Good post, but a couple of tips: First, construction adhesive in a caulking tube will work well for the foam pieces. Second. you can strengthen the back with one or two layers of old carpet, or add an old rubber welcome matt to the backside center. Third, if you spray the ends of your arrows with Pam, they pull right out, which also lessens the possibility of bending them when they're extracted. And lastly, you'll need a frame to hold the target steady so a gust of wind won't topple your target with your (expensive) arrows in it. Thanks for posting this. The foam sheets are a great idea.
I've tried everything. I now just use a small bale of compressed sugarcane mulch. Spray some dots on all sides. Get good at short distances before walking back and you don't have to miss the smaller target. Very portable. Hang some carpet behind for kids. Done. I still use compressed EVA foam polyhedron for br-heads (has anyone got a DIY alternative for this?). Old boogie boards cut in half and taped together is kinda OK.
Suggestion: - Cut the foam 12" wide across the 4' measurement. - Three sheets gives you 24 pieces of 2" x 12" x 48" foam. - Stack them up and cinch them together with two ratchet straps. Now you have the 48"x48" target like yours with an important difference. You're shooting into the layered side so as it wears out, you can shift layers around for prolonged life and eventually buy one sheet to rebuild the entire worn out areas by replacing just a few layers. Hopefully that makes sense. That's how I built mine. I use it mainly for long range practice, for the kids and for behind deer targets.
How much kinetic energy can it take (guesstiment)? I'm blasting out 86% from 70#@30". U said (45# ish) & no draw length mentioned. Just wonder how much more scale up needed in build to capture my carbon missiles?😉
My kids and I are shooting 60lbs bows and it has held up pretty well. We don't shoot close range and we have 5 targets drawn on this big target so we don't hit the same place to often. Thanks for watching. :)
I guess 4 years ago that stuff was cheap lol! No longer. Here is a better way. Stack big pieces of cardboard between two pieces of OSB that are compressed together with allthread at each corner. Easy, stops compound bow arrows, works for broadheads, and when the cardboard is wore out its free to replace. You can do huge targets this way and even put casters on the bottom to wheel it around.
@@KoalityofLife Yeah, they're very easy to make. The OSB is just there to act as the top/bottom so that you can sandwich the cardboard in tight between it. I wouldn't want to hit the OSB with an arrow, but I use it because I imagine it would be a little more forgiving than something like a 2x4. They make all thread at my local home depot going up to 6' lengths so if you have enough cardboard you can do some pretty huge targets. The largest one I've made was 4x4'.
@@_Mordion_ Ahh I was misunderstanding the sides you were putting the OSB on. I thought you were putting the OSB on the front and back not the top and bottom. Makes sense now with the OSB on the top and bottom you would be hitting only carboard. Thanks for this, I will have to try this target out. :)
Not bad, I have taken it apart and put cardboard between the layers of foam to help it last longer. It's also not used every day, I like to get out and put a few arrows in it when I can but life gets busy. Thanks for watching. :)
That foam is way to hard. That foam does not heal. No chance that it will last even a third of a high guality foam target. In the long run, this will be atleast twice the price if not more per arrow. If you want something cheap, go with bag type targets.
@@martinottosson6583 Not a problem. I'm sure there are lots of better things to make targets out of. This was just an idea I had. It is kinda hard to pull the arrow back out until the target has been used for a while. :)
Hey Ty. I suggest you build a layered target instead of stacking them this way. It is much cheaper to replace in the long run. Whenever an area is worned just stack them to the top and bring the fresh one to the center.
i would use black duck tape to tape it together...go round and around both directions about 12" from the edges...you'll give yourself to crosses to shoot at too...like a tic tac toe board
After a while I noticed a pink film developing on my arrows. It comes off with a little elbow grease but I don't worry about it much because they're my practice arrows. Thanks for watching. :)
Ok cause I made one out of the white stuff and quite a bit comes off each time you shot at arrow just wanted to know how the pink stuff was if it was less . I like the foam can make it bigger and tune broadhead with it to
I made a similar target. Instead of clue. I used shrink wrap to hold it together. I like the glue idea. But plastic wrap has held it together going on its 5th year. I dont leave it outside. I use it as a backdrop for my much cheaper smaller target. At 70lb draw. With a broadhead. It will stop it. Just unscrew the broadhead and pull out the arrow.
