Ad'lans Guide to Fletching (Arrowmaking)

[Ad'lan]

Okay, this here guide is gonna be for the Modern Archer, someone who can go to a Shop, and buy Shafts, who can order stuff online and find a tin of varnish. I may, at some point, do a Guide to Primitive Fletching. However, do not hold your breath. I have lots of exams, and another Photo guide to finish off.

Now, first things first. I've been saying I'd do this guide when I got a Round Tuit, so here it is:


Maybe I should just make that into my Avatar, I use it so much.....

Now, Back on topic, Here's my set up:

Thats:
A dozen, 32" POC (Port Orford Cedar) Shafts, spined to 60lb. (I'll come to spining later, in fact pretty much everything on this list will get at least a Paragraph explaining it)
A Fletching Jig (I used to Fletch with a Straight Jig, but my experiances Bowhunting in Texas have inspired me to go out and get a Helical Fletching clamp. There are plenty of good fletching Jigs out there, but I like Bitzenburger, though thats a tad expensive for an initial investment).
A Pot of ordinary clear varnish, and a paint brush
3 Dozen 5" Rightwing feathers (shield cut)
a Dozen Nocks
a Dozen 125 grain Steel heads
a Craft Knife
Hot Melt Glue
A Lighter (Saw somthing Dam shiney that I want now http://www.cookware-online.co.uk/ishop/930/shopscr2058.html)

I also used some Cardboard, and a Newspaper (the Independant), but thats just to clear up the mess, and support the arrows while they dry out.


As you can see, Duct tape does indeed, hold the world together. This is as far as I've got tonight.

In the next post, Expect Information on: Shaft Choice, Jig Choice (Straight, or Helical), Varnishing (wether or not to do so), Arrowheads, Fletching (style and size) and General Arrow building Tips.

But First, I go Eat, and apply the second coat of Varnish.

[Kentucky J]

People probably think they are pretty high speed when they do all that brass tumbling/making their own rounds and stuff.

And then Ad'lan comes along. The dude fletches.

Who here can say that? Or anywhere? Probably some guy in England about a thousand years ago or so, before robots took charge of the whole fletching industry. You sir, are ranger as hell.

Before I forget, what is the exchange rate of USD to these 'tuits'? I would like to trade sometime. I like foreign money because I don't really understand it.

[arrowolf]

I use an Arizona Pocket Jig for fletching. Works well enough but lately my biggest problem had been with glue not sticking to the shaft. The combination I used years ago suddenly became incompatible.

[Ad'lan]

People probably think they are pretty high speed when they do all that brass tumbling/making their own rounds and stuff.

And then Ad'lan comes along. The dude fletches.

Who here can say that? Or anywhere? Probably some guy in England about a thousand years ago or so, before robots took charge of the whole fletching industry. You sir, are ranger as hell.

Before I forget, what is the exchange rate of USD to these 'tuits'? I would like to trade sometime. I like foreign money because I don't really understand it.

Thanks for the Complements, It's really not that big a deal, Nicest arrows I ever have, ever, ever owned, were made by a friend of mine in texas, and they were not even tuned to my bow! thats how awesome he is. I used to have a 18. Now I have 6 for shooting, 6 For the PAW and 6 broken from grouping to close (four from robin hoods). Thats how good the Arrows are.

Tuits are non exportable, in their round form. Square ones are freely exchangable, tied to the Flainian Pobble Bead.

I use an Arizona Pocket Jig for fletching. Works well enough but lately my biggest problem had been with glue not sticking to the shaft. The combination I used years ago suddenly became incompatible.

Have you tried sanding the shaft before applying the glue? especially if it is Carbon or Aluminium. Often, a new enviromental law will come in, changin what solvents can be used, or the way they can be produced, reducing their effectiveness (My chemistry teach calls this Enviromental Facism. But then, he likes lead in his petrol, because it only hurts children).

