I found an old piece of what appears to be fir, in the neighbor's burn pile so I kept it thinking it might make some arrow shafts. It looks like it was once the edge of an old door, does anyone use this type of old lumber for shafts? I hate to see it just go to waste, I'm slowly compiling the necessary tools to make my own shafts and fletchings, all I have left to get is a dowel cutter and my 2" drum sander to put on the drill press, then I can try this piece of wood.

if it is a "true fir" it may not work well for arrows, true firs can be subject to shatter when angular stress is applied, If it is Douglas fir, you can make good shafts from it..

Lucas

I'll have to cut into it to see, if I'm not mistaken Dougfir has a reddish tint to it.

Yes Douglas fir will work. Lots --I should say dozens of millions--of doors were made from Douglas fir. Usually very fine straight grain. They used to call it western cabinet wood because it was clear and straight-grained.

If you have a router, you can make shafts like this:

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=53

or this:

Jim that looks like the way to go, I tried to use a block plane but the dia. is to big. I cut it in 1/2x1/2 squares, now I'm thinking about re sawing them to 3/8 and using a different method to finish them. It is very nice wood most of it is very straight grained.

jim
that router table set-up looks sweet--but i havn't used it--go to Lee valley tools -that dowel cutter [the cheaper one] works great!!it resembles a large pencil sharpener w/wings--i can't link you it[i can barely type]
 you guys gonna go to sawmill??

Mike I looked at the dowel cutter and gave that a thought also, we are going to Sawmill. Joe was shooting the bow you made today at the flying arrow shoot. it still fits him great and he shoots it better than his other bow    The dowel cutter I was looking at made 3/8 dowels kind of fat I'm not sure it will adjust down to 11/32.

Mike I ordered the cutter, good price it's worth a try.

Great job guys. Now I don't have to show the guys in my arrow discussion how to build the dowel cutter. Don't worry about the 3/8 thickness. It will sand down easy enough with my sander. You can see at my arrow buildalong. You run the shaft through the sander the same as the router to fine tune the thickness. Doug Fir makes killer arrow shafts.

fletch

Here is my latest version of a router dowel maker. It has a dial indicator so I can change from one size to the next by just moving the arm the appropriate distance and direction. I do have to change bushings for different sizes. the shafts
come out exactly the right diameter and smooth as silk, slightly burnish.

Thats a really nice shaft rig. I made mine out of hardwood and it doesn't get quite so smooth. could you show me some pics of the sides and base of the rig. I'm building this one this week lol.

fletch

you can email them to me if you want.

michael.fletcher@comcast.net

Here are some more pictures (just took them).




The black area is a slab of aluminum casting I got at the dump. I think it was some kind of shelf on a free-standing pole...or something. I'm sure plywood would work, but is less rigid and the router bit would have to be extended further.

The black wheel visible in some pictures and the screw it turns are totally unnecessary--I just tried to get too complicated.

The aluminum angle screwed to the steel angle is only to extend the steel angle for the outboard support bushing. I just didn't have a longer chunk of steel.

Reparrow man

thanks so much for the guide. I am making one this week. I will let you all know how it turns out.

fletch

I was able to get a start here's some pics.

 

 

nice jim --they work pretty good ---you got a spine tester?they can vary -even from the same plank--now you find yourself eye-ballin every piece of lumber you see!!

Yep Mike I just bought an Adams off this site in the classifies. A guy I work with gave me some mahogany gonna try that, I have more fir and some spruce and you can bet I'll be looking at all the wood that's out on junk day  

get a taper jig for your table-saw--then you can saw right on the grain lines and all-but eliminate run-out--my brother got some russian larch--you should see these shafts!maybe tougher than ash--he also got some old-growth long-leaf pine-i don't think i've seen tighter grained wood --it makes a heck of a shaft also

Love this thread. I salvaged some mahogany. Real straight lumber. Any one try this for arrows. Looks like it would make a neat looking arrow but don't how good or safe it would be.

A guy that I work with gave me some mahogany I thought that it was worth a try.

How is mahogany rated for quality use for shaft material?