how would you make wooden dowl bolts?

[Good Keen Man]

Any thoughts about the best way to do this? I am off to an area here in NZ infested with opussums and rather than loosing off valuable ali bolts I am thinking that I might make a heap of bolts made out of wooden dowl, sharpen one end and glue some vanes on the other.

All ideas greatly received!

[dwhas3]

those might not be to safe to shoot out of a crossbow.
"dw"

[Ray P]

Wood shafts should work well out of a crossbow; I can't imagine Aluminum bolts were around in the 1300s & 1400s.  :-)

SCA rules allow crossbows for competition only if 1) the crossbow has a wooden stock, and 2) the bolts are wood.  Most SCA crossbows are in the 80-120# range, but they shoot wooden bolts quite well.

I make bolts for my wooden Whammo (80#+/-) out of 23/64" diameter cedar arrow shaft stock, cut to 16" length.  I use standard field points and cut fletching; the only difficulty I've found is in aligning the fletching at 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock.  Most fletching guides are set for 120 degree angles between each fletch.

[Ray P]

Oh.  I use a standard archery "pencil" sharpener to taper each end of the shaft for the point & nock.  Once the glue sets up, I cut off the two arms of the nock, & file the end near flat for a bearing surface.  I've heard a crossbow string can split the end of a wooden bolt if the string smacks it directly.  I can send photos if you wish.

[Good Keen Man]

thanks - my X-bow is 150lb draw Barnett so worth thinking about the damage that could be done to the bolt, string and limb (potentially). Is the weight of the bolt a big issue to prevent damage to the limb? I like the idea of a pencil sharpened dowl - these are one off use items, so I think that will save plenty of time/money plus the target is only opossums so no great stretch for a 150lb propelled bolt I would have thought!

[Ray P]

As long as there is something in the bow for the string to hit, the bow itself should be OK.  

Regular dowel wood won't hold up well to multiple shots; I'd certainly take precautions such as wearing good safety glasses if you do go that route.

Personally, I recommend a good 90# spline-weight cedar shaft as a starting point to making your own.  They will stand up to repeated use, but you won't be out much if you do lose one or two; especially since you can make two bolts out of each shaft.

Still, there are not many New Zealand archery suppliers (at least on the web), so you may not have much to pick from locally.

[jh45gun]

Good Keen Man Barnett will not honor the warranty if you use wooden bolts and if you do not know the spline of the wooden bolts and it is not stiff enough it will act as a dryfire.  I would not reccomend it. Yea back in fhe  old days they shot wooden bolts that is true but the prods were also made of steel and they would not break if a dryfire happened.  You are afraid of losing your aluminum bolts I do not blame you as shooting on the ground they dissappear fast but the solution is get some Judo points. They will anchor any pest and will not slide under the grass so you can find them. I use them for shooting grouse out of my 150 # Barnett Ranger. If you cannot get any judo points where you live you can make some by drilling holes in the field tips and inserting short stiff wire about a inch and a half long or so. The wire should be in a X pattern either epoxy or solder the wires into the field tips and you will not lose any more arrows as the wire acts like a judo point and does not allow the bolt to slide under the grass ect.  Jim

As long as there is something in the bow for the string to hit, the bow itself should be OK.
  Wrong Ray if the spline is not heavy enough it acts like a dryfire.

[Ray P]

Very good info; thanks.  My crossbow is a much older model, and works at a lower pull than the moderns like Barnett or Horton.. I shouldn't expect them to operate one-to-one in all aspects.

[jh45gun]

No problem and wooden arrows or bolts are acceptable to some if the spline is right but how do you know that exept to buy arrows that are splined for the right weight and of course making a arrow or bolt shorter stiffens the spline. So the best thing to do is to go by the reccomendations of the maker of the xbow. For my Barnett they suggest 2216 or 2117 aluminum bolts. My crossbows shoot a 16 inch bolt most Barnett recurves do. Not sure on the length of some of their compounds I would bet some shoot a longer bolt. Considering even the cheapest Barnett cost 100 bucks on sale ( Ranger) I sure would not shoot bolts in it that I did not know the weight of them. Jim

[Ray P]

Now these are crossbows!  (models A & C are both about 150# pull)

http://www.twilightarmory.com/archery.htm

[Digger]

I certainly would not shoot wooden bolts out of any of my Excals. All manufacturers of quality xbows including Excalibur, Ten Point, Parker Horton and PSE do not recommend them will void the warranty on your bow if you use wooden bolts.
Its not worth hassle unless your using a toy xbow like barnett pistol xbow or a Whammo.

Digger

[Ray P]

Just remember, it's bad karma to stand in front of a loaded toy.

[jh45gun]

Yea even one of those pistols would stick ya I bet at close range. Jim