Okay, lets see what did I write on the List,

(Note, before we begin. Several times I will mention the Importance of Consistancy, as some you you may know, consistancy is the key to accuracy and skill in archery. And so, when making arrows, it is important, that they are consistant. Even if they are wrong for your bow, you would adjust, and cope better, than shooting some good, and some bad)

Shaft Choice
(No sniggering Oaf Patrol)
There are three main Shaft Choices.
Wood, Aluminium and Carbon. Of the Three, Wood is the Cheapest (And IMO the coolest) Carbon the Best, and Aluminium the Crapest.

I am building this set of arrows because a friend of mine in America (the same friend who built my best set of arrows), has just seent me a Fred Bear Super Kodiak (I did pay for it, he just had a friend who could get it at COST!) He is one of the nicest guys you could possibly meet. Don't believe me? Read this.



I really can't wait for it arrive (expected in less than a week ), 60lb, custom string silencers, Short and manouverable (well, for a trad bow. And trust me, when you've hunted from tree stands with a 6'1" longbow, anything is short and manouverable).

Anyway. It's going to become my main shooting, hopefully hunting and if the SHTF Bow. I still love my Longbow and my Warbow's, and will eventually be back into the 90lb draw weight range, but right now, this recurve is my pride and joy. So, I'll be splashing out, and building a set of Carbon Arrows for her.

But, I want to get the carbon arrows perfect, and to do that, I need to get a feel for her, and Ideally, I'd like to be able to shoot her ASAP.

Thus, this set of Arrows.

Any way, back to Shaft Choice.

Wood
The Most Common wood used for arrow shafts is Port Orford Cedar, also known as Lawson's Cypress, it is a nice, reasonably dense wood, straight grained and makes nice arrows. Also common is Scots Pine, which shares many features with POC. Historically, many woods have been used, Ash, Hornbeam, Boxwood, Hickory and others.

Wood has several advantages, it is quite cheap, a Dozen, spined shafts (very roughly spined though) cost me £15 quid. For Alums, the next cheapest, it'd be closer to £20.
It's traditional. Nothing quite like shooting the old way, just like Robin Hood, the men at Agincourt, and at Crecy. This also means you must use wood in some Field Archery Classifications (classes in which you shoot, so you don't have someone with a longbow trying to out shoot a stabilised, sighted, let off equipped compound).
It's fun, fun to make, fun to shoot.

However, wood has many more disadvantages.
It's a natural product. Meaning you will never get a consistant set of shafts, never find two with the same spine and the same weight, and thus they will all fly differently. To get a group that shoots as well as you takes time, and thought (or a lot of skill), unless you are just begining, in which case, the store spining should do just fine.
Wood Arrows are Sold in a rough spining, groups of say 40-45lb, 45-50lb, 50-55lb. And within these groups, you will find some that are 50's, some say 52's, and some 55's, So really, you want to get a Dozen that are spined at the same weight (even if it is slightly different to your bows Draw weight, spine is not simply controlled by the shaft). A dozen 52's would be better than a dozen 50-55's.

So, unless you have no choice, or are buying your first arrows to learn with (or you are paying a lot for specially, individually spined arrows), then it's best to buy your arrow shafts in person. The Shop might have an arrow spine tester, with which you can go through the shops stock of arrows, and select a dozen the same, or you can simply go through, bend them gently, and find a dozen that feel the same. I do both, and I take my time about it. The Shop shouldn't mind, especially if you might become a loyal customer (speaking of which, this is my ShopClickers Friendly and happy to help, with advice, or a cup of tea or cool water).

Wood Shafts come, generally in two sizes, 5/16", and 11/32". 11/32" generally for higher weight bows, unless we are talking War bow weights, in which case, you really need custom shafts. It's not important which one you use, so long as you know, because nothing sucks more than cycling 6 miles there, 6 miles back, and then doing it again because you got the wrong size nock.

Wood is generally only used for Traditional Bows, as the shafts are to thick to use in a modern compound, and sometimes can't take the stress of it, with slightly spectacular results. Compounds use carbons or

Aluminium
As you might be able to tell, not my Favourite shafting material. Really because it dosen't serve any fuction for me, for compound and techy recurve shooters, it takes the place of wood as a low cost shaft, and in many respects, it's better than wood, it is fairly constant in spine (better than most humans can shoot), although it can be bent. it is also constant in weight.

