Project: Arrow Saw

During the ten or so years I've been hunting, I've always been a firearm hunter. First rifle for deer and a couple of years later shotgun for dove (and later turkey).

Last year, I finally broke down and bought a compound bow. I figured I could have a lot of fun shooting it (and what else could I shoot in my backyard?), and eventually maybe even go hunting with it. I had no idea what I was getting into. As I am sure any bow hunters can attest to, there are a lot more things to be concerned with for archery than with firearms. Draw, weight, arrow type, mechanical or regular broadhead, etc. Fortunately the good folks at Cabela's hooked me up with a nice bow that fit my rather short arms and set me up with some arrows - the $100 gift card for spending enough money with them didn't hurt either.

When the salesman helping me left to the back room to cut my arrows, a gigantic question mark went up. Cut my arrows? I had not stumbled on that in my pre-purchase research. It was all cool - included in the price. After some practice in the back yard (and I can attest that a 50-lb draw will put an arrow through a steel door), I headed out to the lease for the start of bow season. Didn't see anything but rain, but I'm looking forward to this season.

A couple of months ago, I began thinking about getting some more arrows. Found some online at a better price than the Cabela's purchase last year, but they would need to be cut. Maybe I'll purchase an arrow saw? Yikes - I had no idea those things were so expensive. Not sure what exactly I was searching for on Google, but I stumbled across this DIY arrow saw.  Wow - that is pretty cool!  I decided to try it, but just repeating the project wouldn't be worth blogging about.  I needed to put my own modifications on it.


Step 1: Order the saw:

We have Harbor Freight stores in the area and I am always looking for a reason to go browse there, but I've been busy with other things lately and figured I'd just order it.  If you do order one, watch the price because it jumps around a lot!  Caught it at $21.99, and after shipping and taxes the total was about $30.  Big mistake that I made that you can avoid - order the extra blades that will be offered lower down on the page so you can save some shipping.  I didn't, so next time I'm in the store I will remember to pick some up.

Step 2: The design:

Debated several different ways to put my own stamp on the project.  I knew I wanted to anchor the saw to the wood, and I wanted to make the platform be able to accommodate a variable length of  arrows.  My son might want to start shooting a bow someday, and I have friends who might want to use the saw.

My first thought was to mount the saw on a long piece of wood with a yard stick, and use a sliding end piece to adjust the length.  I soon figured out the main drawback to this design - I was going to have to find a place to store a 3+ foot of wood with a saw mounted to it.

A trip to the Home Depot gave me some ideas.  Maybe I could create something adjustable that could be disassembled for storage.

Step 3:  The  components.

• One 2x6" (scavenged from home construction discard bin)
• One 1x6" (normally would have looked in the odd pieces of lumber available at the home improvement store, but I had one of these)
• One inexpensive 12' tape measure
• Mending plate to attach the tape measure
• 1/4"-20x12.5mm insert nut
• 3-foot 1/4" threaded rod
• Wing nuts and washers
• Screws
• The saw from step 1

Step 4:  Construction:

My basic model for doing a lot of these things is trial and a lot of error.  Once I start assembling it isn't unusual to run into design flaws or to break something and have to adjust, and this was no exception.  The base piece from the 2x6 turned out perfect, which is funny considering I cut it before figuring out how I would attach the tape measure.  The piece ended up a little over 5.5" long.

The end piece is what gave me so much trouble.  The 1" portion of the 2x6" is the only piece that stayed the same.  First I cut the large end piece too short and had to recut it.  Then, I kept splitting the wood trying to screw it in to the 2x6".  I finally got it right (about 4") and drilled the hole all the way through.  From there, I marked my spot on the piece with the saw mounting and put in the insert nut.  The smaller piece was originally going to notched out to the height I needed, but I hit on a better design.
 

By placing lining everything up and placing a pencil in the vice portion of the saw, I was able to mark a drill out a perfect hole placement for the end of the arrow.

Here is the finished end piece.

In the next picture, you can see the end piece clamped down with the wing nuts and washers, the tape measure extended.

And now with the arrow ready to cut.

Nice and smooth.

Impressed with the saw.  The cheap arrow had an insert already installed and the blade even cut cleanly through it.

So that is it.  It was a fun project and I'm looking forward to cutting my own arrows instead of only buying them from someplace that will cut them for me.


August 7, 2010 update:

After getting some better arrows, I do see that the blade that comes with this will leave some burrs with the possibility of splintering if you aren't careful.  Scouring some bulletin boards reveals one item that helps - masking tape.  One wrap of masking tape as well as not rushing your cut helps reduce the burrs and risk of splintering.  Some light abrasion on the cut afterward helps remove anything extra.  I believe an Apple arrow saw wheel will fit this if you remove the guard - may try that later and post the results.


August 15, 2010 update:

So, after trying a couple of things (including an official Apple saw blade), I found this to provide the cleanest cut.




There are some drawbacks - it doesn't cut all the way through on first pass, meaning you have to cut, rotate and cut again. All solutions seemed to work better with a little masking or electrical tape around the cut area (Scotch-type tape did not work particularly well though).