Making my own arrows

[RandySavage]

Hey guys, new the forums here, but from what I can tell this is extremely knowledgable crowd around here!

I'm going to try my hand at building my own arrows this season and was wondering what some suggestions are for resources to get started with this. When Googling the topic, I found there was a lot of different information and I was hoping there would be a book I could purchase or a website that gives me a crash course into the whole process.

Any info helps!

Thanks!

 

[dkime]

To tell you the truth I’m not sure if there is a current book that would help you out or not. I think most people were baptized by fire in the arrow building world. What’s your current bow setup and what is your typical quarry?


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[RandySavage]

I just purchased a Prime Black 5 set at 70# and will be picking it up from the shop tomorrow! I have been shooting fairly consistently for the last 4 years so I'm still quite new to this. I planned on having the shop put together a half dozen arrows just to get me shooting daily. I really only elk and mule deer in Idaho so I'm looking to fine tune my arrows to get the penetration, speed, and accuracy that will work best for this application. I'm completely new to this side of archery so any tips or advice is appreciated!

 

[Rob5589]

Welcome! You'll need a way to cut the shafts, a squaring tool, fletching jig, shafts, fletching, and glue. Shaft spine will depend on draw weight, length, and how how much you'd like to run up front.

 

[RandySavage]

Thank you! Do you have any recommendations on that sort of equipment? I've heard great things about bitzenburger jigs, do you know where I could find out information about how much weight I'd like to put up front, or different methods of fine tuning that weight? I've typically ran 125 grain broadheads because I know FOC is an important factor.

 

[dkime]

I just purchased a Prime Black 5 set at 70# and will be picking it up from the shop tomorrow! I have been shooting fairly consistently for the last 4 years so I'm still quite new to this. I planned on having the shop put together a half dozen arrows just to get me shooting daily. I really only elk and mule deer in Idaho so I'm looking to fine tune my arrows to get the penetration, speed, and accuracy that will work best for this application. I'm completely new to this side of archery so any tips or advice is appreciated!

Few high level Things to start with:

300 spine shafts with a decently heavy insert system seem be the trend with today’s heavy arrow setups and bow efficiencies. People tend to not remember but in the recent history most 70# setups would only require a 340 spine with a 24gr insert. For what you’re after start by looking at a 300 spine shaft with a50-100gr insert cut to match your DL. This will get you started.

Vanes: Start with a vane that you think looks the coolest. All hunting vanes in today’s market offer more than enough stability for modern broadheads. You can dive into the technical side of vanes as you grow.

Jig: everyone starts with some variation of a bitzenburger. You should be able to find one used on eBay or a classified with either a straight, left, or right helical clamp. For right now just buy the one you get the best deal on because you can buy other clamps later to test what you prefer. Plenty of YouTube videos available on how to operate one.

Saw: I run a Weston Saw and others will have their own recommendations. Take a look around and see what’s available in the used market and let us know what you find. You’ll receive plenty of recommendations.

Grain scale: Doesn’t have to be anything fancy but it lets you know where you’re at in terms of a finished build.

Arrow square: Not entirely necessary but nice to have; G5 ASD

Adhesive: Match it up with whateverfletchi g you end up using.

You’ll learn a lot about arrow prep and vane prep during the process. You’ll mess up a bunch but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it

You’ll probably want a 450-550gr finished arrow with your setup. Keep asking questions and we will keep answering


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[RandySavage]

Few high level Things to start with:

300 spine shafts with a decently heavy insert system seem be the trend with today’s heavy arrow setups and bow efficiencies. People tend to not remember but in the recent history most 70# setups would only require a 340 spine with a 24gr insert. For what you’re after start by looking at a 300 spine shaft with a50-100gr insert cut to match your DL. This will get you started.

Vanes: Start with a vane that you think looks the coolest. All hunting vanes in today’s market offer more than enough stability for modern broadheads. You can dive into the technical side of vanes as you grow.

Jig: everyone starts with some variation of a bitzenburger. You should be able to find one used on eBay or a classified with either a straight, left, or right helical clamp. For right now just buy the one you get the best deal on because you can buy other clamps later to test what you prefer. Plenty of YouTube videos available on how to operate one.