However, it is less robust, less concistant and less spock than the last shafting Material

Carbon
Carbon Fiber Arrows are sometimes still dogged by stories from the past. It is true that in the past, a traditional longbow shooter (shooting off the hand, rather than off the bow), might have had to worry about getting very nasty carbon splinters, but no longer. Modern Carbons are tough, consistant, hard wearing and expensive.

My personal choice for an Arrow is the Carbon express heritage range, which I like very much. But, it is slightly sacreligious to shoot carbons off an english longbow. But call me a heretic any time. The only problem I've found with carbon is their expense, and the need to be careful using hot melt glue around them. The Heat and Flame can damage the shaft.


Both Carbon and Aluminium use Inserts to hold in place their heads and nocks, while wood shafts use glue on or screw on ones. This means that most accoutrements are not interchangeable between them.

Okay. Thats Shafts Done. Clear, understandable, not to technical? but not to dumbed down either? Any Questions?

[arrowolf]

I sanded, cleaned with acetone, just about everything. It semed the glue just evaporated. I don't use anything but port orford cedar right now. I'm down to 4 or 5 bows. I've got a box full of old aluminum arrows. I only shoot them with the compound, which means never. But I may have to get it out of the closet and dust if off.

[SamuraiBobX26]

Neat and informative proejc thta you got there. did you ever finish the arrow napping and bow making post? I am just curious since I haven't checked tose post lately.

Also, when I shot compound I used carbon fiber all of the time with great results. Like you said they were expensive but it seemed like they flew faster than aluminum arrows. I never tested that theory but it always seemed that way.

Anyway great post as always.

[Famine]

Now, show me how to craft an arrow out of wood I've found from the outdoors. Very cool thread.

Kevin

[Ad'lan]

Now, show me how to craft an arrow out of wood I've found from the outdoors. Very cool thread.

I may, at some point, do a Guide to Primitive Fletching. However, do not hold your breath. I have lots of exams, and another Photo guide to finish off.

Learn how to do it the easy way, first.


Bow building Photoguide needs Finishing off, but thats not gonna happen soon.

Flint Knapping and String making Photo guides are are complete.


Varnishing
I'm Varnishing my Arrows for several reasons.
It makes them Waterproof, so they don't absorb moisture in the rain, or on damp days shoot different to sunny days (as much anyway).
Also means I can loose an arrow, and if I find it again next week, it'll still be alright, rather than rotted.
Varnish means blood and gore from zombies won't stain your arrow.

It increases the stiffness of the arrow. I'll focus on why I want this when I talk about how to spine your arrows.

It increases the weight of your arrows (not by much though). Which again, I'll talk about in Arrow building.

Instead of Varnishing, you can leave wooden arrows plain, or you can wax them or oil them. These have similar effects to varnish. Aluminium and Carbon arrows need no varnish, as they come ready finished. But often archers will 'crest' their arrows with paint or premade stickers to make them easier to see if lost or shot in low light conditions, and to identify the arrows owner.

[andygates]

When I did reenactment we used to oil our shafts - a bit of boiled linseed oil and leave for a couple of days. Smells great and stops the shafts warping in the damp (we were always weekend camping, so dewy dampness was an everyday thing). Didn't really make them waterproof but was a good halfway.

Ad'lan do you tie as well as glue your fletchings?

[Jeriah]

Wow, this thread has gone on this long without someone making a joke about it being Ad'lan's Guide To Felching? I'm really impressed. I'd thought people on this forum were all immature and filthy minded, but you've all really impressed me with your restraint.

Well, there I've gone and dragged it into the gutter...

Jokes aside, great thread.

Ad'lan: I have some somewhat ghetto pseudo longbows made from (approx.) 1 1/2" diameter Yew limbs; they have a D profile but because they're made from limbs, not trunk wood, they're like a watermelon, with the red flesh being the heartwood and the green rind being the sapwood. Is this a retarded/unworkable way to make a bow? If not, which side should face towards me when I string it? The flat side with the heartwood showing, or the convex side with the sapwood showing?

