happy happy joy joy

saw this on Kijiji thursday for $40
i was laying awake thursday night hoping no one else would notice this
when i got to the guys house, i took off the string, pulled out the arms and said, " i'll take it "
didn't even think about haggling about the $40

metal riser with fiberglass arms

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/mj247/recurve1.jpg

the arms just slide in the slots

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/mj247/recurve2.jpg

gonna try and make my own arrows ( copper tubing for arrowheads ? )
went to Canadian Tire to pick up some duct tape, for fletching
and i may get a 5 ft length of PVC to try as a PVC bow


going back at 9 am, this guy is having a garage/yard sale this morning
i looked in his garage and he has 30+ years of garage sale gold

he has an old leather rifle scabbard, he's asking $15 ( sling pouch material )

 Nice, if you have a craft store nearby you could get suitable feathers for fletchings there, I go to Micheals, they aren't the best but they work, just make sure they are big and the feathers are stiff not floppy.  Copper tubing is great for arrowheads, steel tubing is better though if you can find it.  Also try to find a hardware store where they have a big load of dowels, as very few dowels are straight, and they MUST be straight to work worth a darn for an arrow.  You may go through 20-40 dowels before you find one straight enough, but remember you won't need a whole big long dowel to be straight, just a piece long enough to make your arrow out of.

$15

i wonder how many sling pouches i can get from this

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/mj247/scabbard.jpg

I am not an archer, but I recall having read somewhere that dowels can be dangerous for arrow shafts, because they are too prone to break on release.

I think it would be a shame to cut those leather items up for pouches...

wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 10:21am:

I am not an archer, but I recall having read somewhere that dowels can be dangerous for arrow shafts, because they are too prone to break on release. I think it would be a shame to cut those leather items up for pouches...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydnt2lzVxv8&feature=PlayList&p=51226E3EDB922EBB&playnext=1&index=12

This video explains what you are talking about KS.

LukeWebb wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 10:18am:

Nice, if you have a craft store nearby you could get suitable feathers for fletchings there, I go to Micheals, they aren't the best but they work, just make sure they are big and the feathers are stiff not floppy.

we have a lot of geese down near the Detroit river and there's always feathers around




LukeWebb wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 10:18am:

Copper tubing is great for arrowheads, steel tubing is better though if you can find it.  Also try to find a hardware store where they have a big load of dowels, as very few dowels are straight, and they MUST be straight to work worth a darn for an arrow.  You may go through 20-40 dowels before you find one straight enough, but remember you won't need a whole big long dowel to be straight, just a piece long enough to make your arrow out of.

gonna head over to Canadian Tire and do the " roll'm on the floor " trick
i'll grab 2-4 to start
the cheapest i've seen for arrows is $16.99 ( plus tax ) for 3 target arrows

Hi, ishi;
  We use the General Discussion section for slinging topics.  This is a better place for your thread.  I also agree that the sheath and pouch are rather nice looking.  I don't know if I'd cut them up for slings.  

Don't cut up the gun scabbard!  It wouldn't be half as cool as a sling!  You don't know where it came from, look up the background, see who made it and how old it is.  Maybe it's just the collector in me talking, but don't cut that up!  It would be a shame, get some scrap leather for slings.

 DO NOT CUT THAT UP!!!  That is wayyyyyyyyy too beautiful!  I think you could take that to a sportsmans show or sell it somewhere else (on here maybe?) for more than 15$, find out what gun it was for and how old it is, it could be valuable with that level of craftsmanship.
 The leather also looks to thick and stiff for a sling pouch.  What is the smaller case for?  I would almost say it is a quiver for arrows? but I would have to look closer, don't know what else you would hold in it.  It looks almost like its a setup for horseback or something, that's just my first guess as I don't know anything about guns.

If you just want to try the bow out...  Somewhere printed on it should be the draw weight, usually expressed as something like 45# , or maybe 45@28  indicating it pulls 45 pounds at a 28" (standard" draw).
Go over to Walmart or Sports authority or whatever and buy a half-dozen of their cheap aluminum arrows.  They are only a few bucks apiece and are, if not great, at least adequate.
You'll be able to use the draw-weight of your bow to get the correct "spine", or stiffness.    If the spine is off, you'll shoot either to the left or right.

Making your own arrows is great fun, but don't expect great results unless you're willing to put in some time and effort.  
I have used hardware-store dowels, when they were made of Ramin wood.  Decent... But you have to sort through them and make sure you're getting grain that goes the length of the shaft.
Of a dozen I made.... Some shot here, some shot there...  I had about 3 that would go where I wanted them to.

There are all sorts of good "primitive" archery sites on the web with directions for making your own arrows.

Doesn't surprise me at all that you would prefer that bow over a bear takedown. A Warf or most any metal handled riser bow will many times shoot better then even a high priced custom wood risered bow for a fraction of the price. They may not be as fancy but they get the job done. :)

I hav used the wooden dowels for arrows.  The best are ash, then ramen, then poplar, then oak.  For bows that are marked 45#@28' OR LESS, you want 5/16" or 6.5mm.  Ramen or oak, 1/4" or 6mm is OK.  Steel is better than copper, copper will react to any glue you use and eventually come off.

The bow looks like either a 76'er, a Minute Man or a Patriot.  Which model depends on the color of the limb and riser and whether the limbs are solid glass or glass/wood laminates.  I have had several but usually give them to kids, you would have to seriously abuse that bow to tear it up.

