I need advice from some of the more experienced traditional archers out there. For 20 years I shot recurves as a young man and then went to compounds for 12 years. I am now coming full circle back to recurves - less contraptions, less complexity, more like hunting the way I remember it, etc. As a boy with recurves I never had arrows that were tuned - I just shot what I had and I didn't have much. As an adult I always had shops build arrows for me. As I get back into traditional archery I am finding there are no shops near me who know anything about traditional archery, etc. I have decided that I am going to shoot Carbon Express Heritage Shafts. Initailly I was just going to have 3 Rivers Build them. I am now considering building them myself. That way I can tweek them at home, fix the ones that need fletching, etc. It also allows me to tune them myself and learn in the process. I already have 3 Bitzenburger Fletching jigs all mounted an ready to go from past times. I will purchase a Weston Cutoff Saw, etc. as well as arrow bare shafting, etc. Before I do this as there is some decent cost involved, but I will be set up for life, I thought I should run this past the experienced people here who have followed a similar path to see if this is the right way to go based on your experience or should I just have a shop build my arrows? Not sure. I keep going back and forth with this. I am a dedicated shooter who shoots 28 arrows a day (no more and no less! :) ) everyday 365 days per year. I also shoot in 2 3D leagues. I live in Wisconsin and am a dedicated whitetail hunter and will hunt whitetails in Missouri in 3 weeks as well. I am also booked to hunt mountain goats in BC in 2017. I guess you could say archery is my thing. Sorry for the long post but do you guys build your own and do you recommend it or is it just another hassle?
I began a few decades ago, building my own arrows and have never looked back. Aside from the beauty of some of the other guys work (my arrows tend to be pretty plain-Jane), they are never up to my standards....so I like building my own. I like burning my feathers to my preferences, and playing around with "choices" in materials, etc. And it's led me to the point that I pretty much make everything for hunting myself - or I can anyway. So much more enjoyment in the journey we are on, if you can contribute more of yourself in it through your hard work and art.
You'll make that cost up pretty quick. Learning to build your own is where it's at. It makes things like tuning much easier and it saves you a fair chunk of change. Example the shop by me has almost nothing for trad shooters. They charge 7 bucks a shaft for the carbons I use + a dollar a fletch. I can buy mine for 5 bucks or less a shaft, fletch for 25 cents, trim to length at home (saves you gas money) and use any inserts or glue I want. For really self sufficieny you can start building your own strings and serving them. Also it gets really cheap if you swap over to aluminum or wood.
Jake
I don't know of any reason not to build your own carbon or aluminum arrows. I don't know of anyone who started building them and later changed his mind. Many people build their own wood arrows too, particularly ones used for everyday practice that tend to get lost or broken. Unless you plan to make a whole new hobby out of it, you won't be able to build as beautiful wood arrows as some of our sponsors make. Sometimes I make them, sometimes I buy them. But I make all my own carbon and aluminum arrows.
Just decide if you want right or left wing, and be sure to buy everything to match: feathers, jigs, single bevel broadheads, etc.
You would get a lot of enjoyment from building your own. I build arrows for my buddies too.....it nice watch your arrows take critters even when they aren't your own. Nothing like a cold or nasty night turning out a new set of sticks for the quiver.
Fellas - I just ordered my equipment and materials. I may have a few questions about the actual build process as I get into it but I really appreciate the great feedback and guidance. I started stump shooting a few months ago and it has been hard on arrows. Thanks again! Dave
:thumbsup:
QuoteOriginally posted by BayfieldHunter:
Fellas - I just ordered my equipment and materials. I may have a few questions about the actual build process as I get into it but I really appreciate the great feedback and guidance. I started stump shooting a few months ago and it has been hard on arrows. Thanks again! Dave
Build em'!
Everyone here is super helpful you will get all the advice you need and then some!
Definitely build you own so you can repair and refletch them as needed. You can build them as plain jane as you want or make them works of art. The game doesn't care.
The saw is a luxury I've done without but you'll need a decent crester and brushes to do some fancier work.
DYI is way I have been doing it for 40+ years. Started when I needed arrows for four people, two kids, that shot more trees than targets. It is only way Iwould do carbons with trad bows. Like others have said, need to bareshaft them for best preformance.
You are doing exactly what I did, Weston saw and all! Make sure you buy a Bitzenberger for your jig!
An arrow saw is the best investment I've made after a fletching jig. I can tune very easily using arrow length, running back and forth to the shop or trying to tune on a line with 10 other shooters.
I had shops do it for years, I got a arrow vice and don't know why I did all those years! It's so easy and has already payed for itself
Like everyone says, do it yourself! It's easy and saves so much hassle. And opens the door to so much experimentation with tuning. Now you'll just have to decide whether you want right or left wing fletching!!
QuoteOriginally posted by bunyan:
Like everyone says, do it yourself! It's easy and saves so much hassle. And opens the door to so much experimentation with tuning. Now you'll just have to decide whether you want right or left wing fletching!!
I have both! When you get wild turkey feathers, you want to use both sides!
