Camo arrow shaft pens

[Royce Meritt]

Hey everyone! The purpose of posting this picture is NOT to show off the pens. It is a BAD picture but will get the point across. I need some advice.

I decided to try to make some pens out of aluminum arrow shaft. The outside diameter of the arrow shaft is slightly larger than the nib and finial I was using. Decided to add some antler accent pieces to each end of the arrow shaft so I could taper them down to the proper diameter. So far, so good.

Now my problem...It seemed when I turned the antler down to the diameter of the arrow shaft, if I was not EXTREMELY careful I would put some small scratches in the camo finish in the arrow shaft and expose the silver aluminum color underneath. If I didn't turn the antler down quite far enough there is a noticable "bump" where the antler meets the arrow shaft.

Any suggestions as to how to get the antler turned down to EXACTLY the correct diameter to match the arrow shaft? Thanks.

[Adam Howard]

You might be able to use a sacrificial piece of arrow shaft.

Don't glue up the arrow shaft on the brass hardware, turn and sand, then glue up the pieces of antler on the brass along with a NEW piece of arrow shaft.

The tricky part will be to cut the shaft in consistent lengths.

[Royce Meritt]

You might be able to use a sacrificial piece of arrow shaft.

Don't glue up the arrow shaft on the brass hardware, turn and sand, then glue up the pieces of antler on the brass along with a NEW piece of arrow shaft.

The tricky part will be to cut the shaft in consistent lengths.

Good advice! I just might be able to make that work. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Royce, what you need is a bushing , Something that is the same size as the arrow shaft that you can use to see when you are done.

The other point to note is that there are many different sizes of arrows out there. Keep trying and you will find the size that will work best for you. Took about 5 different sizes to find the right one for me (it's still not perfect).

Finally, the arrow pens are quite fragile... they scratch VERY easily even when perfect to start...