Hello all, I am trying to make an arrow plane jig but am having no luck, I am trying to make one that can make 3/8 and 11/32 diameter shafts, could someone help me figure out the dimensions of the groove i would have to use is, also to use this jig is it necessary to use a flat or curved blade?
Well, there are videos out, including a really nice one by Gary and Connie Renfro, about arrow making. All sorts of neat tricks and jigs are described.
What you are essentially doing is cutting square stock (3/8" or so) about 36" in length and then rounding off the corners. First the four, then the eight. You can use a small sharp flat bladed plane for that.
Then take the shaft and insert it into a drill and turn it while running a folded sheet of sand paper up and down the shaft. Drill several holes thru 1/2" or 3/4" plywood to act as sizers. Sand until the shaft just fits thru the hole you want.
There are also several doweling jigs available.
See the video, it is worth it. Available thru our sponsors.
ChuckC
Building arrow shafts by: master Rumil Fletcher. Type that in and it should take you to a site called Marshall ansteorra.org. He shows diagrams of the jig. It's a good read also.
I wish there was a magic formula for making weight forward barrel tapered cedars, from a long 5/16" to a 23/64" max then a rather quick 5" reduction to 11/32" at my arrow length and spine. Out of a dozen, I hit four useable shafts, but I missed on the spine and had to lend them to a lighter bow. Those four really flew nice.
I seem to remember an article in Traditional Bowhunter, I think, from years ago where author described how he reduced shaft diameters. He drilled successively smaller holes in 1/4" steel plate-i.e., 3/8, 23/64, 11/32-using a drill to run the shaft through each hole, shaving off 1/64" at a time until he was close to his target diameter, finishing with sandpaper.
I think if you wanna plane shaft into fancy tapers it'd be esiest and in the end fastest, to make a jig to make parallel shafts, then make another jig which lets you plane the taper.