Theres also some good arrow building tutorials on here as well as some master crafters that can help along the way. Looks like you're all set!
if you have a dremel you can EASILY build a cut off saw that works like a champ! ANd parts are easy to find as well!!!
Or I believe harbor freight has a small chop saw you can build into a arrow cut off saw as well. I happened to be a dremel junkie.
Old goat, two jigs is a great idea! Everyone I shoot with shoots left wing so I chose right wing fletch. That way I can use the right wing barred feathers and swap the lefts or give them away as gifts to deserving friends!
With a little experience, you will be making very serviceable arrows, and you may find arrow making will become a very intense hobby. I still don't make a lot of arrows but have just made up a set of river cane arrows with stone points. I don't know yet how they will perform, but at least they look like arrows I have seen from some skilled primitive archers. It is fun.
I really love building wood arrows, it's not a hassle at all for me. I like trying out feathers from different birds on my arrows too.
I think that whatever the start-up costs, you will A) make that up over time and B) you are financing a love affair that will last forever. Priceless.
U MIGHT make it up over time, but not likely. To be honest its not likely u ever will or ever will even come close!
Good brushes are not cheap.
Good crestors are hard to come by these days.
Feathers have skyrocketed over the last 25 years.
Shafts are rediculously over priced for what youre getting.
Not to mention buying 100 rc poc shafts will be greatly picked over, maybe 2dz matching spine and weight which means ordering more.......i have a life time stash i need to get rid of!
Be prepared to long hours behind spine testors, grain scales, tapering jigs (nock, point, and shaft tapering jigs. setup, storage, tweaking and tweaking some more)! Or buying extra jigs for each diameter shaft (smart!!!)
Next comes the ever and rapidly changing paint industry! Its a love hate affair! Youll hate it more than love it lol!
Finding a good quality no burn sealer is also a pain. They exist (epoxy) but are not cheap and extremely time consuming. Most burn, some burn extremely bad! Different target mediums will show different levels of burn! To say yours doesnt, id bet 95% do to some degree and have proved to a great degree many can and do over the years! Many are acceptable, some are the cause for bent shafts due to the wrenching it takes to free them
You build wood arrows for one reason, you love doing it period!!! Anything else is just kidding yourself, or your buddy!
Words of advice from a lifetime of building, selling, and giving shafts away over 25 years!
I like fletching my own because you know all of your arrows are consistent. If you go to a shop to have some arrows refletched they may or may not exactly match your other arrows.
If you have the time and enjoy that sort of thing build your own.You'll save a little money and get a lot out of the experience. :archer2:
Every once in a while ill make up a doz.However the easiest way to go is aluminum super strait easy to tune.In ca only wood is allowed in 3d shoots.
QuoteOriginally posted by OregonTom:
I really love building wood arrows, it's not a hassle at all for me. I like trying out feathers from different birds on my arrows too.
anyone have luck with crow feathers?
Just started doing mine own. About 100 to 120 bucks up front to get everything I wanted and thought I needed to fletch 16 cedar arrows(including the 16 shafts and feathers and all). After this the per dozen cost is going to be very low about 27$ a dozen per my math if I keep buying the prefinished very cheap shafts from the footed shaft which are awesome.
Saxton Pope said something to the effect "Everyone needs to make their own archery equipment because it will be in constant need of repair".
QuoteOriginally posted by Crested Finger:
QuoteOriginally posted by OregonTom:
I really love building wood arrows, it's not a hassle at all for me. I like trying out feathers from different birds on my arrows too.
anyone have luck with crow feathers? [/b]
I'm waiting for crow season and plan on trying them. Not my color for hunting, but just for fun.
I found the quill to be much to small and thing for arrow making.
This is a great tutorial for making your own shafts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJspZ7ZJfkc
Doing your own arrows has it's good and bad. The good you get to pick what color feathers, nock, wraps or paint, and can change one feather anytime and it will line up exactly.
The bad is when you get done that doz. you start thinking about what your going to do with the next doz. :-)
I guess there is no bad side.
"Make up the price", I don't believe so. I have been building arrows for well over 30 years. I have built and helped for a repitable online trad company for over 2 years. The main thing is this, "will you enjoy it". After time mine got to be a business and I hated it. Then after a break came back to making my own and enjoyed it. As long as you have fun and have the time, it is awesome. Like others have said nothing like having more of your DNA in the hunt and/or sport. Enjoy.
SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE THE WILL.
Sounds like you've found the way.
Now you just have to get to doin it..lol
Sure it's easier to buy them done.
If nothing else it's very nice to have the tools to tune the arrows you have...whether you made them or not.
Making your own arrows can be very rewarding and fun or it can be a royal pita ...or anywhere in between, depending on your personal taste.
The people that make arrows aren't getting rich from it.
There isn't a whole lot of $$$ to be saved really...if you value your time more than $7/hr..lol
All that being said..I haven't bought a premade arrow in quite a few years and have zero plans to. I enjoy making, tuning, and tinkering with em.
