CARBON ARROW DETECTOR

philhoney

New member
Hi,
Last weekend I sold a bow on Ebay and as the winning bidder lives 15 to 20 miles away I deliverd the bow and he paid me in cash.
OK, thats why I was there but the tip he gave me is, if it works, worth passing on.

Carpenters / builders STUD DETECTORS.

I know that some of them work by picking up nails etc. but some detect the wood itself which is a form of carbon. I haven't been able to test it myself as my stud detector is about 20 yrs old and didn't work properly when it was new. Can anyone give it a go? No need to lob an arrow into the wilderness, just hold the detector near an all carbon arrow and see if it registers and at what range. Got to be worth a try.
Phil
 

darthTer

Active member
Supporter
Ironman
American Shoot
I believe stud detectors work by detecting differing thickness's of the wall material....ie. you set the thickness for plasterboard, when it finds something thicker it beeps.

They don't actually detect the wood (they can also be used for pipes or wiring I believe.)
 

sreynolds

New member
This might work in theory, but probably not very well. Perhaps useful if you could narrow down the location to no more than a couple of square yards. I think you would have better luck with a metal detector looking for the points. Or fluorescent feathers and an ultraviolet lamp.
 

Robski

New member
Anybody toyed with fitting a transmitter to an arrow?

Hmmmmmm! I was just being speculatively silly, but how big is an RFID tag as used by supermarkets for stock tracking of pallets etc.

I had a motorbike and put a datatag security marking kit on it. One of the transponders went into the seat foam, injected through a hollow needle. It was about 3/4" long and about 1/10" diameter. These can be detected by kit the police use to spot stolen bikes.

I think they are the same thing dogs get tagged with in the neck.

I wonder if they would put up with being fitted in a carbon arrow and shot. Repeatedly.
 

Robski

New member
Fair point.

I was thinking more from the point of view of finding other people's arrows quicker so I can get on with shooting!:headache:
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
Anybody toyed with fitting a transmitter to an arrow?

Hmmmmmm! I was just being speculatively silly, but how big is an RFID tag as used by supermarkets for stock tracking of pallets etc.

I had a motorbike and put a datatag security marking kit on it. One of the transponders went into the seat foam, injected through a hollow needle. It was about 3/4" long and about 1/10" diameter. These can be detected by kit the police use to spot stolen bikes.

I think they are the same thing dogs get tagged with in the neck.

I wonder if they would put up with being fitted in a carbon arrow and shot. Repeatedly.
I seem to recall seeing some radio locator nocks, many years back... A US hunting thing...
Might be easier to just slide a thin strip of tinfoil down the shaft.
 

BillM

Member
I seem to recall seeing some radio locator nocks, many years back... A US hunting thing...
Might be easier to just slide a thin strip of tinfoil down the shaft.
Many years ago I bought all carbon arrows and read about doing this. I never needed the use of a metal detector to find my overshot arrows but I did break a few by hitting the target stand. When I salvaged the points all I got was a pellet of compressed metal foil crammed into the hollow bit of the point. Every time the arrow was stopped the inertia forced the foil to the front of the arrow. I couldn't say how long it took but inserting foil is a waste of time - and foil.

BillM
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I read somewhere that the best way to find carbon arrows was to drag a footballer by the feet over the likely landing area. I thought that was a bit unkind, but sounds as if it should work.
 

Darth Tom

Member
Anybody toyed with fitting a transmitter to an arrow? ... How big is an RFID tag
RFID tags can be very small, certainly small enough to not make a huge difference to your arrow weight. Modern electronics can be made tough, too - "smart" artillery shells like the M982 work after being shot from an artillery cannon, using in-flight GPS etc. I'm not sure what the g-forces are on these but they're probably a lot higher than those in a bow!

The problem, as always, is cost.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
Many years ago I bought all carbon arrows and read about doing this. I never needed the use of a metal detector to find my overshot arrows but I did break a few by hitting the target stand. When I salvaged the points all I got was a pellet of compressed metal foil crammed into the hollow bit of the point. Every time the arrow was stopped the inertia forced the foil to the front of the arrow. I couldn't say how long it took but inserting foil is a waste of time - and foil.

BillM
I wonder if a slosh of magnetic paint down the inside would work...?
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I read somewhere that the best way to find carbon arrows was to drag a footballer by the feet over the likely landing area. I thought that was a bit unkind, but sounds as if it should work.
I don't think I could condone doing that... it might break the arrows...
 

GoneBad

Member
RFID tags can be very small, certainly small enough to not make a huge difference to your arrow weight. Modern electronics can be made tough, too - "smart" artillery shells like the M982 work after being shot from an artillery cannon, using in-flight GPS etc. I'm not sure what the g-forces are on these but they're probably a lot higher than those in a bow!

The problem, as always, is cost.
But they only have to work once. :laughing:

Has anyone tried using a line of conductive/metallic paint along the shaft?
 
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