Footed arrow making

1. Where can I find information on making footed arrows

2. Where can I get a footing jig or how do I make one?

I like making arrows and would like to have a good project to do.

Try pip bickerstaffes' book "The heritage of the longbow" which has step by steps on how to do it.....to be honest though you don't need a jig just a sharp block plane and be patient...oh and the footing material can be bought at steve strattons website http://www.diyarchery.co.uk/

Cool. Thanks for that. Ill see if I can find some one with the book to photocopy the footing section for me. I dont want to buy it cos I wont read the rest. I think I understand how to attach the foot to the shaft but its how to get accurate footed and slots in the shaft that will fit together perfectly that confuse me.

Hilary Greenland also has good stuff in her book "the Traditional Archers' Handbook: A practical Guide."

Turning spindles from a woodturning supplier a good source of footing woods on-line. Purpleheart is a good reliable start although walnut is easier to work.

Suggest you spend a few pennies and buy Hilary's book, there's lots inthere about arrow making, I found it a much better more practical (and less sexist!) read than Pip's book, more in it and it's cheaper.

Tools: yes, small block plane and sandpaper. I use a modeller's plane with disposable blades, works better than my expensive and tuned block plane! An arrow board is useful (can be obtained from Richard head).

I suggest you try a two-point splice first, it's easiest.

The most difficult part is cutting the footings- unless you have a decent-sized bandsaw or can use a friend's one. A 6tpi skip tooth I found gave the most consistent result on purpolehart and other exotics.

Regards,

DH.

Try this site

http://www.whisperingwindarrows.com/

And this one

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...1;t=022465;p=2

There is a different style of jig on the Flybow.com shop website

http://www.flybowshop.com/assets/s2d...lybowshop.com/

Under the Arrow building material section.
An unusual method and I think recommended by someone on Archeryuk.

I do not know how strong the joint would be.

Best wishes, Mark Huff

Hello Wingate

The trad talk link comes up with
"You have requested a topic that does not exist! "

I would be interested to find out whats at the other end of the link

Best wishes, Mark

Originally Posted by Huffy

There is a different style of jig on the Flybow.com shop website

http://www.flybowshop.com/assets/s2d...lybowshop.com/

Under the Arrow building material section.
An unusual method and I think recommended by someone on Archeryuk.

I do not know how strong the joint would be.

Best wishes, Mark Huff

Some of those fletchings look awsome. Tempted to try the eagle stlyes on my field arrows when I make them.

Originally Posted by Huffy

There is a different style of jig on the Flybow.com shop website

http://www.flybowshop.com/assets/s2d...lybowshop.com/

Under the Arrow building material section.
An unusual method and I think recommended by someone on Archeryuk.

I do not know how strong the joint would be.

Best wishes, Mark Huff

Mark, the repair is very strong if you do a clean cut and a nice glue line with a waterproof wood glue. I have got a lot of use and value-for-money from one of these jigs. Very easy to use. It is more of a repair type footing as opposed to a footing in the usual sense. If I broke an arrow behind the point it was useless as it would be an inch to short. Now I can just splice on a new section and the arrow is good as new. This is really important when you have spent a lot of time and money getting a matched set of competition arrows. If you use the same wood the repair is actually hard to spot and has no effect on spine.

Schme1440
I've a box in my garage full of different hardwood off cuts ideal for footings.. I use them on all my footed arrows.
P.M. me if you want some.

Thanks Mac,
I will look into buying the jig or may have a chat with one of the lathe operators at work. The jig appears to be a length of tube with the bore being the arrow diameter and an angle cut on it. (There must be some benefit to working in an engineering factory)

The section you splice on to the arrow, is it a part of another broken arrow or do you use a piece of square timber and plane it down after gluing to the arrow shaft.

Many thanks, Mark

Hi Mark - I just use another piece of round shaft and align the grain so both bits are running the same way. IFAA rules forbid any markings on the shaft that could be used as sight aids and I have been told that some arrows I previously footed with darker hardwood Reparrow sections were illegal (see my webpage for more info on the Reparrow footings). By using a section of the same shaft wood repairs are not noticeable.
As far as the jig goes it is basically a metal tube with a clamping system at one end and an angle template for running a sharp knife down - I get best results with a Stanley knife for the main cut and a stanley blade held upright as a scraper. The important bit is the clamp as unless the shaft is locked in tightly it can twist or move slightly during the cutting. Both pieces to be joined must be the same angle or the join will be slightly out of alignment. I have two of these clamps in different sizes. Once glued I hold them together with superstrong clothes pegs for an hour or so then transfer the shaft to my Black& Decker workbench. There are two V-grooves in the ends of the wooden plates that slide together on the workmate surface. Pop the shaft in there, wind up the handles to bring both plates together and the repaired shaft will stay straight while the glue cures.

Sorry Huffy. The Link is harder to find than it used to be, but here are 2 photos that show the jig for use with a router.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...rFinalPass.jpg