Rütger's SCA Combat Archery Folio

Making Siloflex Arrows With Fletchings

Miscellaneous

Fletching Material

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Two materials are listed as acceptable for use as fletching; craft foam and thin leather. Each has advantages and disadvantages as fletching.

Craft foam was the material originally used in constructing the arrows described herein. The foam has four notable advantages. It is; 1) cheap, 2) readily available, 3) easy to work with, and 4) easy to repair. Of course, it has disadvantages, the most notable of which is that it is easily damaged. It can be torn during construction, and sooner or later, it will tear during use.

Thin Leather, although part of the specification, was not originally used because it was not available. Even the soft, thin leather required is much less likely to suffer damage than craft foam. There are disadvantages to the use of leather. It is harder to insert into the fletching slot both for initial construction and for repairs. It tends to deform notably when subjected to water or heat, and requires more work to correct. Leather is also more expensive in the correct thickness (about 2mm), and may be harder to acquire.

Either material is fine for arrow fletching. Craft foam, although less durable, does stand up adequately in use. In practice, the failure rate of the craft foam fletching was less than 2% (i.e., a fletching was damaged fewer than twice per one hundred shots). For the first time construction of arrows, craft foam seems like the best choice.

Twine And Narrow Holes

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A simple trick for getting twine through the narrow holes in the tubes and stoppers is to use a leatherwork needle and about one foot of gut or very heavy thread. Pass the needle through a hole. Insert one end of the twine into the loop of thread behind the needle. Grasping both ends of the thread, pull the thread, twine, and needle back through the hole. This can also be used to pull the four pieces of twine through the hole of a drilled wine-making stopper.   Needle through hole

Put twine through thread loop   Pull needle back through hole

Maintenance & Repair

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Inspections & Maintenance.

Arrows should be inspected by the user before each practice and each event. Inspect all arrows between battles. Also, if gleaning is permitted during a battle, remember that each gleaned arrow (whether yours or not) must be checked by the archer before it is reused. A marshal must inspect an archer's equipment before fighting at an event, but all archers are at all times responsible for checking their own equipment. The wise archer will also inspect all arrows after an event or a practice, and set aside for repairs any which have problems.

When inspecting arrows look for three things: 1) Straightness. Straighten any bent arrows before use. 2) Fletching. Smooth any which are bent. Set aside any which are torn. 3) Head. Make sure the stopper is not loose, the head is solidly attached, and that the foam retains adequate give.

On The Field.

Except when in use, try to keep the arrows out of direct sunlight, and keep them as cool as possible. While the siloflex is not likely to degrade significantly from exposure to the sun, the glue on the tape will soften if it gets too hot. This can and will happen if the arrows are left in the open on a hot day.

Storage.

Store the arrows someplace which will not be too hot. Arrows are best stored in heat controlled areas (i.e., in air conditioning). Under steady heat the arrows will bend, and the fletchings, especially if made of leather, may deform to the point where serious efforts are needed to straighten them. If possible, store the arrows laying down on their sides on a flat surface. This will reduce deformities to the fletchings, and reduce the chance of the arrows bending. Reality says that most people will leave the arrows in their quiver. If so, do not stand the quiver up, as this will put the arrows on their heads, and may compress the foam there.

Repairs.

	Repairing heads. Repairing the head of an arrow should always be a complete replacement. After enough use to damage the head, the foam will be compressed too much, and the stopper will probably have been pushed down into the tube. Remove all of the tape and twine. Inspect the stopper and, if usable, reseat it with new twine. Discard the foam head and use a new one. Repeat the procedure for mounting an arrow head.	Typical head damage. Note split in tape.
	Repairing fletchings. Fletching replacements are the most common repair issue for arrows. If a fletching is damaged; remove the securing tape, the fletching, and the nock cover. Repeat the procedure for setting a fletching and inserting a nock cover.	Typical fletching damage. Fletching torn hitting practice target.

Frequency & Type Of Damage.

As this article is being finished, the author's arrows have taken a heavy beating from the group of local combat archers-in-training. The newest arrows have been fired at hard, wooden targets (and some soft, squishy fighters) well over one hundred times each. The oldest arrows have been used over two hundred times (note that target practice seems to be far harder on arrows than actual combat). Effectively this amounts to about 3,500 individual arrow shots in about three months. During this time the following damage has been repaired:

Fletching damaged by target or other use    17    0.5%        Fletching damaged by Nock Plug movement   36   1.0%    This "feature" has been eliminated in the current design.   Head tape split   32   0.9%        Head too "wobblie"   9   0.3%        General tape damaged   6   0.2%        Body Covering damage   8   0.2%    This has been eliminated.            Total repairs required   108   3.1%        Excluding dropped "features"   64   1.8%

With a less than 2% serious damage rate (minor tears to the tape are not counted here), this means that an archer would, on average, expect to have to repair about one arrow after every practice session or event. While damage to the fletchings occurs steadily during use, problems with the arrow head tends to happen only to older arrows which have seen heavy use. In this case the rubber stopper typically has been driven down into the tube, causing the foam head to come loose and/or the tape to split. Therefore, expect to replace the head of an arrow after 150 to 200 shots.

