Saturday 28 December 2013

Whistling Walnut! - Whistling Arrow

Here's what to do with those Walnut shells left after Christmas!
I used some old broken arrows to make up one with 28" draw to the back of the walnut. But for testing I used a tiny little Osage bow I'd made from an offcut. I didn't really expect it to do much without a lot of fiddling and fettling of the air holes in the walnut, but worked first time! Turn the sound up and enjoy!
I'm now trying to make a two tone one by closing off the inside of one half to form a small chamber, when the two halves go together it then forms a big chamber and a small one.

Update:-
The two tone, didn't go much better, so I made a couple out of Pecan shells, they whistle louder and fly better as the nuts are smaller, more aerodynamic and lighter. I used 70 grain points to keep the weight down.
The Pecans are more delicate and don't split in half, so I flattened the ends on a belt sander and then very carefully drilled through. The inside was removed using a needle file (bit fiddly) the nut was then glued on to the shaft and a 6mm hole drilled in each side just forward of centre.
Warning they make a bit of a mess of the target! I'm now shooting them from a 35# Hazel bow and it's driving them past the nut right into the target foam!
I let my Son have a go shooting them as it's such a laugh... his grouping is too good! He shot the walnut off one of them. I didn't mind, the Pecan ones are better, as being smaller they will still fit in my quiver whereas the walnut ones won't.


10 comments:

  1. No way, what do you do, just drill a couple holes and glue em on the bow? You totally should post this on PA.

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  2. Yeah, I cleaned 'em out, glued the halves together. Drilled a small starter hole at each end then drilled it out 8mm which is about right for 5/16" shaft. I then drilled a 7.5mm hole just forward of the centre in each half... pure guesswork.

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  3. Oh, BTW it is on PA, under arrows.

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  4. Ace, I hear the same applies to female freefall paruchutists :)

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  5. Dang Del! That is Awesome... Does it effect your accuracy with the bow or anything? Now just stick some LED nocks on that thing and you could really have some fun on a night time Archery Range! - Onebow

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  6. They are a bit sluggish, but I've just made two using Pecan nuts, they seem to fly truer and whistle better.
    They are a bit more delicate to make. I flattened off the ends of the nut on a belt sander and carefully drilled 'em out. I cleaned out the inside using a needle file and then drilled 6mm holes, one each side just front of centre.
    I'll add a pic to this post.

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  7. Cool! I it did the same thing a while ago, but mounted the nuts on the tip, of course they broke. Buckeye held up quite well as it is elastic, though fumbling it out through the holes was finickly. Nice you tried the two-chamber thing, as I was thinking about it but did not try.

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  8. Hi Del,

    Love it, love it, love it.

    Cheers,

    CR4's Yuval

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  9. I wonder if you can attach the nuts to the shafts with rubber rings. I have top hat arrow stoppers and they come with handy tiny rubber rings.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah that might work rather well, let me know if you try it.

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