Sorry if this is off topic, but it seemed related enough.

[Ad'lan]

Yeah, I do, mostly because it looks cool. I know how to Tie Flights on as well, but I now just do it as an effect, and so bind it afterwards.

Okay, progress today, Nocks and Heads.



Okay, More tools. Hacksaw, Pencil, Ruler.

I'm gonna cut down the shafts, to my draw length. So,

Draw Length
My Draw length is 28 1/2" a little over the Standard, but then, I'm a lanky git. To find your draw length, simply get down to your local bow shop, and get them to do it, because it's much easier than measuring it your self. It is the distance between your bow, and your anchor point (how far you draw back the string). I measure it from nock to arrowhead, rather than total length of the arrow.


I cut the shafts down to 30" so as to leave a little spare either side.



The Off cuts make good kindling, and there is nothing like the smell of cedar wood sawdust.

Okay, so we have shafts, cut to an inch and a Half more than your draw length.

Time to Put Nocks on them



Candle, Nocks, Hot Melt Glue, Knife, or Arrow sharpener.

Note on the Arrow Sharpener. I only have one in 5/16", not 11/32" which is annoying, but I make arrows for my whole family, even my dad only shoots 40lb, so 5/16 is usually what i work with. I show it, because it's a nifty gadget, even if it is really only and oversize Pencil Sharpener.



Whittle down the Shaft till it fits nicely with the inside of the nock, and glue using the hotmelt glue.

I like hot melt glue for many reasons. It allows me to easily fix the nocks or heads back on while in the field if they come off (Any good ZS member should never go anywhere without fire). It allows me to swap out heads or knocks easily, so I can change the nocks orintation when tuning later, or increase the heads weight, or swap it out for broadheads.



So there we are, a Dozen Nocked Arrows. It is vitally important the nock is alingned straight onto the shaft, so be careful. a good way to check is to rotate the arrow and observe it from all angles. For strength, align the nock so that when it is on the string, the grain is horizontal, rather than vertical. This also affects the spine, and when really fine tuning my arrows, I like to rotate the nock ever so carefully. to make each arrow fly just right. More on that later.

Heads
Head grain weight is an important choice in Building arrows, and greatly affects spine. But I'll deal with Spine Later.

The Most Common Grain heads are 70gr, 80gr, 90gr, 100gr and 125gr, for Wooden Target Arrows. I couldn't say for target compound arrows, though they tend towards much, much lighter, and for hutning arrows, 100gr, 125gr and 150gr are the common ones, though you can get some much heavier. For me, I like heavy heads, so I've gone for 125grain steel points. If I could, I'd go for 150gr, or even 200gr.

I'll come to broadheads another time, and probably another thread. If you are building a set with Broadheads, don't forget to leave enough room in the shaft of the arrow so you are not cutting your knuckle/Arrow Self. And Build a few with field points, at hunting distances they fly the same (but remeber to check they do), and you'll save on targets, keep the broadheads nicer too.

So any way, back to the Build


I Mark on the Shaft the distance I'm going to want as my final draw length, (measured from the end of the nock), and I then shave down the shaft to that mark.



See, nice fit.


I like to use a candle for my hot melt glue, and the stick, rather than the Hot melt gun, because:
1. It's more like using pitch, or pine/birch tar, or natural resins.
2. I can keep on heating it up to get it right.



There you are, a Dozen Head and Nocked Arrows, all they need is Fletchings. Which will be posted up later. As I'm doing it right now.

Normally at this point, I'd shoot the arrows without fletchinngs, so I could see how they fly, and make any modifications, but as the bow hasn't arrived yet, and these arrows are not for hunting, only so I can learn the bow, I'm not gonna bother.

[F.I.B.]

Wow this is some great stuff Ad'lan!

Before i didn't have a clue about the intricate nature of archery, you archery people have definitely gained some major respect!

