Here's some fun reading written by a guy who actually went out and tested arrows and broadheads for penetration on many game animals with trad. gear. He found going to heavy arrows with two blade single bevel grind, even for low poundage bows gave the best penetration. Like 600+ gr. wt. arrows with extreme weight forward specs.
https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/ashby-reportsWay back when
I usesd to make self bow's and arrow's from Hickory trees that I cut alonside a creek that ran through our farm,I would cut one down and Immediatly after cutting water just pours out the end,then take a splitting maul and split out some pieces about inches wide and about 74 inches long as I made mostly European style flat bows and Indian flat bows .
Take the staves back home after a couple of days pull the bark off and lay the staves on the floor.
After about a month or so start work on basice shape of bow by tapering the limbs and
thinning the limb'sfrom the sides and belley only, never the back( as the back of the bow is the part of the stave that you are looking at when you take the bark of.
decide whether a you want a working handle or a rigid handle or riser.
I always liked a working handle the best though as there is less stress on the limbs.
When it started to get close to the bending slightly I would then start using tillering board which was a 2x4 about 3 foot long with notches cut into the side every inch for the bow string to rest in as the bow is tillered starting at about 10-12 inches from the top.
Then just barely cut notches where you think you want the bowstring to go on the bow eventually ,cut them at least an inch from the length that you want the bow to be eventually to be.Cut the notches with a round chainsaw file,study the angle to cut the angle then tie a extra long bowstring (that you can easily make from dacron B-50 using a flemish twist(you can use the internet to learn to do this).
Then use a regular set of bathroom scales and set the 2x4 tillering board or stick and put it on top of the scales ,then rest the loosly strund bow on top of the tillering stick then pull down on the string in the middle and see if the bow bends anwhere.If it does anywhere then (and it will)
then take the stave off and start slightly removing wood with a fine rasp everywhere that was NOT bending, countinue this process until you get the limbs bending evenly remembering that the limbs shoult bend in a gracefull arc with the riser area much stiffer as you can go back at a later time and thin the belly and sides.
Never stress the wood just put the bowstring in a
notch in the tillering stick where there is the slightest of tension of the string then step back and look at the bowstring angle and the limb angle and see where the stave needs to have wood removed.Then after that is done slightly flex just slightly to work the areas where you removed the wood ,continue with this long process keeping the goal of a long gracefull arc while stalking the poundage of your eventual bow where you want it to be.
You do this by looking at the scales as you approach your draw length.
Remember that that a longer your draw length either the working part of the limbs and riser will need to be,but that is depending on the strength of that individual piece of wood.
As an example I have about a 27 inch draw ,I find that for me I like about a 67 inch bow with a slightly working riser about 50-55 pound draw weight using approximately a 1-1/2 wide limbs
That ends up with about 3 inches of limb follow in my area with our humidity but if you have a longer draw then the bow length or Limb width or both will need to be accounted for,Maybe an approx a 68 inch bow and or a 1-3/4 inch limbs .
That is why you cant just use dimemsions to make a bow,as you work the stave you have to let the wood strength decide for you how to tiller the bow.
After finishing the bow take a small very fine grit piece of sand paper and barely break the edges very similie to the curvature of a small pea, all the square edges. on hen let it sit braced at about a 5 or 6 inch brace heigth a day to settle in for a day then when you first start to draw the bow only draw the bow back about halfway of your draw length.Then lean it against the wall to check the tiller making sure the bow is still tillered properly in a long gracefull arc with slightly less arc in the handle or riser. You do NOT want a Hinged spot or a spot which is not bending.
I then like to use furniture Paste wax all over the bow to keep out the Moisture.
Get yourself a few books on self bow and you can learn more than the simple basic's
I have presented here.
Now for the wood arrow's
Take a hatchet after splitting a piece of hickory about 4-5 inches longer than than you want a finished arrow to be and about 1.5 inch sorta square
Take the hatchet or large knife and imagine turning that into a square and get it as square as much as possible,then you have sorta 4 corners then go to the corners ant take a large knife and shave them down and now you have 8 corners now take either a knife or a rasp and go to the corners and shave them down and now you have 16 corners which is approximately round.
At this point use a knife to scrape it until it is smooth and even in thickness
Then straighten the shafts bu putting an oil such as crisco on the shaft and holding ut to a heat source such as a wall stove,fire fireplace burner and get it real hot but dont burn it.
May have to use a pair of light cotton gloves and being carefull bend the shaft slightly past where wou want to bend it work the wood slow then set aside to cool it,repeat until you get the shaft relatively straight .once the shaft is straight enough for you than take a small rasp and knife to put a glue on broadhead using a 2 blade Bear or Zwickey broad head .once you have done that and matched the taper of the broadhead then glue it onto the shaft ,let it dry then spin it on a table top surface it it wobbles then soften the glue holding the broadhead and move the broad slightly untill you get it to spin without wobblying,once done take round chainsaw file and cut the self nock into the shaft that the bowstring fits in.
then glue or tie the turkey wing fletching onto the shaft.
Then either put a light varnish or a little oil on the arrow.
My arrows made from Hickory ended up about 27.5 inches long with a weight of about 650 grains,Never broke on anything although I lost a couple which will make you almost cry !
Never had anything jump the string so to speak even though using friends chronagraph the 50 pound bow with these arrows only went about 140 fps it was almost silent to shoot with the slow speed with the heavy arrow. Would also shoot through a broadside lung shot and one doe of about 70-80 pounds I shot straigt down from my tree stand and hit her square between the ears and the arrow penetrated through her head and was sticking about 6 inches out the bottom of her jaw needless to say she dropped on the spot and fell on the arrow sticking out the bottom of her jaw and did not break the arrow.
The way I see things are why waste energy from the bow by using light arrows that have to use silencers just to create a flatter shooting arrow, speed of sound is approx 1,100 feet per second and it induces more "Jumping the string" than a Heavier arrow that makes hardly any noise at all.
Of course that is a personal choice for every hunter but for me I like a Heavier arrow to absorb as much energy from a bowstring to make it as quiet as possible.