Compression block

[rkelly]

Who has used a  3 Rivers compression block?
How did it work for you?
How hot does the block have to be?
Heated with a torch, I presume.

Thanks...

[ChuckC]

I have one that I bought years and years ago.  

My thoughts..... hmmmm, being nice, I guess I am not good enough to effectively use one of those.

Couple thoughts, yes you heat it up with a torch.  Controlling heat is tough, unless you touch it with your finger or tongue to tell the temperature.

Then, you are running it thru with a drill motor, which imparts a twisting motion to the whole thing and, in my experience, allows you to twist the whole shaft into pieces if not done slowly enough.  My big concern is , was it done slowly enough to not twist in two, but not slowly enough so as to weaken the heck out of the now twisted fibers ?

If you start with an already completed arrow shaft, say a cedar 11/32, it starts out at about 31" or so long, maybe 32".  You chuck it into a drill, taking up about 1" of that, the block is about 1 1/2" to 2" wide if I remember well, taking up that amount, so the best you can get from that shaft is maybe 29" or so.  From that you taper front and back so an arrow 28" bop is about the best you can get.

Of course, if you start with longer stock you can get longer shafts.  Longer stock makes it easier to twist in half.

If there was a way to push it thru without twist, I think it would be a more viable option, but that might take additional toolage.

Of course.... as I said above... I may simply be not good enough at it.  I didn't practice thru stacks of shafts, but I did give it a good try.

I want to keep mine though, as someday I want to try a different approach using it (pushing).
ChuckC

[BAK]

Never found them to be worth the effort.