I think i will not be making arrows for my bow just yet, seems like a lot of time/effort/money/knowledge is needed to make decent ones. Thank god for firearms i say

(as promised when i get home tomorrow i will post bow pics)

[Ad'lan]

If you are ever in the UK, or are willing to pay exorbitant fees, I'll build you some I'll even do a string for you as well. Pay for materials and then we'll discuss labor costs

Ad'lan: I have some somewhat ghetto pseudo longbows made from (approx.) 1 1/2" diameter Yew limbs; they have a D profile but because they're made from limbs, not trunk wood, they're like a watermelon, with the red flesh being the heartwood and the green rind being the sapwood. Is this a retarded/unworkable way to make a bow? If not, which side should face towards me when I string it? The flat side with the heartwood showing, or the convex side with the sapwood showing?

Sorry if this is off topic, but it seemed related enough.

If you have Bows made of good American yew, and they are being wasted. I will personally swim across the pond, walk to Chicago, track you down, steal your bows, and the hunt you down with them.

D Profile Longbows are the style also known as English Longbows, and if of a certain draw weight and subsection of English Longbows, they are Warbows. The Design is not the most efficiant, but is strong and rugged, allowing bows of great draw weight to be made, and easily. The Longbow is sorta the AK of the Archery world. Rough and Ready, but accurate enough for the Job. Except it's a .50 AK

The wood from the limbs should be just as good as the wood from the trunk. Provided it is straight, relitivly knot free, and fairly dense. One of the problems with English yew is the climate is too good, and so it grows to fast.

Now, describe again the way the heart wood and Sap wood are. The Heart wood is dense, and resists compression. The Sapwood is elastic, and snaps back, together they create a natural lamination, acting as a spring creating a composite bow of greater strength and cast than other woods. The Heart wood should be on the Belly of the Bow, Facing towards you, and the Sap wood should be on the Back of the Bow, facing way from you.

Here's a diagram:



Hope that helps.

[Ad'lan]

Okay, finished some of the Arrows today, half a dozen left to go, but I'm out of Arrow Cement, and the Bowshop isn't open till tuesday. Oh well

On with the build first, then I'll explain stuff.



You can tell how far I am into a project by the amount of Debrie

Here's what I need, Fletchings, in this case rightwing barred turkey feather, two white for every red. My Fletching Jig, a Bitzenburger Helical Jig, and Arrow Mate Arrow Cement, which is a Glue I use for attatching the flights, as obviously, trying to heat a feather over an open flame is a bad idea. The Candle is there because...er.... because.

Any way, here it is in action:


Dosn't look like much really, arrow goes in Clamp, Clam fits on Jig Magnetically, Jig Holds arrow in place, and there you go. wait for the Glue to dry, remove the clamp, rotate the screw which orientates the nock (I painted notches on, Don't know if you can see, but they show how far to rotate), and do another flight. Slow, but good, and I can get other stuff done while waiting for the arrows to dry.


Here is one finished arrow, you can see the slight twist of the Helical twist, which gives the arrows greater spin and stability as it travels, though increases drag and slows the arrow.

All it needs now is Binding with strong Thread (Waxed and Waterproofed if of a natural material). I do this for cosmetic reasons, and because, when I shoot Longbow, I shoot off my hand, which has, in the past, resulted in a badly glued flight stabbing into my hand, giving me very nasty splinters. Binding up the end with thread looks cool, and stops this happening. It's pretty simple, just a dab of glue, and winding, nothing complex.



There's half a dozen, ready and Finished. They feel nicely spined, good stiff shaft, heavy head, total weight 500 odd grain. I'd prefer closer to 600 grain, but this isn't a hunting set.

Ready to Kick some Zombie Arse?


Okay, back to the Guide.
Fletching
Fletching the Arrow, as in actually attatching flight to shaft, is easy, I don't think I need to explain it in much detail.

Choosing your flight's, thas maybe worth explaing.

There are Several Choices for the modern Archer, Feathers, Plastic 'Vanes' and somthing new, only for dropaway rest compound shootersFOB's For me, there is little competition between Feathers and Vanes. Feathers are the most consistant natural product I've come across, are cheap, stronger than plastic, cope better with the wind, and are all round niftyness. For a Compound shooter, well, I don't know. I'm not an expert, and I'm not even an amateur when it comes to compounds. But, I have heard great things about FOB's.

