one of the trad gang sponsors came out with a neat internal wood arrow 'footing' jig - http://www.braveheartarchery.us/new_page_26.htm - that allows both point and nock weight to be added. i've been using iron nails that once trimmed weigh 65 grains each. adding smaller amounts of nock weight increases the shaft spine. if only footing strength and not weight was required, aluminium nails or even 1/8" hardwood dowel would do the job. i used either epoxy or thin cya super glue to affix the nails, and both worked perfectly.
rear end woodie tapering will change the shaft/arrow's spine weaker, but the addition of a 1" to 1-1/2" nail or dowel at the nock end stiffens the shaft/arrow up quite nicely.
the footing really beefs up the front end to virtually eliminate the typical arrow break right behind the point when it smacks something really hard. it also adds to the arrow weight, but more importantly it will bump the foc up by 50 to almost 100 grains. really neat!
the jig comes in 11/32" and 23/64" shaft sizes, but a single layer of blue 3m masking tape allows 5/16" shafts to be drilled and loaded, too (i did the testing, it works fine!). so now i'm having fun with those dang inferior woodies again.