You can put a bit of baby oil on your front half of the shaft, makes them so much easier to pull out. And you can make stupid jokes like "I'm just going out to the garage to lube my shaft."
NOT sure this will work for me (80 lbs V-3) Give you a tip use some arrow lube , 2,3 inches from the tip up . They'll come out MUCH EASYER ? I tried a 8" thick high density foam with two 1/4" work out mats In side the foam BLOW RIGHT THROUGH and didn't even slow it down
80lbs is a lot of power. My bow is set at 60bls and goes through but only about an inch of the arrow is sticking out the other side. Thanks for the tip about arrow lube. :)
That's a good idea. I've been meaning to rebuild this target. I thought about making a box with the foam boards and filling it with something different, maybe spray foam would work. Thanks for watching. :)
It is difficult to take out an arrow stuck in a target. It can be easily removed by applying oil to the arrowhead. You can easily remove it from the target by putting oil in a small can, lightly dipping an arrowhead, and then shooting a bow.
Great video. thank you so much for making this! It is funny I'm watching your video now because this morning I was at Home Depot to look for ideas to build my own target and I ran into that foam, but my conclusion was that the foam was too soft and I was concerned about the durability of it after getting thousands of arrows. You made that video 3.5 years ago, how is the target holding now? Thanks!
I built it when my kids were in archery so it got a bit of use for the first year or so but hasn't gotten much use since then. The arrows are a bit hard to pull out but if you read through the comment section there are a few good ideas to make it easier to get arrows out. It has seen a couple thousand arrows and is still in good shape. Thanks for watching. :)
I used the same stuff with copper wire in the corners too. The sun here in AZ is destroying it so I will have to get rid of it. Little bits of that foam around the yard don't make the finance officer happy. OR, cover it with a tarp? that might work.
I never thought about the sun eating at it, our property is forested so our target has held up pretty well. Some kind of cover might help. Thanks for watching. :)
How's the target holding up? I was thinking of making something similar to this just as a 4x4 backstop for a bag target for my niece. I saw that Harbor Freight has a 4'x4' (4 x 24") 1/2" thick foam floor fatigue mats for $10. I figured a layer of these mats on the front would slow the arrows down a bunch, and maybe add another layer on the back to prevent over-penetration if needed. But, if the arrows are easy enough to pull, and don't overpenetrate, then it could make a good backing for paper targets as well.
I can’t see this foam lasting long, however, I think hanging a cheap target on to this would make a good backstop. I think I’ll do this, because it’s so light, large and cheap for me to take to the woods.
It lasts pretty good and is light weight enough to move around pretty easy. I have plans to make another slightly different foam target but don't know when that will be. Thanks for watching.
@@KoalityofLife I just got mine put together although i used the white Rigid foam instead. It's light weight and 4ftx4ft but it's so bulky to carry. Any suggestions to make this easier to carry around? And how can I make this target stand up in the grassy fields without it falling over when I shoot into it? It stands up perfectly on concrete but how can I prevent it from falling over in the grass?
@@bobbydenezza7795 Put a strap on it to make it easier to carry around. As far as making it stand up in a grassy field, try propping a stick up behind it. :)
I see that failing after 50-60 arrows in the center. I got a smaller spyderweb target for a 24”x24” center. I made a 48”x48” target used cheap foam around the spyderweb just to catch strays. Thousands of arrows so far. And it’s two sided. Arrows remove very easy too.
Nice, but how does it hold up to being shot repeatedly in the same place? Good targets expand to fill the void left by the arrow when you pull it out. They seal up pretty good so you can hit the exact same place numerous times and still stop the arrows.
It works pretty well for my kids to practice on. I cant say they hit the same exact place every time but they have put a bunch of holes in it and it still stops their arrows. :)
Hey man love that idea I'm gonna try it my self real soon. Do u think ur same sett up will work with 70lb? If u can plz give me ur advice. Great video help full 👍
good idea, I used the EVA foam play or gym jigsaw mats layered and it works good and the same foam they use for targets only 1/5 of the cost , also silicone works great on that stuff.