Saving Time

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Making the arrows described herein is not a quick procedure. Each arrow can average up to thirty minutes to make. For thirty to forty arrows, this could mean fifteen to twenty hours of work. Obviously, there will be those who want to shorten this time.

• Pre-Production. Cut and assemble arrow heads, and cut fletchings whenever time allows.

• Use A Cookie Cutter. The closed cell foam for arrow heads may be cut with a cookie or biscuit cutter. A 1-1/2" diameter cutter will typically cost only a bit over one dollar. While it may take some pounding to get the cutter through the foam, it is notably quicker per disk (and more accurate) than cutting around the paper template with a utility knife or scissors.

• Use Drilled Wine-Making Stoppers. It takes a few more seconds to get the two extra pieces of twine through the head of the tube, but saves well over five minutes of drilling a solid stopper for each arrow arrow.

• Use A Cutting Jig To Cut Shafts. A simple jig can be created to help speed the cutting of the Siloflex tubes. Cut one shaft to the desired length. Tape it to a table with one end of the tube even with an edge of the table. Place a miter box with its crosscut even with the other end of the tube. Depending on the size of the miter box, a number of tubes may be cut at the same time.

• Use A Hole Jig To Cut Holes. The accurate measuring and drilling of holes in the tube is the most time consuming of all the production steps. Make a jig to guide the drilling. See the next section for a description of a simple hole guide jig.

• Delete The Shaft Covering. The Shaft Covering is a recommendation, not a requirement. Many people question whether or not the material will actually degrade to any notable extent given the limited time it will spend in the sun. This also saves almost a yard of duct tape per arrow.

• Delete The Group Markings. The Group Markings help to make the arrow easier to find on the field, but are not required for arrow Identification. [This is not recommended, although it is an option which would speed up production.]

• Use Standard Length Arrow Shafts. If making arrows for a group, make all the arrows to the same length. The simplest method is to cut all shafts to a length of 28".

• Work As A Group. Work always goes better and faster when there are many hands. Cutting tubes, driling holes, and cutting fletching slots are all easier to do with multiple persons on the job.

Making & Using A Hole Jig

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Measuring and drilling the holes for arrows is a slow process. A simple jig will greatly speed this up. This jig requires 21" of 1x4, less than 1" of 1" diameter dowel, ten 1-1/4" screws, and one 3/4" screw. The tools needed are a saw, a drill, a 7/32" bit, a 1" spade or forstner bit, a tape measure, a screwdriver, a utility knife, and a scrap piece of Siloflex.

Early version of the jig Closer view of the early jig

Components.

Base: 12" piece of 1x4 Top: 6" piece of 1x4 End: 1-3/8" piece of 1x4 Supports: 1-3/8" piece of 1x4 cut in half to form two pieces each 1-3/4" long Dowel: 1" dowel 5/8" to 3/4" long

Overall plans for the jig

Assembly.

End. On the broad side of the End, place a piece of scrap Siloflex tubing with one edge aligned with the lower edge of the End piece. Trace around the tube. - Remove the tube and replace it with the Dowel. Center the Dowel within the traced circle. Trace around the Dowel. - Using a 1" forstner or spade bit, drill within the inner circle. The depth of the hole should be such that the dowel will extend about 1/4" out from the face of the End. - Use a utility knife to bevel one end of the Dowel (this will make it easier to push a Siloflex tube over the Dowel). - Place the Dowel into the hole (beveled end out) and secure it in place with a 3/4" screw through the End. - Place the End at the end of the Base and secure it in place with a couple of screws up through the Base.

Trace around Siloflex tube

Supports. Draw a centerline down the length of the Base. Also draw a line across the Base 6" from the End. - Place a piece of Siloflex tube over the Dowel. Align it with the centerline of the Base. - Put the Supports on either side of the tube with their outer ends aligned with the 6" line. The Supports should be close to the tube, but not quite touching it. - Secure each Support to the Base with two screws.

Place Supports

Top. Draw a centerline along the length of the Top. - Drill four 7/32" holes in the Top in the places shown in the Overall Plans above. Note that the first hole (at 1-1/8") is measured from the end of the jig to the edge of the hole, while the others are measured to the center of the hole (for those that just must know ... the distance to the center of the hole would be 1-1/64" from the end). Also be sure to drill the holes as perpendicular as possible. - Place the Top over the Supports and End. Secure it to the End with two screws and to each Support with one screw.

Labeling. At the center of the Top over the opening between the Supports, draw a vertical line. This is shown in the End View of the Overall Plans above. - On each Support, draw a horizontal line next to the widest part of a tube between the Supports. This also is shown in the End View of the Overall Plans above. - Next to each hole on the Top mark the purpose of the hole.

Labels for holes

Using The Jig.

-	Insert the head end of a Siloflex tube into the jig. Be sure it seats firmly around the Dowel. Align the printed marks on the tube with the line on the Top of the jig. Hold the tube and jig firmly when drilling.
-	Using a 7/32" bit, drill through the Head hole. Go all the way through both sides of the tube.
-	Rotate the tube 90°. Align the printed marks on the tube with one of the lines on the Supports.
-	Drill through the Head hole again.
-	Remove the tube from the jig, reverse it, and firmly insert it again.
-	Drill completely through the tube using the Nock hole and both Fletching slot holes.
-	Remove the tube.

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