How to Make a Decorative Arrow

When my son crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts we participated in the traditional CrossOver ceremony, like most Scout families. We also were excited to give our Scout an arrow with some representation of all the work he did as a Cub Scout- it’s another great AOL tradition! However, I’d heard horror stories of trying to wrap arrows with string, messy fingers, and fraying thread as the years went by. So, I experimented and ended up painting the arrow stripes on an arrow blank I purchased. Then I woodburned my Scout’s name into his arrow with the year he crossed over. …And then I made the arrows for all his den mates too- I think they turned out great!

I started making these for other people as well, but soon my supplier stopped making the arrow blanks and I gave up on making the CrossOver Arrows.

This year, I decided to tackle the process of figuring out how to create the arrow blanks. After some trial and error, here’s the process I settled on. I still paint and woodburn these arrows for others (You can commission me to make you an arrow here), but if you want to do it yourself, I want to tell you how!

Custom Painted and Woodburned Arrow of Light Arrow for Cub Scouts Ceremony

Supplies

You’ll need the following items:

5/16″ Wooden Dowel, 24″ long- I bought mine at Home Depot the first time around (be sure to pick out nice straight ones), but from ILOT on Amazon the next time, which was nice because they were all perfectly straight.
Arrowhead- I was using these agate arrowheads 1.5″-2″ in length, but they kept sending me 1″-1.5″ arrowhead they were just too small. I’m now using these 1.75″-2″ agate arrowheads from Etsy, which are a little more expensive, but really beautiful!
- Look for ones that aren’t super thick (see the thick and thin ones pictured below.
Fletching- I’m currently using turkey feather fletches around 4″-5″ in length
Sinew- I’m using artificial deer sinew (Mostly the arrow is held together with glue, but the sinew is traditionally what would hold it together so it looks waaaaay better when you add the sinew- plus, it adds some extra protecting if the glue fails.)
Glue- I had some clear Gorilla glue, so that’s what I used and it worked great!
Fletching glue- I’m using AAE’s Max Bond (mostly because it’s what my dad has on hand in his own fletching kit). Since you won’t be shooting these arrows, you could just use the Gorilla glue on the fletching as well.

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Prepare the Wooden Shaft

If your dowel isn’t 24″ then cut it to length now.
Sand any rough spots on the wood shaft and then sand one end to a 1″ long point like a pencil.
Sand the tip just a little so your point has a flat end.
Using a hand saw or band saw, split the shaft WITH the grain, about 1.5″ up the shaft (pictured below).
- I found a thicker saw (like my band saw) worked better than the hand saw pictured below because it created more room for the arrowhead. If your arrowhead isn’t thick like mine, then you might not need so much room!
On the other end, use the saw to cut in a nock around 1/4″ deep.
Now soak the sharper tip in water overnight. (I stood mine up in a vase with a few inches of water)

Attach the Arrowhead

Remove your wooden shaft from the water and add a clamp to the spot where the cut ends. This will help prevent the shaft from splitting farther as you work open the tip (pictured below).
Gently bend the tip open as you work the arrowhead into place (pictured below), helping the wood bend around it. Once the arrowhead is situated with the wood shaft tip extending past the notch in the arrowhead, clamp the arrowhead in place with a second clamp (pictured below).
Now, LET IT DRY completely. I usually let it dry overnight but it depends a lot on your local humidity levels.
Optional: After it’s dry, pull out the arrowhead, stain the wooden shaft, and then put the arrow head back in place while the stain soaks in.
Once it’s dry and any stain has all soaked in, add a bit of glue to the inside of that open tip and work the agate arrowhead back into the slot, clamp it together, and let it dry according to your glue instructions.
Once dry, remove both the clamps and wrap the sinew around the shaft and the arrowhead (pictured below).
- The Sinew needs to both hold the arrowhead firmly on AND help hold your split wood together so it doesn’t split farther up the shaft.
- I like to wrap it so my sinew makes little X’s on both sides of the arrowhead (pictured below).

Attach the Fletching

Since my dad makes his own arrows, I used his “fletching jig” (pictured below) to help me align the arrows and glue on the fletching. If you don’t have a fletching jig, you might be able to use something like a large chip clip- you need something to hold the fletching straight as you’re glueing it on.
I think a 2-feather fletching looks best because the arrow will probably be displayed on a wall. (It would be annoying to have 3 fletches because then one would be pushing the arrow away from the wall.)
Once the fletches are attached, wrap more sinew around the top nock area through the fletching, and then more below the fletches (pictured below).
Finish with a little smudge of glue to secure the each sinew end in place.