got my shaft maker running and it seems to work pretty good. i had to use my bandsaw to cut a blank with just to try it out, but it really seemed to work good . guess ill be buying a table saw now.. i know john said doug fir was good but are there other good woods that home depot will have ?
High quality shafts from WAPITI ARCHERY PORT ORFORD CEDAR SHAFTS are not by accident.
We are out of the past where quality & service is all we have to offer. Our wood is cut into 1 ˝ boards to facilitate drying with a minimum of checking. It is then stacked and sticker sealed, covered & protected. When we bring it to the shop, it is placed in our low temp. kiln and is dried for 3-4 weeks to 6% moisture. The boards are then cut to length and run through a planer to check the grain. The grain is marked and the boards are tapered to follow the grain. The maximum variation allowable is 1/8 to 3/16, this results in a lot of reject wood. We run the wood through a band saw and cut into ˝ squares. The square sticks are then checked for run out and straightened as necessary, as our shaft machine will not run crooked wood. The squares are hand fed through an old fashioned shaft machine with turns at 5000 rpm and it cuts, tapers, and burnishes the shaft. The shaft machine is a basic and simple machine, with a mind of its own. We change cutter blades every 100 shafts, or sooner if necessary. The little machine keeps us on our toes. We let the shafts sit for 48 hrs, or more to stabilize, as the heat and pressure of the burnishing process compresses the outer fibers several thousandths of an inch. The shafts are all hand spined on a dial indicator for accuracy, and then weighed on an electronic scale. We attempt to produce a shaft like some of you have never seen and those of you who have been around a while, may not have seen in 25 years or so. In spite of all our efforts, we do get blemished shafts that we sell ˝ price. They are very serviceable shafts, they are not grain weighed and not restraightened, blemished and not always pretty. We call them stump shooters. Our equipment nor are we perfect, we do strive for the highest quality possible. If you become a customer of ours and have a problem, let us know first, we want you to be a happy customer.
Not to disagree with John but I'd steer clear of cherry. My experience with gunstocks is cherry is very "brash", which means it can break pretty easy. French, I might have some straight grained osage left if you are feeling frisky.You won't find it at HD but I always thought sassafras would make good arrows.I hand planed a couple and they seem to be very strong but light.
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I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.- Hank Rearden
you're probably right about cherry, Tim, I was just thinking about the grain. I think Maple would work also. However, any fruit or nut tree would be heavy
-- Edited by john nail on Tuesday 25th of January 2011 06:50:32 AM
bill i got a ways to go befor i hit full production...lol mostly no room to work right now but i did hook a motor up to that shaft maker and must say i was pleasantly surprised
Ash on the other hand can be both fastidious and persnickety. Some depending on the micro-clime where it grew can be quite somber and foreboding. Mostly though you'll find it to be totally uproarious and ludicrous.
"Ash on the other hand can be both fastidious and persnickety. Some depending on the micro-clime where it grew can be quite somber and foreboding. Mostly though you'll find it to be totally uproarious and ludicrous"
Aren't you the cunning-linguist! (probably another reason you're still married)
bill i got a ways to go befor i hit full production...lol mostly no room to work right now but i did hook a motor up to that shaft maker and must say i was pleasantly surprised
mine has been modified to use an electric motor and worth less money now. originals sell up to $500 , but they cant make arrows as fast as dennis can loose them. MINE CAN .......
