Bow - Arrows

[WhichDoctor]

At the beginning of this month I went on a longbow making course at the Greenwood Centre in Coalbrookdale, it was a cracking course and I came away with a gorgeous 49lb ash longbow. There’s only one problem, I don’t have any arrows. I did have the opportunity of putting together a couple of commercial arrows on the course but for some reason I didn’t (still cant work out why ).

So now I need some arrows, I am going to make a couple primitively but I don’t really wont to completely strip the local woodland of strait hazel and I’d probably lose or brake them anyway when I start shooting .

So I searched the web for archery suppliers but just ended up totally confused, there are so many of them and such a lot of choice. Does anyone here have any recommendations of good archery suppliers and any hints of the kind of stuff I should be looking at buying?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Anyone know of any good longbow archery clubs in Shropshire?

 

[john scrivy]

I have succesfully made arrows from green ash wands and also whichelm wands had quite a few goes at bow making found you have to be really sellective in choice of timber when using ash I have also tryed whichelm for bowmaking not bad

 

[Rob]

have a look at Arms Of Old

If you drop them an email or give them a call, they will sort you out.

Might be worth investing in some blunts for roving as well.

 

[Doc]

I have found Bowsports good for arrow components. Port Orford Cedar shafts are often used - you need to match the stiffness ('spine') to the draw weight and draw length.

Making them from components is easy and cheaper than buying completed arrows. You would need a taper tool and, ideally, a fletching jig.

 

[andyn]

I've just finished making my first dozon arrows and it was a peice of cake.

12 shafts matched to draw weight, 12 field points, 12 nocks, 12 4" feathers for cock feathers, 24 other 4" feathers of different colour, 11/32" taper tool, glue for feathers and point, fletching jig. All for about £80.

I got all the bits from Chiltern Archery near Basingstoke.

Very helpful people.

 

[Grooveski]

Bowsports and Quicks get my business.
...although the feathers Bowsport sells don't seem to last as long as tru-flight.
Saunders NPV is my preferred glue and I use it for everything - tried a few others with mixed results.

I've got a straight jig that I'll never use again. PM your address and it's yours, it's one of these.

 

[Doc]

Thats very generous of Josh. I have one of those Arten jigs and it works great. Made in Scotland and nicely engineered.

You need to offset the fletching slightly to make the arrow spin.

 

[Grooveski]

Aye it's a well put together jig. It's just been gathering dust though since I got carried away one day and picked up a helical bitzenburger.

I'd rather see it being used.

 

[ukarcher]

If you want some quick and cheap shafts, then visit your local B&Q. The 9mm pine dowelling will be what you are looking for. It's as near to 11/32" as you need. Just make sure that the 2.5m length is not jointed somewhere along it's length. I've used these for about three years, shooting NFAS field competitions. If you make them overlong, and then if they are shooting to the right, take a 1/4" off the end and try again. If they shoot to the left, then increase the weight of the point. Use hot melt or epoxy glue for the points and NPV or superglue for the nocks and fletchings. All the way through the making process, check the shafts for straightness, if you have any that are bent, just ease them straight with your hands. This will train them to stay straight. If by the time they are all ready to shoot, you still have one that needs straightening, then scrap it, it wasn't meant to be an arrow.

 

[Clark]

This is a handy thread, i just bought a cheap longbow today from an autojumble, managed to haggle it down to £1.50 from £2.00. Obviously it's not a fancy expensive thing but it's a start. Need to try making the arrows now.

 

[fishfish]

these guys are worth a go:

http://armsofold.co.uk/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

 

[Snufkin]

I've had good service from Quicks. If you are buying shafts I'd go for 5-10lbs below your bows draw weight as shafts are spined for recurve bows with centreshot arrow passes, so you'll need them to be more flexible to overcome the archers paradox. I would go for Boyton pine shafts rather than Port Orford cedar. It used to be good but the quality of shafting these days is pretty ropey.

 

[Robby]

If you're just starting out on making your own arrows I'd go for the B&Q dowel option myself. Once you've got things sorted out, move onto the proper arrow shafts. Unless you're planning on using them for competition shooting they'll do the job. One thing I will say is, if you're making self nocked arrows, whip the base of the nock. I've found that if you bring the whipping (I use linen thread because I use them for re-enactment) about a millimetre or two above the base of of the nock, it helps to stop the nock splitting. I used a Tolgate jig and can say it was a really good piece of kit. (Never used anything else so couldn't compare)

 

[Arth]

You could make the arrow heads out of thick wire by hammering it out into a point

 

[stovie]

It's not too difficult to make your own arras. Here's some I've done

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12171

 

[Big Bad Stu]

WhichDoctor,

I bought all the stuff to make mine from Bow Sports at Prees, just north of Shrewsbury. I had reasonable advice and the materials were good enough. As I remember the stuff cost about £40 for 12 arrows (it was a long time ago mind). They also have lots of longbow stuff. Check the arrow shafts are straight by rolling them along the desk in the shop as a bent shaft is next to useless.

Life will be easier with a few basic tools like a fletching jig and taper tool, get them from ebay!

Just search for Archery Supplies in Wem on www.yell.com for the details.

As for clubs you could look into joining Long Myndd Archerys at Church Stretton or Archers of Teme at Tenbury Wells. These are both good target archery clubs, if field target is your bag (targets of animals and some 3d targets also) your could join the National Field Archery Society (FNAS) as an individual member and just go to competitions for practice, there is no need to submit a score card if you don't want.

I would remommend a beginners course at a target club to start with as it will teach you fundamentals as well as the etiquet of shooting when others are around you, safety and basic technique.

I have been out of the archery game for a few years now but I found Target archery a little too regimented for my liking and much preferred field target.

Hope this is helpful. Making arrows is a therapeutic passtime.

All the best.

Stewey.

 

[Rob]

If you have a look at the NFAS website you will be able to see club listings in your area.

Most clubs run beginners courses and are usually much cheaper than GNAS target clubs.