiasm for these shafts has been well documented) is now doing tapered shafts for an extra £6 per dozen. IMO tapered shafts are well worth trying - they definitely fly better out of any of my bows. I'll be checking these ones out asap.

[Miner Willy]

Originally Posted by Macbow

As an update to the above posts Chris Boyton (my enthusiasm for these shafts has been well documented) is now doing tapered shafts for an extra £6 per dozen. IMO tapered shafts are well worth trying - they definitely fly better out of any of my bows. I'll be checking these ones out asap.

Care to provide us a linky? These seem like they will be the only tapered/barelled shaft I'll be able to afford, Can't afford ACE's for my recurve.

[provins]

Chris Boyton can be contacted on 020 8561 2053.

[Macbow]

Also try http://www.carolarchery.com/index.html or maybe http://www.goldflight-archery.co.uk

They are in short supply at the moment but I guess if there is enough demand production will increase.

[ramshead]

I saw the guy where I get my arrows from last night, he runs an arrow making business called Hi-Force Arrows,

http://www.hiforce-arrows.co.uk/index.asp

he doesn,t sell bare tapered shafts normally, he just did a few for me as a favour. Having said that if you buy made up arrows from him, he charges an extra £1 per shaft if you want them tapered.

Next time he his doing some tapering he is going to show me how he does it, so watch this space. But if Boyton Pine is going to be doing them a £6 per dozen extra, thats the same as 50p each isn,t it?

[gino]

I'd just like to say that I bought a custom set of arrows from High Force during the summer and they are absolutely fantastic. The quality is top notch and the service was just brilliant. :-)

[cloutman360]

I know the response to this suggestion before i post it,but here goes.Try tapering shafts by hand,with practice it don't take long and you really end up with designer arrows.