DIY Arrow straightener

Tim_Archer

Member
I?ve just started making my first set of wooden arrows. I bought 2 dozen pine 11/32 shafts from Boyton and some have needed straightening. Seeing arrow straighteners would set me back $60 or so, I instead bought a $5 pulley with a self-tapping screw from a local hardware store and mounted it on a short length of dowel. I used it last night for the first time and it worked really well. After identifying the high point of the bends by rolling the shafts on a table, I used an iron to heat the shaft and then used the roller on them. Took a little bit of practice but even never having done this before, I was able to straighten 10 shafts in little over an hour. Very happy with the results (plus I was able to tell my wife I?m finally doing the ironing :p )
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geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Nice idea. Don't tell the wife...... you could end up with too much ironing and not enough time to bend bows or straighten arrows.
 

Tim_Archer

Member
Apparently I left the hardest shaft till last. The final one from the dozen was really, really bent. Spent a lot of time on it and while it was better, it still was nowhere near straight. Luckily I had ordered 2 dozen so I chose another shaft from the other dozen. I'll probably go and work on the troublesome shaft in the future, but at this point I just want to get these arrows completed. I've got a brand new Bickerstaffe longbow that I'm just dying to shoot! :D
 

Tim_Archer

Member
Ok looks like I spoke too soon. Is it possible for straightened shafts to revert back to their bent state after a night or two? I was all ready to cut the shafts to length and varnish them when I checked them for straightness and the majority of them were bent again. Some worse than before! :(
 

Corax67

Well-known member
It's timber Tim - anything is possible and highly probable.

My dad used to make walking sticks and I've known ones he seasoned or straightened still develop kinks. Obviously not an issue with sticks but arrows are a different matter.

I know from making model boats that planks can be permanently formed by steaming and clamping into jigs so maybe the key to arrow straightening is the same - steam the shafts lightly then clamp tightly between a pair of planks or a plank and bench & allow to dry for a few days.

Used to use an old wallpaper stripper to do the plank steaming, plenty available cheaply second hand and they are really effective - for shafts you might even get away with making a steam chamber from a plastic storage box. The Really Useful Box range has an extra long wrapping paper box that should be perfect if you can get one in Oz.

Hope you manage to salvage your shafts.



Karl
 
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