making my first longbow arrow

[DavidH]

I thought I'd share this with you

Having bought all the bits and pieces I put together my first longbow arrow shaft. Field point, black plastic nock and an 11/32 shaft. No cutting was needed on the shaft so it was all very simple. (Too soon to be a purist)

On Friday evening, in trepidation (especially as there was Portsmouth being shot) I shot the bareshaft at the target and it flew straight as..well an arrow

Total cost by the time I've put a dozen together will be about £25 and I get the fun of doing it, even more reason for changing to longbow...

By the way, if other new longbow archers want to do the same - buy the proper size taper tool, they are incredibly cheap and guarantee that the taper wont be off center

[ThePinkOne]

Originally Posted by DavidH

I thought I'd share this with you

Having bought all the bits and pieces I put together my first longbow arrow shaft. Field point, black plastic nock and an 11/32 shaft. No cutting was needed on the shaft so it was all very simple. (Too soon to be a purist)

On Friday evening, in trepidation (especially as there was Portsmouth being shot) I shot the bareshaft at the target and it flew straight as..well an arrow

Total cost by the time I've put a dozen together will be about £25 and I get the fun of doing it, even more reason for changing to longbow...

By the way, if other new longbow archers want to do the same - buy the proper size taper tool, they are incredibly cheap and guarantee that the taper wont be off center

Well done!

It's very satisfying making your own kit- and the skills are very useful whether making wooden longbow arrows or building a highly consistent set for a compound with modern materials.

Be warned though, this making thing is addictive. It'll be footed arrrows with spliced fletchings and horn inlay nocks before too long, just you wait!

[dino1300]

Did you varnish the shaft first?

If not then you are prone to water getting into the wood and dramatically changing the spine.

The easy way to varnish is with a lint-free cloth, or a scrap of old shirt, etc. It is best to use yacht varnish or something similar.

Put on some plastic gloves, get the cloth wet, but not dripping, and just simply wipe the shaft through the cloth. Then stand it up by one end. The green stuff they use for flower arranging is great for this.

You get a very thin coat, but it dries very quickly. You can do a set of 12 in about 5 mins. Then just put the cloth in a plastic bag and go and do something else for an hour. 3 or 4 coats should do it.

[Raedwald]

Or use Danish Oil!

[Miner Willy]

Originally Posted by Raedwald

Or use Danish Oil!

It gets my vote too. You need three coats and if you are really impatient (like me) you can get them all on in one full day. I've never had any issues gluing knocks, piles or fletching on.

Now all I need to find it a super strong glue that dries quickly that will stick piles on.

[steve58]

Originally Posted by Miner Willy

It gets my vote too. You need three coats and if you are really impatient (like me) you can get them all on in one full day. I've never had any issues gluing knocks, piles or fletching on.

Now all I need to find it a super strong glue that dries quickly that will stick piles on.

Hi Miner Willy, what do you do about putting numbers and initials on? Assuming that you need to (I think they are required for GNAS taget tounaments? Not everyone shoots these I guess) I use the little decals from Quicks and make sure they have at least one coat of varnish over them, am not sure this would work with Danish oil?

[Miner Willy]

Originally Posted by steve58

Hi Miner Willy, what do you do about putting numbers and initials on? Assuming that you need to (I think they are required for GNAS taget tounaments? Not everyone shoots these I guess) I use the little decals from Quicks and make sure they have at least one coat of varnish over them, am not sure this would work with Danish oil?

I use them too and have never had any problems with them coming off to date. (Been shooting them with Danish Oil on for about a year now.) I just rub them down really hard. You can however go over Danish oil with polyeurethane varnish without issue, anil varnish may work too. I'm not sure about water soluble however... I just try to make my arrows more distinctive. not so much with arrow wraps or cresting but by staining the wood and using Danish oil over the top.

I may have a go at some sunset orange arrows next with orange nocks and orange fletchings.

In the interest of pure geekery I might have to have a go at cresting properly. I'm feeling a bearing based DIY project coming on...

[smog]

Originally Posted by Miner Willy

In the interest of pure geekery I might have to have a go at cresting properly. I'm feeling a bearing based DIY project coming on...

Why re-invent the wheel. I make all my own (plus other people's) wooden arrows and spent hours and hours trying to come up with a jig to crest arrows. Out came my son's Lego and Mecano (is advertising allowed?), drawing paper etc. I tried to work out a system that would activate a set of "wheels" or similar.
I've ended up with a simple (suits my nature) design of 3 blocks of wood on a base (wood) spread evenly(ish) over a length of 30 inches. I've drilled through two of the blocks to fit the arrow diameter (11/32") and made a dimple in the third. On the first two I've cut down to the hole to form a U shape. Fix the blocks onto the base so the U's and dimple are in line.
The arrow shaft fits in the U shaped holes and is located by the dimple. The shaft can be turned with one hand and the cresting colours applied with a brush in the other. So as to be PC it can be used either left or right handed.

smog

[Miner Willy]

Originally Posted by smog

Why re-invent the wheel. I make all my own (plus other people's) wooden arrows and spent hours and hours trying to come up with a jig to crest arrows. Out came my son's Lego and Mecano (is advertising allowed?), drawing paper etc. I tried to work out a system that would activate a set of "wheels" or similar.
I've ended up with a simple (suits my nature) design of 3 blocks of wood on a base (wood) spread evenly(ish) over a length of 30 inches. I've drilled through two of the blocks to fit the arrow diameter (11/32") and made a dimple in the third. On the first two I've cut down to the hole to form a U shape. Fix the blocks onto the base so the U's and dimple are in line.
The arrow shaft fits in the U shaped holes and is located by the dimple. The shaft can be turned with one hand and the cresting colours applied with a brush in the other. So as to be PC it can be used either left or right handed.

smog

Nice one smog! Thoughif I wait my litle one to be old enough for lego it'll take about 4 years (He's only 5 months old). Any chance of a little picture?

[Dante]

Originally Posted by smog

Why re-invent the wheel. I make all my own (plus other people's) wooden arrows and spent hours and hours trying to come up with a jig to crest arrows. Out came my son's Lego and Mecano (is advertising allowed?), drawing paper etc. I tried to work out a system that would activate a set of "wheels" or similar.
I've ended up with a simple (suits my nature) design of 3 blocks of wood on a base (wood) spread evenly(ish) over a length of 30 inches. I've drilled through two of the blocks to fit the arrow diameter (11/32") and made a dimple in the third. On the first two I've cut down to the hole to form a U shape. Fix the blocks onto the base so the U's and dimple are in line.
The arrow shaft fits in the U shaped holes and is located by the dimple. The shaft can be turned with one hand and the cresting colours applied with a brush in the other. So as to be PC it can be used either left or right handed.

smog

Currently in the process of building something similar, although being lazy I am attaching a small, battery powered, motor (from Maplin) and a piece of rubber to attach to the arrow, at least then I hope for a consistent speed