Been busy in the shop
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
Sgt Fury
Sgt. Spellchecker
totally committed to new bow now. got her tuned up as good as I am able. I had to buy more lower spined shafts. These Surewood Douglas Fir shafts are superb quality. Ishi once said to Dr. Saxton Pope that "...any old stick will make a bow, but it takes a really good stick to make arrow." the best bow in the world won't shoot a crooked ass arrow straight, but the worst bow in the world can be deadly with the right arrow. I only buy "premium" wood shafts no matter what specie of wood it is. I usually buy parallel shafts and taper myself, but his time around when I ordered I decided that for only $9 more per dozen I would buy tapered shafts (9" nock taper). for less than $1 per shaft, it isn't worth my time to do it by hand. their equipment does a more consistent job than I can do, anyway. after I hand spined them all with my pwn spine meter I hand picked a half dozen shafts for hunting, made them all exactly the same spine by lightly sanding a pound or two off of a couple of them that needed it. the grain is pretty cool looking on Fir when stained. went with Minwax Dark Walnut for these.
let this oil stain dry over night. get on with sealing them tomorrow.
let this oil stain dry over night. get on with sealing them tomorrow.
- 25,126
- 261
Good looking shafts, Jamie. Don’t confuse that statement with me liking your shaft. Looking forward to seeing one broke in two.
I'm assuming by rift you mean grain run-out? that isn't really grain run out that you see. well, I suppose it could be depending on how you define it. if it were, these would never last, and I'm here to tell you these are tougher and heavier than the best Port Orford cedar ever grown. some of these have 8 or more growth rings running the entire length of the shaft, some only have 4 or 5. the grain isn't always super tight on these like quality Cedar. has no affect on durability or recovery that I've ever noticed. I've had some lesser quality Fir shafts, and they were on the light side and some had a little run out. one of the best things about Douglas Fir is that is available in a huge variety of grain and spine weight in very high quality, i.e. straight grain with no run out. You get what you pay for with wood arrows, usually. good wood arrows are not "cheap" anymore. $42/dozen for premium 11/32" parallel shafts, $51 for tapered. never thought I'd live to see the day I paid 4 friggin dollars for a wood arrow shaft. I can remember buying Acme Premiums for $50/hundred. How much did they cost when you were a teenager, Geezer, a dime?
I'm assuming by rift you mean grain run-out? that isn't really grain run out that you see. well, I suppose it could be depending on how you define it. if it were, these would never last, and I'm here to tell you these are tougher and heavier than the best Port Orford cedar ever grown. some of these have 8 or more growth rings running the entire length of the shaft, some only have 4 or 5. the grain isn't always super tight on these like quality Cedar. has no affect on durability or recovery that I've ever noticed. I've had some lesser quality Fir shafts, and they were on the light side and some had a little run out. one of the best things about Douglas Fir is that is available in a huge variety of grain and spine weight in very high quality, i.e. straight grain with no run out. You get what you pay for with wood arrows, usually. good wood arrows are not "cheap" anymore. $42/dozen for premium 11/32" parallel shafts, $51 for tapered. never thought I'd live to see the day I paid 4 friggin dollars for a wood arrow shaft. I can remember buying Acme Premiums for $50/hundred. How much did they cost when you were a teenager, Geezer, a dime?
Sounds good - when i was a kid their was a bowyer about 15 miles from the house Stu Hamilton his legs were crippled from poilo but his upper body was Atlas like - anyway we would walk down there and buy one or two shafts from him - can't remembered what we paid - my mom bought me one of his longbows for like $18 - it was pretty light in draw weight - but we had fun with it - he let us hang around and had a targer setup in his shop - well rift - my little bro was fly n a kite out in the hay field and me and a buddy were try n to shoot it with our bows - well my buds arrow separated and he run a pencil size piece of it up his finger - shoot n off our grip hands - well i got him in the house and he fainted and his bloody hand was on his chest - i ran and got my mom and said - Bobby got shot ith a arrow - well when she saw him he had blood all over his t shirt - mom was a er nurse and fixed him up - dang
Oh yeah mom thought Bobby was shot in the chest cuz of the blood - gave her a start - but she was cool
Fletch them as they are. I don't ever spend any time dolling up my arrows any more. better things to do with my time, like practice more. I invest time in my arrows making them all as identical as I can in spine. this is unnecessary with aluminum or carbon arrows. and the less center shot your bow is, the more important this becomes. My Assenheimer recurve will shoot 80# to 95# spine arrows the same. wooden bows that are no where near center shot will tolerate about a 5# range or less. I keep all of my arrows for any given bow within about 2# of each other.
I invest time in my arrows making them all as identical as I can in spine. this is unnecessary with aluminum or carbon arrows. and the less center shot your bow is, the more important this becomes. My Assenheimer recurve will shoot 80# to 95# spine arrows the same. wooden bows that are no where near center shot will tolerate about a 5# range or less. I keep all of my arrows for any given bow within about 2# of each other.Fletch them as they are. I don't ever spend any time dolling up my arrows any more. better things to do with my time, like practice more.
Jamie what do you use for fletching cement - made these for a good friend - your right - too much work - looks don't make them fly right
Last edited:
now those are pretty. nobody cares if they fly good when they look that nice. are you doing some airbrushing on those before cresting? I use Duco cement. I'm sealing shafts with gasket lacquer most of the time now, but use spar urethane on hardwoods. or any arrows if I'm going hunting someplace where I'm gonna get wet everyday. Duco sticks to both just fine.
nobody cares if they fly good when they look that nice. are you doing some airbrushing on those before cresting? I use Duco cement. I'm sealing shafts with gasket lacquer most of the time now, but use spar urethane on hardwoods. or any arrows if I'm going hunting someplace where I'm gonna get wet everyday. Duco sticks to both just fine.now those are pretty.
Yes air brushed the green - not building anymore or shooting
getting down to the final touches to get ready to hunt. still working out what broadheads I'm going to use, but it's down to two blade Zwickey Deltas or Woodsmans. my four blade Deltas just don't fly as consistently. they are good enough, but it bothers me a little that there is a difference I can see once or twice in 6 shots. these are the exact same head as the two blade except the ferule on the four blade is cut and bent out into a bleeder blade. the Woodsmans seem to fly the best overall. penetration is the name of the game, and two blade heads will out penetrate everything else every time, all else being equal. Math and experience tells me my setup will push a razor sharp three blade head through a deer without any problem, but even with 50 energetic lbs pushing 560 grain arrows like darts, I'm reluctant to use the three blade heads. I've killed a whole lot more big game with two blade heads than three.
resting between painting jobs today, so I did a couple things to get the bow dressed to kill. sewed on a leather tip protector and put the quiver on this bow for the first time. cannot bring myself to slide some plastic piece of crap onto the horn nock of wooden bow for protection against bracing it against my foot and metal treestand platforms, so I do this instead once the I have the string shot in and adjusted to the best brace height.
resting between painting jobs today, so I did a couple things to get the bow dressed to kill. sewed on a leather tip protector and put the quiver on this bow for the first time. cannot bring myself to slide some plastic piece of crap onto the horn nock of wooden bow for protection against bracing it against my foot and metal treestand platforms, so I do this instead once the I have the string shot in and adjusted to the best brace height.
tracker 6
Junior Member
- 25,126
- 261
Looks great Jamie. It’s the fine points that all add up and that little piece of leather is just classy.