tapered shafts

[ENGLISH]

does any one know where to buy tapered poc shafts or any wood for that matter,in oz or a taper plane ???
cheers
mark.

[Jeffro]

There are some excellent shafts here in oz called copperheads,they are silverwood barrel tapered and I think only available from a few shops.one of those shops is in sydney.
http://www.abbeyarchery.com.au/c/wod/WOOD+SHAFTS.html

The best shafts ive used they were!

[Al Kidner]

I've shot single tapered and breasted tapered shafts for some time now. IMHO these shafts make better shooting arrows due to recovering from parradox sooner and also better shelf clearance. In a few past issues of Traditional Bowhunter magazine the was a fine article in hand tapering. Also do a search over on TradGang.com and there is plenty of info to get you started.
Nothing better than shooting arrows hand tapered by yourself through a critter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Longbow_lad/IMG_0869.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Longbow_lad/IMG_0969.jpg


Good luck in your search.

A.K.

[Al Kidner]

Oh I forgot, 3Rivers sells a small taper plane but if you look around you can get samll hand planes local.

[ENGLISH]

cheers al and jeffro,ill have a look ,i found an old thread on here about making a jig to taper your own so im gonna try that?sweet arrows al are they11/32 to 5/16 single taper??

[Al Kidner]

Those ones are Breasted tapered. It's a 23/64 shaft, tapered to 11/32 on the point end and 5/16th on the nock end. I like these the best and apart from fotted arrows thats all I shoot now.

A.K.

[perry]

There is know need for jigs or specialized planes in order to taper shafts . A small plane that fits neatly in your hand about 5 or 6 inches long can be bought at hardware stores for about $5.00 . As far as the actual tapering goes get some scrap dowell for practice . As a general rule start your taper about 9 inches down the shaft draw , a pencil line around the shaft and with the plane adjusted for a fine cut simply shave your way round the shaft until your reach the first facet you cut , spin the shaft in a electric drill holding some sandpaper around it and moving the sandpaper up and down the planed surface until the facets have been removed or if you dont have a drill or drill press roll it along a flat bench top and use a sanding block . Just remember don't remove to much wood take it steady . The suggested web links are full of more info .

You can plane shafts with differant length tapers to alter spine , point of balance and physical weight as well as planing round shafts from square stock by simply making a board with a groove slightly smaller than the diameter of the shaft and removing edges ie 4 sided ,8 sided etc you get the idea until eventually you end up with a 32 sided shaft - essentualy round . It truely is a simple skill to master but the benifits to your archery are amazing , next step footing arrows - as easy as tapering . regards Perry

[ENGLISH]

al are they tapered 10" at the rear?what about the front how longs that taper??
cheers
mark.

[Al Kidner]

The taper I use is that I mark the shaft 3, 6, and 9" around the shaft. Although I've heard of some going to 12. On the front I mark 3", 7" and 12" and do as perry stated above. Another good Idea is to place a light stain on the shafts at the longest inch mark and plain/sand off as you go.

Hope this helps.


A.K.

[Glenn]

Mark, when you mark your shaft at 3,6 & 9 inches you start at the 3 inch mark and plane around the shaft until the pencil mark is gone, then plane right around the shaft at the 6 inch mark and then plane right around the shaft at te 9 inch mark. When finished the 3 inch mark has been planed three times the 6 inch mark twice and the 9 inch mark once giving you a taper. The amount of taper will depend how fine you have the plane blade set. The plane marks need to be sanded out.
I like more taper towards the nock for my hunting arrows, I nornally taper the front to 6 inches for the broadhead or field point...Glenn...

[ENGLISH]

thats a lot of help glenn cheers, so you end up with an 18" taper at the rear and 6" upfront?on the front taper do you just do the 6" and the 3" line?
cheers
mark.

[Glenn]

I normally use a 6 inch taper on the front and a 9 inch taper on the nock end but you can experiment with any combination you want to find what suits you. I have used shafts in the past that were tapered the whole length but you need large diameter and heavy spined shafts for them. I prefer barreled shafts myself that are tapered both ends...Glenn...