But, even once you've decied to use feathers (the only choice if you are gonna shoot off the hand, or any traditional form of shelf), there are many more options.

Style
Shield
Parabolic
Traditional medival (P&Y)
Raptor


Those are just the sort I can think of off the top of my Head.
Each different style serves a different purpose, for the different uses an arrow is intended for. Fletchings serve to stabilise and arrow in flight, the more drag they create, the faster they stabilise the arrow, but then, the more drag, the more power is lost over distance.

At hunting ranges, this really isn't signifigant, so styles that stabilise the arrow as quickly as possible are used, like the Raptor and the Shield, For target Archery, designs like the Parabolic are more common, this has less drag, and so takes longer to stabilise the arrow, but makes long range shooitng easier.

I'm a bowhunter, even though i can't hunt in the UK, and I practice like I'm gonna use, so I build arrows like hunting arrows, even if I'm never gonna use them to hunt. So I have Shield Fletchings (also, because I'm cheap, and my friend in America sent me several dozen ).

Size
The Most common configuration of Feathers is the traditional 3. But some have used four, placed equidistant. The Number, and size of your flights, also effects drag, just like style (more so than style actually). So I use 5" flights, 4" and 3" are more common amoung the traditional Longbow target shooters, and 2" amoung compound bows (which in truth, need less stabilisation anyway).

Colour, and Arrganement
I use two colours, Red and White, these are easy to spot, making it easier to find arrows lost in undergrowth. And, by using two colours, you can identify the cock Feather. The Cock feather is the one that sticks out, when the other two brush past the bow shelf or hand. For right handers, the cock feather sticks left, for left hands it sticks right. By making it a different colour, you can spot it easily and ensure you knock the arrow right.



You can shoot arrows without flights, and if you do it perfectly everytime, you wouldn't need them. But no one gets a perfec t release every time, especially not in field archery, and even more so when hunting, so fletchings give stability in flight, and ensure that even from a less than stellar release, the arrow flys just right.


Okay, Tommorw, general Arrow building tips and fine tuning.

Any Questions?

[Jamie]

Excellent Thread!!!

Thanks for the cool info and pics...although now I'm tempted to pick up a new hobby/obsession that will make my wife want to kick me out...

When I first saw this thread, I was all ready to put on my bad-ass moderator hat and kick some oafing ass, and then felt chagrined when I saw this wonderful thread and re-read the title...stupid dyslexia...

nfa

[Ad'lan]

Thanks nfa, simple solution. Get your wife into archery as well

Even more advantages to being an Archer in America. Things like no restriction on broadheads and Bowhunting Season


Now, I don't get somthing. Whats Fletching Slang for? What makes it Oafish? I'm confused. Is it me being a shelterd nieve farm boy? or is it an americanism?

[Jamie]

Thanks nfa, simple solution. Get your wife into archery as well

Even more advantages to being an Archer in America. Things like no restriction on broadheads and Bowhunting Season


Now, I don't get somthing. Whats Fletching Slang for? What makes it Oafish? I'm confused. Is it me being a shelterd nieve farm boy? or is it an americanism?

Good idea on getting my wife into archery!

I PMed you on the other

nfa

[Ad'lan]

Hey, I got my Family into Archery just get lifts to the range

Arrow Building
Some General Tips and Tricks.

Arrow Weight.
For hunting Arrows from traditional bows 10-12 grain of weight per lb of draw weight of your bow. So for my 60lb recurve, lots and lots of Varnish, heavy paint and even heavier broadheads to bring me upto 600grain. For carbon arrows you can get inserts and tubes to increase the weight of arrows (or, you can use wire, much cheaper).

If you want to get the most speed out of your bow, you'll want to reduce the weight of your arrows as much as possible. Lighter arrows go faster, and will give you that slightly flatter trajectory that target archers love.

