GTB: The Next Generation

Making the Mark 9 Golf tube Balder combat arrow

Making a better combat arrow is a quest and not a destination. It can't be a destination because you never quite get there. Close but not finished.

The article in the recent Spring Tournaments Illuminated on how to make the Mark 8 combat arrows was the cutting edge. It addressed the problems of the crumple zone at the tip and below the nock, a better nock, and a way to stiffen up the golf tube plus better flight characteristics utilizing the Balder Blunt.

The following methods will address some of the same problems in a much better manner. For the person who shoots combat archery every so often the Mark 8 will be fine. For those folks who are combat archers and live and breathe it, the Mark 9 will make you quiver with anticipation.

The big difference is the use of 100 PSI Sil-O-Flex put out by Silver Line. One 5 inch piece is used inside the tip end, replacing all but one of the bottle caps you used to strength the crumple zone. The other is a 3-inch piece that now becomes the nock. We are not replacing the golf tube but replacing the use of most bottle caps in the crumple zone.

The picture to the right shows the Sil-O-Flex label. There are three different PSIs of Sil-O-Flex, but you want to use the one-inch diameter Sil-O-flex, with a 100 PSI rating1. It comes in a 100 foot long roll. Yep, you will have to cut it and straighten it. This roll runs about $14.88 before tax. You can get about 140 combat arrows out of a roll. You will be spending about eleven cents per arrow. The pieces can be reused and stand up to abuse much better than bottle caps. As long as fighters walk all over your arrows, you will eventually have to remake them.

To make this as easy as possible, the rest of this article will show and explain the tricks of the trade. It is worth the effort.

Preparation

So, you have the 100 foot roll of Sil-O-Flex. You are going to be cutting it into 5 inch pieces and 3 inch pieces. I used a electric power miter box because I remodeled my house and am into power tools. A wood miter box will also work. You can also cut them by laying one end out, holding down the curve of the plastic and making a straight cut. A straight cut is necessary, so strive for that end result.

The photo to the right shows the two pieces of wood that I cut so that they would measure 3 inches from the edge of the saw blade to the stop. I made another gauge for the 5 inch pieces. Your imagination is the only limit to what you can come up with to cut these pieces. You want a easy way to cut them to length and make the edge straight.

I found out that if you put the Sil-O-Flex end against your stop on the curve and then push it flat, you get a good edge. (See the photo to the left.) If you don't you get a straight edge on the curve, then when you straighten the piece the edge is crooked.

I put the end into the stop on the curve then pushed it flat down to make my cut (See the picture to the right). This saves much time on touch up. A hack saw works well for cutting, as does whatever you have that gives you a reasonably smooth cut. One roll will make a full 5 gallon bucket of 5 inch pieces and about half a bucket of 3 inch pieces, or enough for 140 combat arrows.

Now its time to make a gauge. For this you will need a piece of 1 3/8 inch pipe. It is 18 gauge top rail, the top rail that goes on chain-length fence between the poles (See picture to the left). A 10' 6" piece will cost about $62. Cut two 6-inch pieces of the pipe. Take both of the pieces and clean it them up. Take off the burs on the inside and outside edge of your cuts. You want them very smooth. As for the extra 9' 6" of pipe you will have left, you can make extra gauges and give them out for Christmas gifts to all your combat archery friends. I happened to use this size pole for my tent, which is how I discovered them.

Now, about a heat source. I use a Milwaukee Heat Gun that I got from Sherman-Williams, the paint company3. (See picture to the right.) It cost about $30 but you can get it on sale at 25 percent off. It comes with attachments for heating up and scraping off paint. One of these attachments goes onto the nozzle and reduces the flow. This helps the direction of discharge. (I can't believe I just wrote that...) Is a heat gun the only way to heat the pieces, you ask? Of course not. Some folks use a stove, oven and the like. The heat gun does it more quickly with less mess.

You will also need a good pair of heavy welders' gloves, or gloves designed for heat. Everything gets hot when you hold it.

With all of the above in hand, here is how you do it. Take one of your cut 5 inch pieces of Sil-O-Flex and push it into the inside of your 6 inch piece of pipe. It will fit tightly because the piece has a slight curve to it. That slight curve is what we want to remove. Push the Sil-O-Flex piece even with the edge of the metal pipe. With your gloves on, and safety glasses aren't a bad idea, take the heat gun and utilizing the special attachment blow hot air into the other end of the tube as you hold it. Do this for about 30-40 seconds. Take another piece of unheated 5 inch Sil-O-Flex and push the inside piece out the other end into a pan of cold water. The heat takes the memory the plastic has and erases it. The heat causes the plastic to conform to a new straight shape. By dropping the hot piece into the cold water you give it new memory, which it keeps.

