Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Well, I done went and did it. The Cartrette family went to the NC Ren Faire today. I must admit that I really went hoping to find one thing: a decent bow for a reasonable price. I think I found it. I came home with what I am told is an English style bamboo (I know that's not English) longbow. It is 68" with a 40 # draw at 28". It got really rainy at the faire and we left before we got any good pics. Maybe tomorrow I can post some pics of the bow and some of us in our gear, once it dries out.
That leads to a question. Are there any good tutorials either on the web, or in book/video form that will teach me to make arrows for this thing? For that matter, are there any good inexpensive arrows out there until I learn to make my own?
As always, thanks.

Hi Eric:

Try www.3Riversarchery.com they have been around for a while and have a good rep. Their prices are reasonable and they have ready made arrows and all the fixings for you to make your own.

There are several articles on the web for making your own. Basically the parts you'll need are wood dowels (Port Cedar is a good wood to start with, practical for this purpose and not too expensive) glue, paint or stain, a sealer some waxed thread (the same you might use for leather stitching or a synthetic sinew, if you're not a stickler) and feathers (they must all be from the same wing and trimmed on same side). There is a fletching vice which keeps the feathers parrallel to each other as you mount them (but it is costly in the scheme of things) or you can just eyeball it.

For tools: sandpaper, a paint brush, a sharp knife a drill and bit for starting the nock. You can get away without the drill by slowly "drilling" the hole with a small sharp hobby knife.

Even if you're off a little when fletching, the arrow will still travel fairly true as any imbalance will be mostly eliminated as the arrow spins toward its' target.

Also check out several archery suppliers charts. They will tell you what weight arrowhead to use with what diameter shaft and weight bow.

The arrowheads I assume you'll smith yourself.

Thanks for the info, Pete. I also found a link on Andy's site to Allegheny Mountain's site. I was wondering why it stated which wing the feather came from. I'll google Arrow making and see what I come up with.
As for making my arrowheads, the guy that I contacted still hasn't let me know when I can go out and get some lessons from him. I may have another person to call for help though. Ironically this person is a friend to the guy that said he would teach me. The person taught me much about my day job as a saw filer and he did blacksmithing on the side. But now that the school shut down the saw filing classes, they have him teaching blacksmithing, so I don't know if he will be willing to teach me on Saturdays. All I can do is ask the first guy again to see how his business is going, and if that doesn't work out, ask his friend to see if he is willing. But I'd REALLY like to make my own!

The reason why you should use feathers from the same wing and side is that feathers from the right wing and feathers from the left wing are shaped opposite (the way they are bent), that is if you use feathers from different wings or from the same wing but cut from the opposite side they will work against each other in flight. You won't get the arrow to revolve as it flys (think rifling in a gun except the rifle groves are not on the inside of the barrel but are on the outside of the arrow, the fletching) and so you won't get the proper gyroscopic action of the arrow rotateing and keeping it true in flight.

There was a guy on Ebay selling trade arrow heads, simple 2 dimensional cutouts that actually work quite well and were inexpensive. I'll check and see if they are still available and post back here.

The ones I was thinking of arn't currently on Ebay. The same seller is offering a slightly different arrowhead see auction 270215324981

vendor : mr7shot I've dealt with him of several occasions and never had a problem.

If you are interested in the ones I mentioned earlier, pm me with your address again and I dig one up from my archery stuff and send it down to you. It would be real easy to cut it out of stock.

You can also check out Rudderbows.com I have a Medieval Siege warbow from him and just ordered a hickory backed walnut flatbow so I can tell you first hand his products are top notch. He not only sells arrows but the tools and supplies to make your own, and Jim is a great guy who's always ready to answer questions to boot.

Rudderbow is a wonderful site. I haven't checked out their arrows yet though. I think I'll go to E-bay, then over to Rudderbow and see what everyone has to offer.
I also think I'll pick up a volume or two . . . or three of The Traditional Bowyer's Bible off of Amazon. I saw last night that there is a fourth volume out that I did not know about.

Well, the Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Vols I and II are on their way to me. Or at least will be within 5-9 business days. I checked out Three Rivers and for some reason that site locks up my computer. Probably the sorry dial-up connection.
I hope the books will explain the different types of arrowheads. I've seen those on 3R and on Rudderbows. They should be easy enough to make. I also saw a couple in Arms and Armor, but nothing is explained there. It's only a couple of pics. But I have little knowledge of what a bodkin is. I do know what a broadhead looks like.
Sheesh! For somebody as fascinated by ancient weapons as I am, I sure have NOT done my homework on them!

Okay, 3 Rivers still locks up my computer. So, I'll pose this question to you who know a bit about archery. My bow, as stated in the opening post, has a draw weight of 40# at 28". Now, I have learned that I need a 5/16" shaft. But I can't find out the shaft length. Would it be 28" ? I bought my son a little youth bow yesterday that shoots 26" arrows and they actually are about long enough for my bow (his birthday is next Friday, so he doesn't know about the bow yet). Any further suggestions?

Take a 36 inch dowel, put a temporary nock or notch at one end. Draw your bow to your anchor point. Do a little warmup first. If you're not sure of your anchor point check out one of your books, they will cover it in depth I'm sure. If they don't just reply here and one of us will cover it. Have someone else carefully, mark this temporary shaft at the point it extends from the front of your bow. Draw it several times and mark it in different colors, use the longest. This will be your arrow shaft length.

If you are uncomfortable doing it yourself, go to any archery store and they will generally have a long arrow with the inches marked off on the shaft. If you go this route, make a list of questions you have and pick their brains while you are there. If they tell you anything costly, check with other sources before commiting any large sums of money.

The weight at 28" is a standardizied way to determine the weight of the bow and not shaft length.

Your size, arm length and shoulder width are all factors in determining one's arrow length. Mine's 31" and no my knuckles don't drag on the ground.

Thanks Pete. I'll check that out before the end of the day. Got the arrowhead today. It'll be pretty simple to make. A nice "starter" for an inexperienced smith. Though there will be little actual smithing, if any, on that type of head. I may use the forge to blue them though. That could be a nice touch. Heat treating the arrowheads . . . hmmm.