Hazel arrows

[Tengu]

I have a few arrowheads so Im going to try to make some arrows.

Yesterday I got some Hazel wands...but they are not straight, and indeed taper a bit.

Can I thin them down?

If I strap them tight to a plank will they dry straight? How long will this take? and do I need to remove bark first??

 

[Uilleachan]

I have a few arrowheads so Im going to try to make some arrows.

Yesterday I got some Hazel wands...but they are not straight, and indeed taper a bit.

Can I thin them down?

If I strap them tight to a plank will they dry straight? How long will this take? and do I need to remove bark first??

Hazel can be straightened easily enough.

I'd let them season a bit first, thin enough for an arrow would season in 3 months (usually a year for a walking stick). Once the wood is seasoned-ish you simply heat the bit you want to straighten (over the embers of a fire, gas ring, electric heater, rag cover the stick and then doused in boiling water etc) and apply a little counter bend, work your way along the length heating and counter bending as you go, until the desired degree of straightness is achieved.

Once straight enough I'd pull the wood through sand paper to thin them, the bark should come easily enough, once seasoned, with the sand paper

 

[Cromm]

If they are green then strapping them to a broom handle with rubber all the way around should work, or do as said above.....

 

[dwardo]

I have only played with this but had success with removing the bark and warming over a fire then correcting by hand, gently.
Without the bark and in a dry room away from direct heat they will dry in no time. You may get the odd one check and crack but the majority should be good.

Its an art in its self arrow making, more so to get arrows of the same spine (bendyness) and weight so that you can have some kind of uniformity.
I cheat and buy in Port oxford cedar shafts, about £1.90 each.