I also vote to not cut up the rifle scabbard.  If you are looking for some leather, get the tounge from an old worn out pair of boots.  Bill

I agree Bill, nothing wrong with dowels so long as you are particular in your choosing. Better still IMO is board shafts. Fun project too.

ok, i'll admit i bit off more than i could chew with the scabbard
i didn't realize just HOW THICK this leather would be

BAD NEWS, i've already cut into the smaller piece
the smaller piece goes over the longer piece to cover the rifle butt

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/mj247/scabbard.jpg

GOOD NEWS, i'm not going to cut the rifle scabbard itself
the butt cover will give me enough THICK leather to experiment with

i have a couple pieces in water to see if they will soften up

Ishi...use a finishing sander to get whatever thickness you want. Not sure if it will be decent even if you get it thin, but it's worth a shot.  ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndjGHlvzqzU&feature=related

here is a pretty good vid for cheap arrows ,I have been using the 410. shells for a while for blunt arrowheads and the work great for the price.

your'e better off getting store bought arrows, as a long time archer i know how important consistent arrows are
if you use duct tape and dowel or something you just wont have that consistency , and if you're trying to have any kind of accuracy you need it,
without  consistency your shots will be bad , you will think its your fault , get frustrated ,bored and quit before you figure out what was wrong.
i have seen a few people make the same mistake .plus you will get longer range ,and a smoother release with real aluminium or carbon arrows.
on another note its a decent bow for the money you may want some new limbs though.
i do not mean to be critical archery is an under populated sport and we need more interest in it, i just dont want you to lose interest when you don't see results

In one of the "Primitive Bowyer's Bible" series of books (I confess I don't recall which one, it was 4 or 5) there's a nice article by one of the guys who was all about being "primitive".   Made everything himself, taught himself to shoot, etc.
Problem was, he was not satisfied with his results.   He had reached a plateau of accuracy that just wasn't very good.    He was at the point of thinking that was as far as you could go with "authentic" equipment.
Then, his son got involved with a young woman who was a competitive target archer.    They went out shooting one day, and the girl watched with interest and then asked if he'd be upset if she gave him some advice...

After just a few weeks of work on the fundamentals of archery (which after all has been studied for thousands of years) our friend found his shooting much improved, and his typical groups shrinking by half....

Just as with any other activity, it's easy to get into bad habits early, then awfully hard to break them.

Dowels get a bad rep mostly because people that use them are usually new archers that don't have much experience in making arrows or much understanding about wood. They do almost everything wrong, because of their inexperience, and then blame the dowel as being bad.

Well it's not quite so simple as that. A dowel is a piece of wood. Just like a board. Boards were once thought to be some how mystically different then staves cut from trees. Once people figured out that a board is a piece of wood like a stave and it's the cut of the grain that really matters, board bows became very popular and effective. Some true masters of the craft even prefer board bows. I like them both personally.

With dowels you may have to go through 100 to find 5-10 that have good grain. Then you go to all the other hardware stores and do the same. You end up with 50-60 shafts for dirt cheap. Then you spine them. Slightly high spines can be sanded in the middle to get them within range without effecting looks or shooting ability. Nocks can be cut or glued slightly at an angle to the normal perpendicular to the grain rule to get them to flex a bit more and thus spine less. I've seen absolutely no difference in durability from doing this.

There are a lot of tricks to getting them to spine right and none of them are especially hard. Wooden bow and arrow making is not simply gluing store bought pieces together it's about understanding the properties of wood and lots of hands on experience...

All that matters in the end is your arrows are uniform and consistent in every way and tuned correctly to your bow. And that can be accomplished with dowels believe it or not, or wood arrows in general. One just needs to put the time in to figure out all the tricks. For what it's worth though, I rarely use dowels, not because it's not possible but because their are easier ways to go about making good wooden arrows.

I'm not comparing wood to aluminum or carbon here because these materials produce better shafts but people have been making very long and accurate shots with wood arrows for a long time. They are definitely still worth using.  ::)

i've already picked up 3 fibreglass arrows ( $17 + tax ) from Canadian Tire

but the DIY'er inside me, says " try and make your own arrows yourself "

i'll see how i do with doweling, i'm just looking for something out to 40-50 ft

and if i do ok with doweling, i'll head out in the bush and look for " natural and straight "

ishi wrote on Aug 7^th, 2010 at 8:32am:

i've already picked up 3 fibreglass arrows ( $17 + tax ) from Canadian Tire but the DIY'er inside me, says " try and make your own arrows yourself " i'll see how i do with doweling, i'm just looking for something out to 40-50 ft and if i do ok with doweling, i'll head out in the bush and look for " natural and straight "

Make sure you are very specific with the grain you choose, you will probably need to hit up many stores to get enough good grained  arrows that spine close enough to tweak in to your preferred spine range...your going to need to look through a lot of dowels to find a good amount of arrows. Dowels will work but sometimes they are more work then they are worth when there are other easier ways. Shoot arrows are a blast too but a lot of work as well. Good luck.  ;)

so i put the rifle scabbard on Kijiji

http://windsor.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-other-leather-scabbard-W0QQAdIdZ222255894

asked for $30 - 5 days - 47 views - no takers

down to $20 - 1 day - 12 views so far


if there's no takers by friday, i'm thinking about cutting it in half

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/mj247/scabbard11.jpg

thinking about using the top half as a case for my recurve and arrows
and the bottom half can be a quiver