Saw: I run a Weston Saw and others will have their own recommendations. Take a look around and see what’s available in the used market and let us know what you find. You’ll receive plenty of recommendations.

Grain scale: Doesn’t have to be anything fancy but it lets you know where you’re at in terms of a finished build.

Arrow square: Not entirely necessary but nice to have; G5 ASD

Adhesive: Match it up with whateverfletchi g you end up using.

You’ll learn a lot about arrow prep and vane prep during the process. You’ll mess up a bunch but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it

You’ll probably want a 450-550gr finished arrow with your setup. Keep asking questions and we will keep answering


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Thank you! That's extremely helpful for a starting spot. I will start watching the classifieds and ebay for the equipment I'll need to head down this road. I really appreciate the help! What are some key indicators that will show me I have a well tuned arrow, and what are the best ways of testing these indicators? I would guess accuracy should be fairly self explanatory on how to measure, as well as penetration, what am I missing?

 

[Randonee]

I just finished putting together my first arrows. One thing that really helped me was getting the web-based program Archersadvantage. You enter data about your your bow and can then select shafts to determine what spine, length and components (nock, vanes and number, insert, point weight, collar, etc) should work to achieve close to an optimal dynamic spine. You can also use it to calculate the total arrow weight and estimated FPS. It worked out great for me and lead me to know and understand the potential consequences of using different components in term of their effect on dynamic spine. I think there are other programs that do this as well.

 

[Randonee]

For tuning and determining if it is all working, I listened to several podcasts and videos. Lots of good info on this site as well. Here is what I came up with for the general process.

1. Archersadvantage to select arrows and components. Build arrows, or perhaps 3-4 for testing.
2. Tune arrows to each other by nock tuning
3. Paper tune fletched arrow at 7 yards. Do this by adjusting rest for vertical and then cams for horizontal.
4. Paper tune bare shaft arrow at 7 yards ( add tape to rear of arrow that weighs same as all the vanes). Do this by adjusting rest/cams.
5. Make fletched arrow and bareshaft have same point of impact at 20 yards. Do this by adjusting rest (see the gillingham/GT Arrows YouTube video for how this works), probably just a small amount like 1/64” at a time.
6. Same as above at 30 yards
7. Same as above at 40 yards.
8. Make sure fletched field point and broadhead arrows have same point of impact at 40 yards. Do this by adjusting rest.

After I did this my bow shot four different types of fixed broadheads (all that I have) to the same poi as fieldpoints.

It’s quite a process, especially your first time, but very much worth it in my opinion. There are a lot of different processes folks use, this is just what I did, again based on assimilating a lot of different sources. Best of luck!

 

[Zac]

Jon Dudley at Nock On on youtube should have everything dialed in for building arrows. I would reccomend you get the shop to cut them and just square them yourself. Nock On should have everything you need in one basic kit. You can purchase Easton Axis arrows with all of the components off his site. I don't really agree with his entire setup but if you wanted to add a Footer or something it would be very easy to add that component. He also sells Bitz jigs preset at 2.5 degree offset so you can just get started fletching right away.

 

[torysavage]

Hey guys, new the forums here, but from what I can tell this is extremely knowledgable crowd around here!

I'm going to try my hand at building my own arrows this season and was wondering what some suggestions are for resources to get started with this. When Googling the topic, I found there was a lot of different information and I was hoping there would be a book I could purchase or a website that gives me a crash course into the whole process.

Any info helps!

Thanks!

I did the same. I used way to much glue on the fletch. This year i bought the fletch pro whuch makes it super easy and have learned that hot glue is good to hold your screw tip mounts in the front. Good luck!

 

[D.Rose]

I would recommend finding a single person to learn from and ask questions. Everyone has their own ways of building and own ideas of what should be done. If you listen to to many people you will be very confused more than likely.

My most important tip is buy a squaring tool. Take a paint pen and go around the end of the arrow. Use the squaring tool and when you cant see anymore paint then your arrow end is square.

 

[RandySavage]

For tuning and determining if it is all working, I listened to several podcasts and videos. Lots of good info on this site as well. Here is what I came up with for the general process.