Spine
An Arrows spine is it's flexibility. It is important because of the Archers Paradox. This is the way an arrow flexes when it is first loosed, bending around the bow, before it finally straightens out and flys true.

But this is only happens if the arrow is the right 'spine' the right bendyness. If it is to stiff (for a Right hand shooter) it will hit left of the mark. If it is to bendy, it will hit right.

I'm not a physicist, so I can't really explain it very well. Look it up if you are interested, we archers got along fine without understanding it for thousands of years. I don't really need to change that now.

The Important thing is the arrow should be the right amount of bendyness. The Bendy ness is controlled by the inherant quality of the shaft, the shafts length, and the weight of the head. The Longer the Shaft, the lower (more bendy) the spine, and the higher the weight of the head, the lower the spine.

I like to work with stiff Shafts, and Heavy Heads, as I find this lets me get the spine pretty well nigh on right away. But thats just because I've done this a lot. Experiment with different combinations till you find one that flys true for you.


Fine tuning
http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/Zan_Christensen/Tuning_Your_Bow.shtml

Probably the best article to read on this.

Anything else I could cover, any more questions?


PS: Felching?! I only just found out what that is. Zombie Squad is corrupting my Innocence!

[phoenixmastm]

Ad'lan:

I'm standing by my promise of making this into a .pdf manual when your done. I've already started copying the information down, and I will PM ya a couple questions when I get all the posts copied.

The moment you get that bow finished and any touchup things you want to throw at us out of the way, I'll start finishing the file.


And damnit, now I'm hooked into this, almost worse than my gun obsession.

[Kentucky J]

If you ever make this into a business, you would do well to turn that glorious English Archery logo into a stained glass window. If you do, I will do everything in my power just to go there and have my picture taken in front of it. And buy some bad ass Robin Hood gear while I am at it.

You are on the brink of having the most bad ass window on the planet. On par with The Dude and Catastrophe, if not exceeding.

My scally is off to you, sir.

[Ad'lan]

Pheonix, you gotta long wait. I have Mocks, and Real Exams and so much else to do.

Are there any other guides you can think of? That I could do? Ad'lans Guide to Field Archery and Instinctive Shooting?

Gugnir, all praise goes to CommonHighrise, not me. And If I ever went into busisness as a Bowyer/Fletcher, then I would totally get that as my Window

Would there be a Demand for Genuine English Hand made Longbow/Recurve Strings? Standard $10 Custom $20, wide variety of colours and materials avilible (Dacron, Hemp, Flax, Nettle).

[Kentucky J]

I'm really not overly familiar with the economics of bowyers and such, but if I ever did get into this you can be sure I'd be a partison patron to such a fine establishment. I would probably just set up a stand in the backyard and shoot pumpkins made up like zombies all day. If I were to get to a point where I could actually hit one and people would ask me how I learned, I'd remark, 'I know a guy in the business.'

Give them that half-smirk, half-smile that lets them know my source is legit as hell.

'Yeah, its an ongoing project. Dude says he is going to tackle the trebuchet industry once hes done monopolizing the archery market. I've volunteered to be test-pilot for the new personal transport model hes been working on.'

[ninja-elbow]

Through my experience, and not to be a downer or anything - just pragmatic - most folks that are into traditional and primitive archery already know how to make what they need. That's part of the deal.

Both bowyer/fletchers I know tried to get into the business and both became craftsmen (custom cabinetry and re-creation metal work respectively) to support the bowyer/fletcher business.

Small things like the aforementioned bow strings, finger tabs, quivers, et al. are what sell predominately at 'events' or on the net.

I think it's because when people see a longbow, then see the price tag ($400!!), then see the incidentals ($10... whew) they go for the thing that costs less.

Sorry to sully up this thread with business. I need some horn thumb rings BTW.

[Ad'lan]

No, I know. I'm not a good enough craftsman to do it and even If I was, it'd be very hard. (though I do have a standing offer to be a Carpenters mate with a Bespoke Kitchen Building Firm). But maybe as a pleasent little side earner, doing the little things rather than the big things.

Horn Thumb Rings I've never made, nor tried to make. Hun Archery?