Arrow making, so, it's going to fly?

Tweet

Uh first off I should stress that I'm not attempting to recreate primitive bows or historical bows, I'm just trying to create something for function. Day 1 into it and having come up with a functional solution for maintaining strait wooden shafts, it appears as if those shafts are actually going to fly true. When fletched and weighted with the heads, I suppose in a few days I will be far ahead of what was formerly years of failure-which causes me to feel some slight, well, apprehension? It's going too well too fast. I'm using thick shafts, thicker then even most wooden arrows I've seen-why? Because even though I am reinforcing the points where the heads will be inserted, there is still the possibility of them shattering, especially with bows that have a heavier draw weight. I'm also using wood with more mass then cedar arrows which are somewhat traditional. Cost of materials plus time, I would estimate that the finished arrow will have been about 5 dollars worth, compaired to what I am currently working with. Beyond that there is something else which simply makes me feel more connected to the craft-the act of constructing arrows for my own use, it feels more intimate. I have already noted that when I have been shooting for an hour or so, both the bow, the arrow, and actually even the targets, feel like a kind of extention of myself...or, an inclusion? This process feels even more so, and even the construction of the arrows feels like a meditative act. It feels more natural, almost like walking on grass in barefeet, or feeling the soil under your feet...and in some sense, even to the Creator. It's good for human beings to remember the earth under them-in some sense we came from it, and in some sense, we will also return...and in some sense, even time spent on constructing them, becomes almost a silent and unspoken prayer of sorts...in a Contemplative sense. I am oddly contented.