1. Archersadvantage to select arrows and components. Build arrows, or perhaps 3-4 for testing.
2. Tune arrows to each other by nock tuning
3. Paper tune fletched arrow at 7 yards. Do this by adjusting rest for vertical and then cams for horizontal.
4. Paper tune bare shaft arrow at 7 yards ( add tape to rear of arrow that weighs same as all the vanes). Do this by adjusting rest/cams.
5. Make fletched arrow and bareshaft have same point of impact at 20 yards. Do this by adjusting rest (see the gillingham/GT Arrows YouTube video for how this works), probably just a small amount like 1/64” at a time.
6. Same as above at 30 yards
7. Same as above at 40 yards.
8. Make sure fletched field point and broadhead arrows have same point of impact at 40 yards. Do this by adjusting rest.

After I did this my bow shot four different types of fixed broadheads (all that I have) to the same poi as fieldpoints.

It’s quite a process, especially your first time, but very much worth it in my opinion. There are a lot of different processes folks use, this is just what I did, again based on assimilating a lot of different sources. Best of luck!

Awesome thanks for the advice! I'm very excited for a summer project like this. I will definitely be using the Archers Advantage program, thanks for sharing! It looks like you can print custom sight tapes with that as well so that's another huge advantage for me!

 

[Mighty Mouse]

do you know where I could find out information about how much weight I'd like to put up front, or different methods of fine tuning that weight? I've typically ran 125 grain broadheads because I know FOC is an important factor.

You can find a wide range of opinions on the importance or non-importance of FOC. Personally, I choose a target total arrow weight and let FOC fall where it may. I prefer heavy arrows, and since most weight adders go on the front, my FOC values end up pretty high (15-20%).

If you want to experiment with different amounts of front-end weight, I suggest using heat reversible glue (aka, "hot melt") to secure your inserts so you can easily remove them later. Pretty much every arrow manufacturer warns against using hot melt with carbon shafts, but I think that's just a CYA statement to avoid liability for someone overheating and weakening/ruining the carbon. As long as you're careful and don't apply a flame directly to the carbon (heat the end of a field point and let it conduct heat back to the insert), you won't damage the carbon. I use Bohning Cool Flex on all my arrows and haven't had any issues with heat damage to the shaft. Hot melt is commonly thought to be less secure than epoxy, but I personally haven't had any issues with hot-melted inserts coming out. If you were concerned about that, you could switch to epoxy once you get your arrow configuration finalized.

Gold Tip's FACT weights can be used to fine tune front-end weight. They're available in 10/20/50 grain increments, can be stacked on top of each other, and are compatible with any standard (8-32) threaded insert with threads cut all the way through to the back. If you hot melt your inserts, you don't actually need the special extra long wrench to install FACT weights (just remove the insert and use a standard size hex wrench).

 

[WakePraySlay]

Hey guys, new the forums here, but from what I can tell this is extremely knowledgable crowd around here!

I'm going to try my hand at building my own arrows this season and was wondering what some suggestions are for resources to get started with this. When Googling the topic, I found there was a lot of different information and I was hoping there would be a book I could purchase or a website that gives me a crash course into the whole process.

Any info helps!

Thanks!

Hey welcome to the forums! I just did a very in depth arrow build. I will be posting here in the next few days with pictures and the steps I take to build my arrows. I’d love to have you along. Doing it to help newbies and seasoned archers. We can all learn from each other whether new to the sport or not!

 

[MattB]

Youtube

 

[RandySavage]

Hey welcome to the forums! I just did a very in depth arrow build. I will be posting here in the next few days with pictures and the steps I take to build my arrows. I’d love to have you along. Doing it to help newbies and seasoned archers. We can all learn from each other whether new to the sport or not!

Thanks! I appreciate it! I'll definitely check it out! It seems like this is a very deep rabbit hole to head down, so I'm excited to learn everything I can!

 

[WakePraySlay]

Thanks! I appreciate it! I'll definitely check it out! It seems like this is a very deep rabbit hole to head down, so I'm excited to learn everything I can!

Everyone has their own ways of doing things and I’m just showing people how I do mine. But most importantly gotta make sure you have the right tools.