Building Arrows, Building Success

The arrow in archery can arguably be the most, easily at least one of the most, important pieces of all your hunting gear and set up. It is the business end of the hunt, quite literally the very last piece of control you have. The years of historical data, months of prep, weeks of planning, days of hunting, hours in the tree, minutes of watching that buck walk in, and final seconds as you release all take one final ride on that arrow. Perfection. Nothing less can be tolerated. Once that arrow leaves the string all capacity for control is lost. There needs to be no hesitation, anxiety, or uncertainty in exactly what that arrow is going to do from the string all the way through the chest of the deer. That is why I am so particular about my arrows. That is why I love building them.

A “custom” arrow may sound over the top, it may sound like a lot. You can certainly go to a retail outfitter, pick up a box, have them cut and insert them and they will work. But I believe it is one of the places you can get the most bang for your buck when it comes to your set up. It is extremely easy to hit that $1000 mark when buying a complete bow set up. Many bows now are close to that out of the box, let alone start adding sights, stabilizers, quivers, etc. When the bow is complete and you move over to arrows, it's easy to suddenly start being budget minded and you grab that cheap box half dozen. When it comes down to it, your setup should be relatively close in quality level across the board. You wouldn't put a $100 scope with junk scope mounts on a $2000 rifle. You wouldn’t buy Sitka and then cheap boots that don't keep your feet warm and dry. You shouldn’t let arrows be the place your bowhunting setup falls apart.

I choose to build my arrows for a few reasons. To begin, I simply enjoy it. Like cleaning my guns it's almost meditative. I easily lose track of time and often get that “how are those arrows coming along” text. I also do it because I want that control. Pro shops are great places to have arrows built. They’ll (usually) help you get to that next level of accuracy and accomplishment through setting up your arrow and tuning it in conjunction with your bow. I prefer to just take it that one more step that pro shops can in theory but cannot not practicality considering the time it takes. While I have had success with every set up from my first bow from a pawn shop and a box of retail arrows all the way to what I use now, my dedication to hunting has driven me to building my own arrows. I weigh every component, weight match my overall arrow builds as close as possible, line up broadhead blades with my fletchings, and more. I take that time to ensure that every arrow I grab out of my quiver should fly exactly like the rest. Even then I put my arrows through an entire shooting gauntlet to try and find any differences in the way they fly and order them accordingly in my quiver.

I am always looking to ensure my setup is optimal. I research and ultimately test every component until I find a set up that I am happy with and have confidence in. I do everything I can to find a build that I can run through an entire hunting season. Once hunting season starts, I don't have the time to continue playing with my equipment. I have to make those decisions and be happy and confident with them when I get out into the woods. When done properly, there isn't enough time to fully test arrow build changes in season, unless you’re willing to give up weeks of hunting. It certainly can take that long, for example when I decided to test using twisted vanes, I was originally using short blazer vanes. I believe it was because of the twist, but I was having difficulty keeping them on. I first tried a new glue before ultimately switching back to my original glue, trying a new wrap, and going with a longer vane. I simply needed my vanes to stay on, so I had to run those trials to determine what actually worked. But once I got the setup to work in the manner that I was originally shooting for, twisted vanes, I stopped and ran with it from there. Something that was supposed to be just making one change with my current equipment ended up being multiple equipment changes on top of how it was set up.

Another example would be like when I switched from mechanical blade broadheads to fixed blade. I don't remember exactly what all variations I tried but I know I ultimately decided on a fixed 3 blade head with a “hardened chisel tip” made for breaking through bone. Broadheads are certainly something you shouldn't be changing during season. But, even if you did, you can’t just throw new ones on and run out into the woods. You need that time to tune them with your bow. In reality that could ultimately mean fletching number and position changes, wraps, nocks, and more. There really is nothing easy about it if you want to do it thoroughly and correct. But when it all comes together, you see that arrow fly straight and you're stacking them on top of each other, it is indescribable.

