Before investing the time and money in building a dozen woodies, I wanted to check the compatibility of the various sealers and paints I was planning on using. Plus, I wanted a chance to test out my homebrew cresting lathe. So, I picked up a couple of 5/16 dowels and had at it.

First I tapered the nock end, and dipped them all with 3 coats of spar urethane, allowing 24 hours drying time between coats. I also sanded with 0000 steel wool between coats.

I tried a crown dip with Rustoleum "American Accents" gloss white latex, both straight from the can and thinned slightly. I really wasn't happy with either as a crown dip, as it seemed to be too thick. On the 3rd dowel, I tried some rattle can Rustoleum that I had. That came out much nicer.

After the crown dip dried for a day or 2, it was time to crest. I picked up a set of 8 colors of Testors enamels at the local Michael's craft store, as well as a couple of good quality sable hair brushes. As soon as I put the first dowel into my cresting lathe, a couple of problems became obvious. First, I didn't even attempt to straighten the dowels before sealing. And second, the surgical tubing I was using for a chuck allowed too much wobble if the shaft wasn't inserted perfectly straight. I did the best I could with the cresting, but my lines vary in thickness around the shaft. Overall, I'm fairly happy with the results. But I did order a Bohning crester chuck from Kustom King as soon as I was done. Hopefully that will help keep the shafts from wobbling so much next time.

 

 

 

 

In the last pic you can even see half of my homebrew drying rack.      

One other mistake I made was I didn't plan out my crest as well as I should before starting. I should have ended with the last silver line at the end of the crown dip.

After the cresting dries for a couple of days, I'm going to seal it under a thin coat of Minwax Polycrylic to make sure there won't be any compatibility issue between it and the Rustoleum or Testors model paint.

looks good for the firwt time  matter of fact good for any of my arrows!!

nicely done Eric...

Looking good. Hap

Those crests look awesome, and nice lathe.  My first dozen shafts are in the mail, hope you don't mind if I use some of your finish ideas  

They look great. Nice color combo. Be sure to show us the finished arrows.

Very nice job.  A lot better than my first time!!

Looks good and there ony going to get better, not that they need to! Well done!

What kinda motor are you using??? I'm having troubles slowing my sewing machine motor down. I need to get the foot pedal! A Dimmer switch won't work for me!   :mad:

Great job for a 1st go!      

Thanks for the kind words!

The motor is from a water bath we use at work. The pump housing cracked, and it is only available as an assembly with a new motor. So I brought the old motor home to use for my lathe. I have no idea how fast it turns, and I can't figure out any way to control the speed because it is a 220 volt AC motor. I think it spins faster than 300 RPMs, but it worked OK for me.

get a dimmer switch for 220v... if you need help let me know.

Better than anything I've ever done!  :D

Nice job Eric. Looks good

Better than anything I've ever done!

Killdeer  

Nice! That's just about the same paint "recipe" that I use. If I'm cresting carbons thouh, I've found it's better to use a spray lacquer (car paint rattle can). The Rustoleum just doesn't bond with the slick carbon finish very well.

Nice job!

First rule of cresting... get your arrows as straight as possible. Heck! That's the first rule of arrow making period.

Nice work!