Making Barrelled Arrows Jig

albatross

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Does anyone know where I can buy a tapering jig that uses a hand plane to taper wooden shafts. I have got a 'sandpaper' type. But I want to be able to make shafts without any power tools. I would even like to know if there are any 'plans' to make one available.

Thank you
 
D

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I think you just need a shooting board to hold the arrow while you plane it, by eye... you can mark with a pencil from one end and plane off the marks, then repeat, making shorter marks each time.
Easy to make a shooting board... two bits of 3x1 or similar. plane, rout or saw a chamfer along one long corner of each at 45 degrees, then glue and screw 'em together so the chamfered edges meet like this \/ then nail/glue a piece of ply or similar on the end to act as a stop.
This video (not one of mine! may help:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvwernxQi8A
Del
 

albatross

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Thanks for the reply Del. I have seen that video by Richard Head. I was thinking more along the lines of the 'woodchuck' aluminium channel design. I cannot find anything similar in the UK. I may end-up designing and building one for myself (hense the request for plans as well).
 

geoffretired

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Would the shooting board benefit from a V groove that is shallower towards the stop? I am just thinking that the taper of the groove could match the taper of the finished shaft.
When the arrow is close to being the right shape and diameter, the blade of the plane will be getting close to cutting the sides of the V groove, so that would have to be avoided. Finish with abrasive paper at that point.
 

albatross

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Would the shooting board benefit from a V groove that is shallower towards the stop? I am just thinking that the taper of the groove could match the taper of the finished shaft.
When the arrow is close to being the right shape and diameter, the blade of the plane will be getting close to cutting the sides of the V groove, so that would have to be avoided. Finish with abrasive paper at that point.
Hi Geoff. Yes pretty much. I have come up with a basic idea of a two piece jig. One part to hold the arrow shaft and the second larger part for the plane to slide on. The main problem will be supporting the part tapered shaft to stop it bending under the pressure of the plane blade whilst it is cutting the taper. Since once the taper has been cut on one side it will no longer be in contact with the support when it is rotated 180deg.

But I am working on t!
 

geoffretired

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Hi Dennis, I see what you mean.
I was thinking of taking off a short, thin shaving from near the end, turn a very small amount and remove a second shaving just like the first. Go all round like that then start taking off the second "round" of shavings starting further from the end after each lap.
How about a simple V groove to get down to a round dowel shape first, or are you starting with round dowels and just putting a taper on one end( or both ends) afterwards?
If you start with round wood on the tapered V groove, you would remove a little wood with one shaving and turn a few degrees before taking the next shaving off. The shavings would be short to start off with, like sharpening a brand new pencil takes off a narrow shaving from the end mm or so , all round before your next turn takes off a wider shaving. By the time the wood has turned 180 degrees , only a short piece at the end has been removed. Most of the length is still pressed against the V groove and is supported. If the tapered V groove shooting board is only as long as the taper you want to form, there will be no reason for the tapered end to become unsupported. Again, like the pencil in the sharpener, it fits into the taper better and better as the work progresses. I realise the pencil sharpener cuts in a different direction, but I think narrow shavings produced by small rotations will give similar results.

If the taper V groove is as long as the taper you want on the arrow, as your work progresses and the shavings get longer, so the back end of the arrow is lowered getting a longer contact between the taper length you have cut and taper support from the V groove.
That method could be used in reverse. Use the long taper groove but just rest the tip of the arrow at the wide end of the taper groove. Take off shavings all round near the end. Next time round, hold the shaft a little further into the V groove towards the narrow end. Take off more shavings all round and as each lap is made, put the shaft further towards the narrow end each time. It sounds complicated but my guess is that the length of the shavings will be about the same as the length of the shaft held onto the V groove. So the plane will start cutting at about the wide end of the V groove. I appreciate the wood may move a little along the groove with nothing to stop it, but you will be holding the other end of the shaft and with a sharp plane, the tendency to move will be slight. Remember the shavings may be getting longer but they will always be narrow ones, so not much wood is being removed at any one time.
 

geoffretired

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I have been thinking some more on this idea and think that it depends on perfectly even shavings being taken off all round the shaft, and on every lap from start to finish. Otherwise, you get a taper but it may not be concentric to the long axis. I am thinking that the part of the shaft that has not yet had wood removed, needs to be down on the V groove so it turns concentrically and by turning the shaft like that you will see any high spots as they reach top dead centre. Perhaps turn the shaft, every now and then, without removing any shavings, just to see if any high spots need to be brought down. It seems as if starting with the shaft only part way along the groove might be better than starting with the shaft right along to the end stop. As you move further in towards the end, any unsupported length will become better supported.
I have a shoulder plane that has a shape that lends itself to fitting side runners. Side runners could allow the plane body to run along the taper jig without being able to cut the jig as it works. I guess that is equivalent to your second wider jig for the plane to slide on. I like your idea better as it keeps the plane on line as it works, yes?
 

albatross

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Hello Geoff. Thanks for the reply. I can see the merit of your idea. I will make a Vee block and a planing jig at the correct angle. I think I will have to take off a shaving and then advance the shaft to expose the next section until I get the full length taper. I don't know how I had the time to go to work before I retired!
 

geoffretired

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Hi Dennis,
Just had another idea. In stead of planing on top of the V groove, how about turning the jig and the plane over onto their sides. A shooting board for planing end grain is arranged that way,yes? The plane will have a good edge to run along that has no cutter to disturb its travel. Also, what was the upper edge of the V groove will be run along by the part of the sole of the plane that has no blade protruding.( assuming it is a smoothing plane where the blade is not full width of the sole. So the plane travels in a straight line in both planes( horizontal and vertical) so no fear of the plane sliding off to one side compared to the V groove direction. Nor will the plane tip side to side as it runs on the round surface of the wooden shaft. I think that will give better control of the cutting, all round. heehee
 

albatross

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Hi Dennis,
Just had another idea. In stead of planing on top of the V groove, how about turning the jig and the plane over onto their sides. A shooting board for planing end grain is arranged that way,yes? The plane will have a good edge to run along that has no cutter to disturb its travel. Also, what was the upper edge of the V groove will be run along by the part of the sole of the plane that has no blade protruding.( assuming it is a smoothing plane where the blade is not full width of the sole. So the plane travels in a straight line in both planes( horizontal and vertical) so no fear of the plane sliding off to one side compared to the V groove direction. Nor will the plane tip side to side as it runs on the round surface of the wooden shaft. I think that will give better control of the cutting, all round. heehee
Great minds think alike. I tried that yesterday Geoff using a low angle block plane. It does work but it is tedious, but then I suppose all 'manual' methods will be! For the few arrows I will be making it might not be worth the effort to design and make a more repeatable solution. I might have to return to the sandpaper channel method.
 

geoffretired

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Hi, Yes indeed. I have been in similar situations many times. Do I improve X or carry on with the original? I spent ages trying to make a gadget to put headlight bulbs into my Audi, so I didn't need to remove the whole lamp unit first. I did get something that worked up to a point, but it wasn't a better solution. But sometimes, we need to start on the work in order to find out whether reality matches expectations or not.
 
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