Arrow building, like so many other parts of hunting, really is a double edged sword. Listening to so many podcasts and watching so many youtube videos, it can be easy to find myself rabbit holing down the latest trend or just wanting to try something that seems legitimate. I try to be very mindful of how well my set up works and analyze all the possible outcomes that come with changing things. At the end of the day I'm looking for that confidence in my setup that leads to success. When it works, it works and I am hesitant to change it. I have been using a version of my current setup, only changing very minor aspects of it, for 3 years now. Every shot that I have had with the mentioned set up, some of which I will admit weren't in the greatest places, have been complete pass throughs. Going way back to when I really started building my own arrows and buying a 70 lb draw bow, that is what I was looking for, I wanted complete pass throughs at every shot, angle, and range.

Once I've tested broadheads, checked my insert weights and FOC, the arrow is wrapped and fletched, my prototype arrow is finished and I'm ready to build my hunting set for the year. This is the meticulous part that I really do just enjoy. I would build arrows for a living if I could. I start by weighing all the individual components and writing them down in a list. Rows titled broadheads, inserts, shafts, wraps, fletchings, and nocks with everything laid out in the same order next to it to keep it all organized. Then listed below each of those row headers is the weights of each individual piece. The calculator comes out and I get to adding. Moving this insert over with this shaft, switching fletching, maybe even purposely pairing a light insert with a light shaft since that makes all the other arrows closer and then utilizing glue to make up the difference. Swabbing and cleaning every surface where a cut was and where any connection will be made. As I build I weigh them to check weights as I go and can compare as I build the next one and the next one. The last set of 6 arrows I built came out to +/- 4 grains of 490 grains (a maximum of 8 grains of difference) with 4 of them being exactly 490. For reference, standard fletchings or nocks weigh in around 10 grains each.

There is a learning curve that comes to building your own arrows. It took me years to get to the point where I was confident in building my own arrows without outside help or consultation. Still at times when I go to pro shops, they look at my set up and scratch their heads. It's because they don't know my entire setup and make assumptions, which they should as they are looking out for my safety when it comes down to it. If you don't understand arrow spine and build an arrow that is too weak, it can break and you get the joy of picking carbon shards out of your hand. My current set up is a Mathews Triax, 28” - 73-74 pound draw, 28 ½ arrow, with a metal insert and 125 grain broadheads. I have 250 spine arrows, and when pro shop workers see that they think I should have 350 or 300 spine. They usually assume I am shooting 60lb draw. Even the spine chart shows that 70-75 pound draw at 28” arrow should be using 300 spine arrows. As stated, I shoot 28 ½” arrows, which may not be quite enough to validate 250 spine arrows. But when I checked the draw weight of my bow instead of just assuming them bottomed out was 70lbs as the limbs are labeled, the scale read 73 lbs, 74 lbs, and 74 lbs. Therefore an extra ½ inch, being closer to the high end threshold (75 pounds), adding weight up front with heavier inserts and 125 grain broadheads, I need to spine down from the recommended 300 to 250. Not to mention that this year the biggest change I am looking to make is add a little bit more weight up front. I am looking to surpass that 500 grain overall arrow weight.

Whether it is your first bow or you are an experienced archer, I always recommend going to your local archery shop and let them help you if you're not looking to do it on your own. I think that I have pretty well covered not only the importance of the arrow but everything that goes into it. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to do all of that, it is something I just enjoy. While I do build my arrows I don’t set my bow up myself (yet), and that obviously is massively important. I find a trusted and reputable pro shop and work with them to ensure that I have just as much confidence in my bow as I do my arrows. As said at the beginning, don't start looking to save money when you move to arrows. If you are willing and capable of spending $1500 on a bow, spend a few hundred on the arrows. If your budget is $1500 total, save $10 or $20 on the stabilizer, on the sight, on the quiver, and add that to your arrow portion and get good arrows. Finally, once you get those arrows, simply practice.