Questions on making wood arrows

[rubydog]

All good my friend!!!

[equin]

Terry was generous enough to spend some time with me on the phone the night before his surgery. So with his help and Bountyhunter's advice and videos, I came out with my first small batch below (sorry about the poor picture quality):




And after shooting the very first one a bunch of times, I noticed the bottom fletching began to unglue itself along the middle. So with the help of a bit more Duco cement, I made my first attempt at a Medieval style wrap using some red thread I found around the house:



Sadly, the Medieval-wrapped arrow met its demise this afternoon when it got badly nicked around the center of the shaft, rendering it somewhat risky to use, so I had to shelve it - but I'm keeping it as a reminder of the very first arrow I made.

[Lafitte23]

Terry was generous enough to spend some time with me on the phone the night before his surgery. So with his help and Bountyhunter's advice and videos, I came out with my first small batch below (sorry about the poor picture quality):




And after shooting the very first one a bunch of times, I noticed the bottom fletching began to unglue itself along the middle. So with the help of a bit more Duco cement, I made my first attempt at a Medieval style wrap using some red thread I found around the house:



Sadly, the Medieval-wrapped arrow met its demise this afternoon when it got badly nicked around the center of the shaft, rendering it somewhat risky to use, so I had to shelve it - but I'm keeping it as a reminder of the very first arrow I made.

Those are looking real nice equin! I wish I had tuned into this thread earlier! Makes me want to do a little tinkering.

[bountyhunter]

Hey Equin those look really good for a first batch!!!! Keep it up you are an arrowsmith in the making for sure. Also let me know if I can help in any way.

[rubydog]

Glad I could help Ed. Call anytime.

[equin]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas!

Here's another question for y'all. Do you have to stain AND seal the shaft, or can you just apply a sealant to keep moisture out? Also, what's the quickest drying stain/sealant? I've been using a left-over can of Minwax Polyshades since I had it laying around in the shed, but it takes forever to dry.

[rubydog]

Gasket laquer by far the fastest. Yes you can just seal them without stain.

[bountyhunter]

Gasket laquer by far the fastest. Yes you can just seal them without stain.

Yep Gasket Laquer and the dipping tube just like in the 3Rivers video I posted earlier. It is dry in only a matter of minutes after pulling it through the gasket and out of the tube.

They make the gasket laquer with tints so you can get a stain like finish without staining. I've been using a lot of the 3Rivers Alcohol Stains as they really take to just about any type of wood. The only problem is they do bleed so not too good when paint dipping and cresting. They will also bleed into your gasket laquer which isn't bad if you have a different tube of laquer for each different stain.

[rubydog]

Try alcohol or water based aniline dye from wood workers supply. Great stuff lots of colors.