Carbon Fiber Arrow Fabrication for Dummies

carbon-fiber arrow shafts

If there's one thing our staffers have learned over the years of researching DotD candidates for the Antisocial Network, it's that some people will pretend to know anything for a buck.¹ Of course, in the good old days of eHow, there were no checks on abject stupidity – just on format – which allowed some people to get away with posting pretty awful content... like the time romance novelist Laura Hageman tried to convince people that she knew "How to Make Carbon Arrows" for GoneOutdoors.com. She didn't, of course, and it shows...

Just like Hageman, no one here has any idea how to make carbon-fiber arrows; though we do have some experience with carbon-fiber bicycle frames. So, just like Laura, we googled the process. We did that mostly because we didn't believe Hageman when she claimed that,

"Carbon arrows are used for hunting and are moderately easy to make."

Well, we believe they're used for hunting, bet we seriously doubt that making one is "moderately easy." Just looking at Hageman's six-step process gave us the willies... we were even more "willified" by the process as described by a professional on one of the archery forums... But let's see what Laura has to say. Sadly, she never published a reference, but we think she used this site – which isn't about arrows – as a source...

"Purchase a copper water pipe from a hardware store. Measure the length of your arm. If your arm is 3-feet [sic] long then add an additional 1 1/2-feet to it. You will then purchase a pipe 4 1/2-feet long and 3/4-inch in diameter. This will be the mold for the shaft to the arrow."

We were pretty much dismayed by the notion that anyone has an arm "3-feet long," not to mention that an arrow almost an inch in diameter seems... clumsy? And then there's

"Slide on the carbon fiber. This is like a sleeve that you will slip onto the mold."

...which suggests that Hageman thinks you can just run over to Home Depot and buy some carbon fiber...  then she copy-reword-pasted some general instructions for making arrows to add the point and the fletching. She forgot the nock, by the way...

So what did Hageman do? Since she knew nothing about arrows, she just cobbled together some bull about making carbon shafts with some other stuff she cherry-picked from a DIY archery post. Her instructions? worthless. Her reward? She's our Dumbass of the Day – deservedly. FWIW, as near as we can tell, most DIY archers buy shafts, fletching, nocks, and tips in bulk to build their own arrows. They then cut the shaft to their preferred length and assemble the parts. They don't seem to make ¾-inch by 54-inch shafts, though; more like ⅓ inch by 30 inches.

¹ Or ten bucks, at one time the going rate for eHow's "contributors"...

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