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Arrow Through Apple

Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
254
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Location
Wynndel, British Columbia, Canada
Website
www.picturetrail.com
In my own site I got an inquiry on my turning board about how an arrow is put through an apple using different woods.
Apparently my member saw it at a woodworking show and the person that made it would not explain how it is done but said it is a lathe turning.
Anyone here know how it is done? A reference to a tutorial on it would be just great.
He did not have a picture of it so I can only assume that it looked something like the picture below that I found on the internet.

The arrow is all one piece and the apple is not split and glued back together
Any help on how this is made would be greatly appreciated.
W.Y.
arrow_through_apple_1.jpg
 
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Simple

The head of the arrow is placed into a vise and crushed. Then the arrow isplaced into the apple. Now you soak the arrow head in water until it expands.

Magic!

Secret.
Straight grained wood bass wood works the best.
 
Great Answer

Thanks Ron.
At first I thought squeezing it in a vice would break off the tips of the arrow but thenI have never had any experience with bass wood.

I also found out since posting the topic that the wood (probably bass) can be boiled to soften it and thus facilitate the squeezing process.
We learn something new every day.
W.Y.
 
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It's been a while since I did this William.

You are right, soaking in hot water helps allot. Also start with a square head and carve the arrow head shape after you insert the wood and it expands back to it original shape.
 
Thanks for the great advice Ron.
One more question seeing as you have made them.
How about the stem of the apple. Is that something that is just glued into the natural apple shaped recess at the top after the turning is finished ? Possibly with cyanoacrylate glue ?
W.Y.
 
There was an article in WOOD magazine several years ago which was similar to this except it was an arrow through a heart. The arrow was made of basswood and compressed in a vice then soaked in water to expand it again.
Bill
 
William Young said:
Thanks for the great advice Ron.
One more question seeing as you have made them.
How about the stem of the apple. Is that something that is just glued into the natural apple shaped recess at the top after the turning is finished ? Possibly with cyanoacrylate glue ?
W.Y.


I left the arrow loose. It was fun watching folks turn the arrow trying to figure out how it was done.
 
misunderstanding?

Thanks Ron but I was referring to the actual stem at the top of the apple. Was that a piece of wood or something else ? It almost appears to be something like a short piece of square leather shoe lace which would give a more natural looking stem than a wooden stem.
W.Y.
 
Not Almost

William Young said:
Thanks Ron but I was referring to the actual stem at the top of the apple. Was that a piece of wood or something else ? It almost appears to be something like a short piece of square leather shoe lace which would give a more natural looking stem than a wooden stem.
W.Y.

My monitor is showing me a piece of rawhide lace with several little telltales of hotmelt glue at its base.

M
 
Mark Mandell said:
My monitor is showing me a piece of rawhide lace with several little telltales of hotmelt glue at its base.

M


It does look that way. I carved a piece of basswood as a stem and yellow glued it in. I'm sure you can use CA.
 
In the park where I winter the woodcarvers put arrows through golf balls.
They soak, in cold water, just the tip of the basswood arrow , for 10 minutes. Then squeese it with a plier special ground for the purpose. Cheep plier and grind a small "V" out of each jaw opposite each other. Get it started and tap the feather end which was not soaked and through it goes.
 
Thanks for all the responses on this . Much appreciated.
I must try making one if I ever get caught up with all the other things that I need to do first.

I have yet another question about the apple. I don't have any wood in the size of an apple that is red enough to look right. Is it customary to dye a piece of wood like that in a shade of red after turning it ? If so what type of dye would be recommended.
I do not like painting wood and I would only do it as a last resort.
W.Y.
 
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SQUARE2ROUND said:
Then squeese it with a plier special ground for the purpose. Cheep plier and grind a small "V" out of each jaw opposite each other.

I bet that hose clamp pliers would work very well for squeezing the head of the arrow and save the trouble of trying to grind a notch in the two mating halves of the jaws of the pliers.

Bill
 
Just Had To Try It

I just made this first one as a practice piece from a chunk of blue spruce off of my firewood pile for the apple and I did not have any bass for the arrow so I used a piece of aspen which I have lots of. I kept the arrow head a little small for my first one. Next time I can make it bigger now that I know that it works with the wood I was using.
W.Y.

apAr.jpg
 
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William, I see your name on several forums and am curious as to why you include your own link to your own forum.??????.......seems odd almost like your trying to steer people away from forums towards your own.

Glue newspaper between two equall halves of apple, turn the apple, drill the hole for the arrow then crack the apple at the nespaper joint, install arrow and glue back together.......simple
 
Hi Roman;
I occasionally provide a link to my site or any other site as many others do all the time where interesting topics come up . I have no intentions to steer anyone away from any site at any time. As you know, the more sites that a person visits, the more informed that person becomes. The sites are all very informative and I am a member of many of them. Wish I had time to participate in all of them but I just don't. But I learn a lot from every one of them that I do get a chance to scan through . There are interesting topics in all of them.
When I direct members to a topic in any site I am not asking them to join that site. That is their perogative. The mention of another site is for informative and interseting WW discussions that are of interest to some people. .

As for the apple/arrow;
There is no join in the arrow and there is no join in the apple. I think the join would be detectable in the method you mentioned and I want both pieces to be totally join free. That is what that particular topic is all about. It keeps people guessing how the arrow got through with no joins. I thought it would be intersting to some turners. I did a rough one for practice out of scrap wood and I am now working on a better one with a combination of hard and soft woods.
If it turns out OK , I will post a picture of it here.. Hopefully I will also be able to show a side view to show how small a hole the arrow passed through in relation to the size of the arrow head.
Best regards.
W.Y.
 
Here is my second attempt.
First one was firewood. This one is a keeper. 😉
This apple is turned from solid maple. The arrow is bass wood. Would you beleive I had to pay $19.50 for two feet of 8/4 basswood nine inches wide.
The second picture shows the size of the hole in relation to the size of the arrow head. There are no glue joints of any description in the entire project apart from the stem glued in with a drop of cyanoacrylate glue.
W.Y.
102464142.jpg


102464361.jpg
 
William Young said:
Would you beleive I had to pay $19.50 for two feet of 8/4 basswood nine inches wide.
Buying a carving blank or even a kit probably would have been a lot less expensive for the amount of wood needed.
 
Brian;
You are absoloutly right. But I live up on a mountainside about 10 km to the nearest small town and there are no craft stores there to buy small pieces of wood like that.
Local lumber stores wont sell any less than two feet off a plank. Nearest place would be in a small city about 120 km away.
But it's no problem. I do all kinds of different woodworking so it will all get used up on something eventually.
But if I had known before I bought it that there is not a heck of a lot of differenc between it and all the aspen I already have, I would never have bought it.
Learn something every day so I can just chalk it up to another learning experience.
This is the view I have to put up with when I look out my shop window . . LOL
W.Y.
40624327.jpg
 
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