Jordan and Vince Pokryfki, and myself are making custom cedar hunting arrows for the upcoming Pennsylvania whitetail season.
Here is the step by step method to making Traditional wood bow hunting arrows.
Step 1:
Cut wood shaft to your correct draw length.
Step 2:
Cut your full length feathers into customized shape. (making your fletching. ie: shield cut, parabolic, banana, Pope and Young, etc. or purchase pre-cut ready to glue on fletch.
Step 3:
Sand entire shaft with sand paper.
Step 4:
Taper the ends of the shaft to accommodate field point and noc.
Step 5:
Stain and or crest shaft with signature color. Then varnish shaft with wood lacquer.
Step 6:
Glue on noc with super glue.
Step 7:
Fletch arrows with fletching jig.
Step 8:
Using hot melt glue, glue on field point or broad head.
Step 9:
Examine arrows for any “wows” or imperfection and correct with more glue, trimming fletching, making arrow more stream line, etc.
Step 10:
Take to the field and shoot them.
This is the nitty gritty way to make custom arrows, of course there are tricks to the trade to making your arrows fly straighter. There is no perfect recipe to making the perfect arrow, trial and error is a great way to start. Stay tuned for more updates on how to make the perfect traditional bow hunting arrow.