Arrow dilemma!

[Jon]

Hope 'tis the right section to post this in.

Guys, I request help in urgency here. I need serious help. I have no one to go to but my fellows who understand all things ranger-ness. It's to do with arrows and arrow making. I'll tell you what I have first:

-9 23/64 armour-piercing arrows.
-1 23/64 crescent head arrow
-2 very big broadheads
-1 cresent head (bird hunting) also quite big
-fire cage head (big also)
-a load of feathers, losing them all the time so I hope I have enough
-7 23/64 shafts
-6 5/16 shafts


And here's the story:

I ordered 12 shafts (23/64), 12 bodkins, 1 crescent head, 36 feathers. I got the stuff, made 10 armour pioercing arrows. One shaft has a crescent head glued onto it and the last one is still blank (intended for broadhead).
I lost one arrow (which is not good as I want a ROUND NUMBER of arrows (like 10, not 9).

After a bit, i wanted MORE. So I ordered 6 more shafts and feathers and bodkins and the broadhead which wasnt available last time.
When I received the stuff, I found out that I had by accident ordered 5/16 shafts which are way too thin and dont fit the bodkins. I dont have time to return them as we're leaving the country (as its the end of the holidays ) .

So I decided Id spend the last of my money and buy six more shafts, (23/64) and 1 more broadhead, another crescent head, and a fire cage head.

I know I need consistency so I thought that I would leave the thinner shafts for 'special heads' like the broadheads and stuff. But then I read somewhere that for big heavy heads, one needs big fat stiff shafts! The 5/16 ones were nowhere near stiff or big.

So no idea what do do about all that ^ . Help?



Also, another problem, when storing my arrows I have made already, i put them in this cardboard tube and they were tightly packed. When I got them out, the feathers where all squished and a bit ruined. What should I do about it?




And finally, when I ordered my first set of shafts, I just told the guy spined for a 50lb bow (I dont know about spines myself).

The second time, The 5/16 ones all had written on them '48lbs' or '46lbs' and seem a bit more bendy than the first set (I had said 'just a 50lb spine please).

Then the final time, I said a wanted them spined for a %0lb bow and the guy said they only had ones spined around 60lbs but that they should be fine.

But I really need consistency. I wont get consistency with the 'special heads' I know, but I do need it with the bodkins... Help??




Oh, and how do I store the broadheads in my quiver?


OK, I'm done.

[Eledhwen]

Wow. Okay.

Spine is the stiffness of the arrow. Too stiff and the arrow will not shoot straight as it will not be able to bend around the bowstaff. Not stiff enough and the arrow cannot take all the energy in the bow and may splinter as it is released..and it can damage the bow as the stored energy goes right into it. I have seen both bow and arrows shatter although that is rare.

23/64 shafts are, generally speaking, for bows over 55 pounds in draw...the arrows I use for my 75 are 23/64.

The 55 I use 11/32nds on...those are the arrows in my 'tutorial'. You can use these on higher draw bows but you have to be sure of spine.

On 50s and lower I use 5/16...mostly on the 35 and 40 types.

Now, you can foot a shaft..that is, splice two pieces together..this is usually done to give a hardwood head, on which the tip is mounted, and softer and lighter wood in the rear on which the fletch goes. They can be tapered too.

An 11/32 shaft can be tapered down to a nock of 5/16. I do not care to speculate on doing that with a 23/64 as that's a pretty sharp taper, but I am not expert on that so it may just work. Greg might know.

Footed shafts were used for combat arrows; you gained the weight and strength of the hardwood and offset it with the softwood trailing piece which lightened the arrow overall and increased the range....and made them lighter to carry. Arrows can be impressively heavy over time.

You may just have to set aside the 5/16ths shafts for smaller arrows for a lighter bow. That is what I would do. But again, one of the other guys might have other ways to handle it.

Just my tuppence.

Eledhwen

[Jon]

Ok, great. The problem with that however, is that they are a 50lb spine, so they wouldn't work on lighter bows. Hmmm..... But is 5/16 too small to hold a big broadhead?

[Eledhwen]

If the broadhead is not socketed to fit a five sixteenths then it will not fit. If it is tanged then it might be made to fit by filing the tang down flush with the arrow shaft. Now, if they are socketed and you know a good smith in the vicinity, they might can draw them out and down to fit.

If the shafts are spined for a 50 pound bow you can use them well enough but you will need points suited to them. You can sometimes use smaller points with larger shafts by tapering, but it is, to my mind, better to go with proper sized points. The weight of the point affects the weight of the arrow naturally and you do not want it too heavy or too light else accuracy suffers.

Eledhwen