Every man and boy interested in archery will at some time or other make some hunting arrows, regardless of the fact that very few ever get the chance to shoot anything larger than a rabbit. Hunting arrows, however, look very nice when made up. Indians used barrel-hoop-iron arrow heads, filed and fitted as shown in Figure 77. They usually tied these heads in place by wrapping wet sinews about the end of the shaft. The shrinking of the sinews as it dried, held the arrow head firmly.
The modern archer, however, is not satisfied with this type of hunting point. To make an up-to-the-minute hunting broad head, get some bronze 30-caliber bullet points, and some saw steel. Carefully saw a slot into the end of the bullet point, as shown at A, Figure 78, with a hack saw. Cut, file, or grind the saw steel to the shape shown at B in Figure 78, and drive it in place. Put the point on a piece of dowel rod for easy handling, and apply liquid flux. Then solder the two parts together. If the solder doesn't want to take hold as it should, put on more flux while the point is hot and try again. File off the surplus solder and file or grind a sharp but rough edge on the point.
These arrows are very dangerous and should be used with utmost care.
Of all the types of arrows used today, the flight arrow is the lightest, thinnest, and most graceful. They should be made of light but tough wood. Port Orford cedar. Norway pine, and spruce are well suited for this purpose. They should be of the same length as the target arrows. At the tip and the nock they should be about 3 lb in. in diameter, and about 11 in. from the nock end it should be 5/16 in. or 1/4 in. See Figure 79. This is what is called a barreled arrow and the taper from the thickest part to the ends should be graceful and gradual. Twenty-five caliber bullet-point tips are just right for flight arrows but they are hard to get. One of the writers made some aluminum and brass tips on a wood-turning lathe and has seen some made of horn and fiber. The arrow, however, should have some sort of tip to protect it in its fall.
The feathers should be thin and stiff. Turkey tail feathers make fine flight-arrow vanes. Make the vanes quite small- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 in. long, and 5 16 in. high seems to be a good size. See Figure 76.
The nock must be reinforced in some way. Thin tubular fiber 1/4 in. outside diameter and 3/8 in. long may be fitted onto the shaft and glued on after which the nock is cut in. The nocks also may be reinforced by winding with silk set in glue.