Making Wooden Arrows :: Online Archery UK

Making Wooden Arrows - Alternative Tutorial
A guide to making your own arrows.

Materials Required:

One dozen wooden shafts of the correct size for the bow.
One dozen nocks the same size as the shafts.
One dozen points the same size as the shafts. Points are also called piles.
Three dozen fletchings, consisting of one dozen of one colour for the cock feather, and two dozen of another colour for the shaft feathers.
A tube of fletching glue for the feathers and nocks, and Araldite for fixing the points.
A fletching jig and a taper tool of the correct size.

Tutorial

Using the short blade of the taper-tool, sharpen one end of all the shafts almost to a point, just like sharpening a pencil, only not right to the end. Put a small drop of fletching glue on the side of each sharpened point, and put a nock on each one. Turn each nock round a few times to spread the glue, and then give it a firm push on. Measure the length of arrow you require, but add an extra 5/8" to go inside the point. Saw the shafts off here, but revolve the shaft as you saw, otherwise you may split the wood. If you are making medieval arrows then you will not use plastic nocks, you will saw a slot in the end of the shaft to take the bowstring, but make sure that the slot is at right angles to the grain, otherwise the shaft will split.

If you are using taper-fit points you now sharpen the front end with the long blade of the taper-tool. If you are using parallel-fit points you make a mark 5/8" from the cut end. Put the shaft on a flat surface and place a smooth piece of wood on the end, up to the mark, and then roll the piece of wood backwards and forwards with a bit of downwards pressure. This will reduce the diameter of the shaft enough to slip the point on, but do not press too hard to start with, because you may reduce it so much that it will not give a secure fit. Now mix some Araldite glue and smear some on the end of the shaft and push the points on. Taper-fit will go on easily, but the parallel ones may trap some air inside, which will push the points off again. If this happens, score a line lengthways on the end of the wood with a knife, which will allow the air to escape as you push the point on.

Now we can fletch the arrows, which is the name for sticking the feathers, or fletchings, onto the shafts. Take the fletching-jig and place a shaft in it with the nock firmly in place in the nock receiver. Depending on the type of jig you are using, turn the nock receiver round until the cock feather side is uppermost. If you are not sure which this is, remember that the cock-feather is glued on at right-angles to the slot in the nock. Place the clamp in the jig against the shaft and make a mark on the clamp about 1" from the slot in the nock. This is to leave room for the fingers between the nock and the fletchings. It is not important precisely where to put this mark, but it is important to have one on the clamp so that all the fletchings will be in line with each other.

Take one of the cock fletchings and place it in the clamp with the rear end of it up to the mark. Press the fletching right into the clamp except for the ground base, which is the remaining part of the quill. Open the fletching glue, which should be in a tube with a fine nozzle, and hold it between the thumb and first two fingers. Place the third and fourth fingers on the edge of the clamp to act as a guide, and run the nozzle down the fletching, squeezing glue out as you go. This may take a little time to get right, because you want a continuous line of glue without bumps or gaps in it, and you should try not to get it on the clamp. When you are happy with the line of glue that you have got, carefully place the clamp in the jig and gently press it down until the base of the fletching is in contact with the shaft. Now leave it for half an hour for the glue to dry, and at the end of this time open the clamp and take it out of the jig, leaving the fletching firmly glued to the shaft. You need to give each feather half an hour because they are naturally curly and will go out of shape if released too soon. Plastic fletchings need only fifteen minutes. If you cannot open the clamp you have got glue on it, so insert your fingernail between the fletching and the clamp and run it along to break them apart. If you keep gluing the fletching to the clamp, rub some candle grease along the clamp so that the glue will not stick to it.

All modern jigs automatically locate the three fletchings at 120 degrees to each other, so turn the locator round until it clicks into the next position, and glue on the first shaft feather. When this is dry, repeat once more with the second shaft feather, and then the fletching is finished. When the last one is dry remove the arrow from the jig and trim the leading edge of each of the fletchings. Using a sharp knife slice the pointed end of the quill so that there is no sharp end at the front of the fletching and it leads gently into the shaft. This is to stop the front of the fletching from catching in grass roots or even sticking into your bow hand. Medieval archers also bind some strong thread over the leading edge of the fletching and all the way along its length, finishing at the nock to give it strength, just as was done in the Hundred Years War.

Your arrows are nearly finished now, but a final touch is to paint coloured rings around them just in front of the fletchings. This is called the "cresting", and it enables you to tell your arrows from somebody else's. You can also varnish them to stop them soaking up rainwater, or getting dirty from mud. A quicker way is simply to rub on some wax furniture polish.