Tapering Problem

[Chris P. Bacon]

Hey TradGang community, my father and I have started making our own wooden arrows and we have just turned out our first batch of 5. We recently purchased a bear paw tapering tool and were anticipating "precision german engineering" as advertised. For one arrow we used a regular 3Rivers plastic pencil sharpener tool and it has done a better job with tapering to the right place for our tips to fit. The taper comes down too far and it exposes the raw wood instead of an evenly finished shaft. I was wondering if anyone is having the same problems with the bear paw and if so, how we may fix it. I'll try to add some photos of my problem. It also scratches the finish a bit. Any advice is helpful.

Thank you for your time

[R.W.]

You can check to see if the end of the taper is bottoming out in the ferrule of the point.
With my Tru-taper tool, this sometimes happens, depending on which broadhead I am using.
Also, as a wooden shaft is not perfectly round, the back edge of the taper sometimes is cut further down one side of the shaft than the other.
If your points are spinning true, with no major run out/wobble, this isn't going to cause you any major concerns.
Touch up the finish, where it has been cut off, and do the same with the scratches.
Good luck with your arrow making!

R.W.

[Bill Carlsen]

Try tapering before you finish the arrows.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Thank you for the feedback, I'm going to try tapering before I stain and finish the shaft. I was going by the instructions of the How-To guide of "how to make cheap and easy woodies". Great guide but I'm still learning as you can see.

Thanks again R.W. and Bill.

[Orion]

Making GOOD woodies is never cheap or easy.  Another thing that can cause the phenomenon you're looking at is a shaft that is thicker than normal.  There's usually a little variability in the diameter of shafts.  One that's a little thicker causes the taper to end a little higher on the shaft.  On the other hand, if one sharpener does it all the time, and the other doesn't, it's just a difference in the sharpeners.  I'm not familiar with the Bear Paw tool so don't know if it's adjustable.  Can adjust the blade on some pencil sharpener type tools.  That's what would be needed in this case.

[SCATTERSHOT]

In the second pic, it appears that the shaft is larger than the point. That may be part of your problem, and as others have stated, be sure that the taper is not too long for the point.

I have the forerunner to the Bearpaw, and I get perfect tapers with it. Are you using the correct pilot?

[Chris P. Bacon]

The shafts are Sitka Spruce from Hildebrand and are 11/32. There is no way to adjust the blades on the bear paw tool and i have all 3 sizes of guides for the tool, I believe that it shouldn't be a problem if I stain and finish my shafts after tapering the shafts, which I will try on my next batch. Also i think that the taper is too long for the point as stated, but the angle the blade cuts at still wont get me that perfect fit. It's a trial and error thing i guess, I'll just have to find the method, and tool that works best. Good thing i have 45 more shafts to work with    :D  

Thanks

[Cromm]

I have found the same thing with some of my taper tools. I make sure the screw is tight that holds the blade. I sometimes only taper down to a mark on the blade and see how the heads sit then take some more off if needed.
Thanks for your time.

[todd smith]

When processing your raw shafts take that into consideration.  Cut them to length and taper them then do a complete tip to tail sanding with oh...  say 100or even 220 grit sandpaper.  At the nock and point transition, take a little extra time and round that transition and make it nice and smooth.  

Then stain and seal the shafts.

It'll look great.

[snag]

If you are serious about getting a perfect fit you really have to go to some sort of grinding wheel setup. If you have a 6" bench grinder you can make a jig for holding the arrow shaft at the correct angle. I invested in a Woodchuck that allows me to fine tune it.

[Orion]

Yep.  What Snag said.  Pencil sharpener type taper tools just aren't that accurate.  One problem with staining and sealing after you cut the tapers is glue adhesion.  Usually not a problem with nocks, but the finish can keep hot melts from adhering properly.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Alright I'll keep all of this in mind. I don't think ill invest in a woodchuck until I get really good at making wooden arrows, pencil sharpeners should work for what I'm trying to do now, which is make semi good looking target arrows that are decently strong.

Thanks

[Cromm]

Have you seen TopHat heads? They screw onto the shafts without having to taper the wood.