I have not shot wood arrows for a long time but have been recently intrigued by some fir shafts I got from Surewood shafts.
I have been farting around with my belt sander and a home made jig and finally figured I had better buy a tool. Does anyone have experience with fir and the Bear Paw taper tool chucked in a drill?
I'll be out of town for a few days but can most likely read responses....Thanks in advance....Rob
The bear paw tool works on fir. at least the older chrome version does. Some of the newer tools have a tendency to tear the wood.The angles of the blades are too aggressive or something...
Im curious....why would you opt for the taper tool over the belt sander? Not sure what your jig looks like and how you have it orientated to the sander, but sanding ANY taper is by far the way to go! I have a taper tool....it began collecting dust once I got serious about making wood arrows....and I use Surewoods (fir)! A taper tool (at least mine, and its a good one) leaves a nasty, choppy taper...its the grain of fir. Sanding is the best option for uniformity. Dont give up on your sander and jig!
I use my disk sander. Works great. I would stick with the sander rather than use a taper tool. You should be able to get better tapers.
With Douglas Fir or Sitka Spruce my experience has been that the sander and a stable jig definitely works better. If you can find good Cedar, one of the inexpensive "use and dispose of" taper tools from 3Rivers works like a charm.