The 5 inch pieces have the most curve. Work out how long you need to heat the Sil-O-Flex. You can melt it into a puddle if you're not careful. Take a knife (or whatever tool you desire) and de-bur both ends, inside and outside. This completes the spacers for the front end.

Now for the 3 inch pieces. The 3 inch pieces will pretty much be straight if you held the curve down while cutting them.

Now for the other cutting fixture. Take the other 6 inch piece of metal pipe and drill two sets of holes through it. Drill the first set of holes two inches from one end, and the other set half an inch closer to the end (1.5 inches). Use a 3/16 inch drill bit for these holes. (See Picture to the right.)

Put a bolt or nail through the bottom set of holes as a stop. If you don't have a bolt or nail, anything that goes from one side to the other will do. Push the 3 inch piece of Sil-O-Flex into the inside of the metal pipe until it stops against the bolt or nail, and drill a hole through the plastic where the other hole (the one half an inch closer to the end) is. Turn the pipe over, and drill through the plastic at the other hole. (See Picture to the left.) You now have a hole on each side of your 3-inch section, half an inch from the end. Remember the half-inch visor penetration rule?

Remove the plastic from the pipe. Take a pair of side cutters and cut a "V" nock into the Sil-O-flex, with the bottom of the hole at the base of the "V" (See Pictures below). After you cut a bunch of them, take a knife and straighten up the sides of your "V" cut so there is a smooth surface for your bow string.

Now for the extra step. We figured out how to make the nock end of the golf tube even wider, to avoid any debates about possible grill penetration with overzealous inspecting marshals. You will need a plumb bob4. I found a 16 oz. solid brass one for $13 (see picture to the right.) You are looking for something to go inside the nock end of the Sil-O-Flex you just cut and flare it to increase the diameter.

Heat the outside nock end of the 3 inch Sil-O-Flex piece with a heat gun for about 30 seconds. Then take the plumb bob and force it inside until it expands the opening wider (see picture below). You then drop this plastic piece into cold water to retain the new shape.

Now, all you have left to do is put the arrow together. One difference in the Mark 9 is the length of the golf tube. The golf tube needs to be 28 and a half inches long instead of 29 inches, as the nock for the Mark 8 arrow was cut half an inch into the golf tube, while the nock for the Mark 9 arrow is added onto the end. Mark the golf tube 25 1/2 and a half inches away from the non-reinforced end and 28 1/2 inches away from the non-reinforced end.

Take a single bottle cap and put it into the uncut golf tube's non-reinforced end, with the bottle cap's flat top going in first. (When you put the foam plugs in from the other end it will give the foam a flat surface to push against). Then take your 5 inch straightened Sil-O-Flex piece and get one end of it inside the golf tube. You won't be able to push it without the golf tube bending, so take a block of wood and tap the 5-inch piece firmly and repeatedly until it is entirely in the golf tube and the ends are even.

Now put your foam plugs in as you did for the Mark 8 instructions. The foam will compress, so be sure to push it in firmly. Fill the tube with full length plug until you get close to your 25 1/2 inch mark. Now cut the golf tube at the 28 1/2 inch mark, and using a ruler, measure and cut a foam plug so that it just reaches the 25 1/2 inch mark. Put in another plastic bottle cap with the cap top against the foam, then put in your 3 inch Sil-O-Flex nock, tapping it in with a piece of wood until the "V" nock is at the edge of your golf tube end. Some foam compresses more then others. If your sil-O-flex nock goes in too far, you can do one of two things: * Cut the golf tube where the base of the nock is. This will shorten the arrow, but you can still use it. * You can try to remove the sil-O-flex and add the foam to this arrow, but this takes effort & practice.

The rest is pretty much the same as making a Mark 8 arrow, but there is no glue to mess with. The nock will let you draw and fire more quickly, and the two pieces of Sil-O-Flex balance each other out. If you add just the 5-inch piece or the 3-inch piece, the arrow will be nock or tip heavy.

So, there you go, the Mark 9. Try it, you will probably like it. Yes, there is a Mark 10 in the future, but we're still having a fletching problem...

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have or ideas to share. My email is ernie@dnaco.net . Good luck and happy hunting.