Hunting Arrows for 2010

[SteveMcD]

These are made from Surewood Footed Shafts. They are Doug Fir and Bubibinga. Crown Stain with MinWax Black Walnut, Gold Bands and Black Border are Sharpie Paint pen. Four coats of Minwax Clear Gloss Poly. 6 Arrows have 130 gr, STOS 2 Blades, 3 have 125 gr Ace Hex Heads, and 3 have field points. I really like the way these came out, I hope to be hunting with them for a long time.

[fasteddie]

My oldest son makes his own arrows (footed shafts) with various hardwoods . Here are a few pics . Some of the self nocks have a piece if antler in them .......................

[SteveMcD]

Nice! Those turkey feathers are awesome too!

[Doc]

I honestly did not know that arrows were being made out of laminated woods. Those things are really cool! It actually is an art-form. Things have come a long ways since my days of simple old Port Orford cedar shafting.....lol.

Doesn't that mixture of woods and the odd ways that they are integrated into the shafting affect the spine?

Doc

[SteveMcD]

Doc.. actually Footed Shafts have been around a very long time. Even way back before the Compound arrived on the scene. They are not laminated. The main shaft is taperd and then the hardwood billet is glued and clamped to the shaft. Than a Lathe is used to shave the billets down to the exact diameter of the shaft. 

Aside from beauty, one of the functional advantages of the footed shaft is the front of center beneifit it provides to the arrow.

http://www.hagersonforge.com/footed.htm

However, yes there are Laminated Shafts available too. Laminated Birch, very heavy, tough as Hickory. There also Hex Pine which are actually multiple pieces of Lodgepole Pine ("Chundoo") laminated together also very tough. These are shafts that are typically used for traditional bows with 60# or greater pulll, because of their weight they tend to drop quicker with bow poudage any less than 60# 

[fasteddie]

There is a lot of work to making a footed shaft , especially when you don have a lathe .

[SteveMcD]

It is a lot of work. But making one's own arrows is a passion at most and a hobby at best. I don't think it is ever viewed as work.

[Doc]

Yes, I have heard of "footed" shafts before, but the examples that I have ever seen were purely a shaping of only one kind of wood to get the FOC effect. However, we never messed with them because of expense (regular arrows were expensive enough .... lol), and the fact that we frequently lost or broke arrows. So regular old straight cedar arrows were good enough. However, these multi-wood varieties are quite attractive plus I can see where the different densities (weights) of the different woods could be used to enhance the FOC effect. I just thought they were pretty eye-catching, and would make a great addition to an archer's collection of equipment. The only thing is that I would be reluctant to shoot them for fear of scratching them. Frankly, I would have them hanging on display in a den or something..... lol.

Doc

[SteveMcD]

You're right about that, Doc. The raw footed shafts alone cost more the a dozen completed custom arrows. But what the heck!