I’m delighted to be joined in the latest episode by Darren of Dal archery, based here in the UK. Be warned we completely nerd out on all things arrow building, including different wood options for traditional archers, along with everything archery, from how he first started in archery to coaching. but especially building wooden arrows.
We talk for over two and half hours on the podcast about his passion for archery, including what he shoots and the appeal of English longbow. Detailing how his passion for the hobby has developed over years to now encompass Dal Archery, his business which he has been running since 2019 supply quality arrow shafts to the community.
To be completely honest I think we could have probably carried on talking for a couple of more hours but Dal need to get back to spinning his latest batch of arrow shafts.
You can listen to the episode via Amazon music or on Spotify
In this episode I cover my thoughts on the excellent Uukha product demonstration at Merlin Archery on Tuesday this week. I was fortunate enough to obtain a ticket for the presentations where Uukha representatives went through the company history, product design, manufacture and development along with their new range of products, covering the risers and limbs.
This was a great opportunity to hear how their product differs from others and to try the bows. The one downside was they didn’t have the 19 inch riser which they are producing for 2026. The reason I mention this is because of the ability to shoot it off the shelf which is an obvious appeal for me.
With my engineering head on , it was interesting to hear the difference in the production of the products, with the differing levels and quality of carbon used in the limb range. I really like the look of the yangi limb.
Here are a few photos from the day
As always the episode is live on Spotify and Amazon music
I do feel that Uukha need to produce the flying squirrel as a soft toy as it stole the show in the video walk through of their factory.
Huge thanks to Merlin Archery for organising this event, which seemed to go very well.
As always thanks for reading, listening and supporting this site.
I’ve recorded this episode of the podcast as a video on my thoughts on the National Field Archery Society championship faces (NFAS). It seemed more logical to record a video when talking about target faces than just having it as an audio podcast.
For those that don’t know NFAS produce a selection of target faces specifically designed for the big game round used at clubs across the country and at the National Championships in September.
It is available on Spotify, Amazon, Music and YouTube, the latter being shown below.
In the video I cover the positive and negative points of the targets faces, along with my thoughts specifically on the mess version we use at our club. We have been using these styles of faces for a couple of years and in our experience they work pretty well, especially in wet conditions but there are a couple of negative areas where they could be improved. There is one downside you need to consider and that being, the faces are printed on a white mech fabric and can suffer from being shot out, with the threads breaking. I show a couple of examples in the video.
There are currently 80 target faces, 20 per group, which means you could set 2 full 40 target courses and not repeat a face. We’ve used quite a few of the Group 1 target faces on our open shoots and they have been very well received. I especially like the Tiger and Golden Eagle faces, though the African lion I struggle will as it melts into the background.
You can order these directly from the NFAS website, where in the downloads section you will find the order form. https://nfas.net/downloads
Let me know what you think of the faces. Does your club use them?
Overall I think the quality of the images is great, with it being nice to see some NFAS specific faces. There has obviously been a lot of work involved in putting these together.
The mess works well for us at the club as it out last the equivalent paper face. Like all target faces they will get shot out over time, especially if you have a number of good archers nailing the centre time and time again.
Personally I would like to the scoring lines to be marked in a darker colour, so they are more easily seen as the light grey doesn’t work well on many of the faces.
In the video I mentioned a top tip I recorded in a YouTube short a while back, when it comes to securing the mess faces to target bosses.
If you have any questions or queries you can drop me an email on or a message via the website contact me page.
If you have time please check out my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@offthearrowshelf) . Hopefully you will enjoy the content, and if you do, please hit the Like button and consider subscribing to the channel.
Most of all remember to enjoy your shooting and as always thanks for listening, watching and supporting.
My Archery Experiences 