I think if you are building wood shafts you would have to do it yourself. If you are only shooting carbon, depending on where you are buying them, the costs of fletcher, saw, glue etc. would take a while to recoup. If you are going to develop a problem like most of us here, buy it all and have some fun! I would watch the classifieds
The reasons I build my own carbon and aluminum have been fairly well covered by the previous posters to this thread. I will add this though. You say your recent stumping adventures have taken their toll on your arrow supply. If they're carbon, you might want to look in to footing them. A whole 'nother facet to arrow building and can be an excellent way to slow down the arrow damage with a corresponding increase in your wallet contents. Have fun.
Since I shoot aluminum arrows, my setup for building my own arrows is very simple. A used Jojan fletching jig off fleabay that I got for $30, one of those small tubing cutters(don't use it anymore now that I'm shooting full length shafts), fletching tape, a can of white primer and a can of non florescent blaze orange spray paint for the back 8" of the arrow.
My dad and I have been building our own arrows since the late '60's. Can't say how much money I've saved over the years. And, it really doesn't matter. I enjoy doing it, and it gives me great pleasure to shoot and hunt with them.
Welcome to Trad Gang. I enjoy building my own arrows. If you want to stay away from cresting right now, you can buy arrow wraps from Onestringer he is a sponsor here and has a lot of great options.
I was told by a wise man here on TG to only make 6 at a time. This way I could make arrows for myself more often.
I started plain Jane and became more fancy over time, but have come back to a happy medium.
Good luck and ask questions if you have them. By doing it yourself, its the best way to learn.
I have always built my own arrows,first started with wood.I bought some ash shafts,borrowed my buddy's pencil taper,stained and sealed with a polyurethane sprayed can a white crown and fletched.Just always preferred to do my own arrows!
Always built my own and is very easy to do with the right tools. You will find it very enjoyable and rewarding when you kill an animal with an arrow you built!
I build all of my arrows (except woodies because I don't have the patience for them). I have a specific feather pattern I use. I have been using it for years. If I do lose an arrow at a shoot, when it is found, almost everybody knows it is mine.
Bisch
I shoot aluminum now, and have assembled all my arrows from components. I want to start shooting some wood arrows - for no reason other than that I have never shot wood and I find the traditional aspect very appealing, for some reason. But I have been very apprehensive about taking the plunge to purchase everything I would need just to start out. I am working up the courage to jump in, as my shooting improves. Maybe soon!
I have gotten to the point where I make just about everything I need. Bows, shafts, strings, quivers, tabs, armguard, etc. I buy points, broadheads and nocks.
If their is a way to save a buck and a quarter by putting in nine hours of work, then I do it. :biglaugh:
I like building my own arrows. I actually find it relaxing. Going to start cresting them.
I use the carbon express shafts as well.
I use the harbor freight cut off saw.
I then use the G5 square up tool for the cut off end and the 5/16 reamer tool with tee handle to rough up the inside of the shaft for gluing the insert into it.
Next blowout the carbon dust and clean with q-tips and denatured alcohol.
I use insert iron glue for the brass inserts.
I fletch with left wing 5 feathers using fletching tape.
Idoubted the tape over fletch tite glue at first, but found it to be just as strong and way faster to use.
I only need one bitz and left wing jig and am finished quickly since I no longer wait for glue to set.
Sometimes I use the One Stringer wraps and sometimes I do not.
I haven't tried wood arrows yet, as the cresting part is what keeps me from jumping into that.
Maybe some day.
But as for carbons...it's a lot of fun and you can build them for friends and family...make nice gifts etc.
Costwise, I don't keep track, but doing it yourself will feel good for you.
Have fun!
I picked up a couple Bitz jigs here on the classifieds and have one set up for right wing and one left wing... It's great fun and the color combos are a hoot to try out! I just started using wraps and REALLY like the way they turned out!
(http://i.imgur.com/xPbk1P0.jpg) (http://imgur.com/xPbk1P0)
It's a GOOD time!
Good luck, shoot straight and God Bless,
Rodd
I usually build. I just ordered built arrows from 3 rivers. I figured there to be about $16 difference per dozen and that doesn't entail buying any adhesive. I like to make them but Id rather shoot. The next time I might try the tape because it is the gluing that takes all the time.
QuoteOriginally posted by BayfieldHunter:
Fellas - I just ordered my equipment and materials. I may have a few questions about the actual build process as I get into it but I really appreciate the great feedback and guidance. I started stump shooting a few months ago and it has been hard on arrows. Thanks again! Dave
Two suggestions - be very picky about targets, and give the Bunny Buster blunts a try. We have lots of rocks here in NH, I do lots of stumping, and I find it hard to break arrows when I use these blunts. They fly better than you might imagine.
Do you prefer home cooking, or McDonald's? :)
There is a special feeling shooting and taking game with what you made yourself.
For me, building my own arrows adds a whole new dimension to my enjoyment. The satisfaction of hitting the bullseye or killing a game animal with a perfect shot with an arrow you made from scratch can't be equaled with a store-bought arrow.