The target is holding up pretty good, the only thing I don't like about it is the arrows that go farther in get harder to pull out but not a bad target for the price. :)
Tried a few of these target types. Common issues, wearing out of the guts in no-time-flat, unable to pull up arrows on heavier bows (not eveyone shooting 20-40# light-weights) and crap that is left on the arrow shafts from melting plastic (high speeds make heat). Foam rubbers basically suck.
@@KoalityofLife Bag style targets stuffed tight with old plastic works well and will survive being left out in the elements. I use mallory target bags with a couple of sheets of cardboard on the two faces then stuffed very tight with a heap of Dacron wall/roof insulation. Pulls up target arrows of a 75# compound and around 12" thick.
At 5:56 if that wire isn't secure and the glue fails to hold it together over time, would black gorilla tape wrapped all the way around the foam work well?
Growing up, my whole family used to shoot our bows and arrows all summer long. We stacked 3 bales of straw and never wore them out all summer. A bale was about $0.50, which is about $5.00 today, so today you can make an effective target of straw bales for about $15. My Dad shot a longbow with a 45# draw weight.
I am thinking, if using a piece of fabric between boards will help reduce the thickness. Such fabric as canvas material found in large potato bag races. that should also help with too much friction arrow retrieval. Has anyone experimented with that method?
I had thought about putting carboard between the layers to see how it effected it but haven't done it yet. Would be interesting to see what made a difference and what didn't. :)
@@KoalityofLife for sure. i currently bought a mount and plan on building something small scale before making a bigger one. but this is in a few weeks. i have other projects to knock out before the first snow fall.
@@KoalityofLife I hope you were prepared, most likely yes. So far we have been fortunate up NE. I am almost done with pre-winter projects. Once I am done within two weeks, I will start setting up targets.
I'm tempted to think a layer of OSB - which I can get almost for free, behind a thinner layer of foam might make it relatively easy to pull out the arrow. I'll try this since I've got that material on hand.
Hey there, i did a similar build. But im having a hard time pulling out the arrows. Like it's impossible to pull at spine 300-400 50 lbs. Im not sure how to fix that. I did 6 boards bound by duck tape and the arrow penetrate 4 of them and are super stuck.
Try twisting the arrow before pulling. I have the same problem with them being really stuck and this works for me. After you have used it for a while they get easier to pull. :)
@@KoalityofLife pulling 1 arrow is with alot of force possible. But a second third etc. Is not doable because stamina drain from arrow 1. However i found rhe solution for me. I screw off the pointy training arrow head. And leave the arrow without a arrow head. It does cavitate more, creates a bigger hole. But it pulls out without effort. I now ordered stomp arrow heads to protect my arrows. But no arrow head does the job.
@@KoalityofLife yeah, i have a new target i got on sale, but i want to keep it nice lol, so i just keep using the old one but the arrow fletching keeps shredding, and a lot of times the arrows fly through, not good but at least i dont have to force the arrows out of the target, i made the mistake of using my cross bow on my new target, man their so stuck there isnt much to grab onto when pulling them out, so, i'll try out the Koality Special target and see whats up!
@@lastfanstanding999 You'll love pulling the arrows out of my target. Twist them first, then pull. Makes it easier to pull the arrows until there's a bunch of holes in a spot, then its easier to pull them out. lol :)
You can shoot anything into it that you want, I use it for target practice so I'm using bullet point. I'm sure broadheads will destroy it a lot faster. thanks for watching. :)
@@KoalityofLife I see you're spraying stuff on the foam to hold it together. What is that stuff called and is that stuff better than using liquid nails glue? And if I used glue would it get on my arrows?
@@bobbydenezza7795 The spray adhesive I used actually ate into the foam boards, I ended up drilling a hole in the corners of the foam and wiring it all together. If you decide to go with a glue get a two part epoxy like concrete anchoring adhesive. A single part glue wont want to cure because the foam is air tight. :)
I don't know if that foam is plastic faced but, titebond or elmers will glue styrofoam really well.. I would still put a smaller bag target in center to make it last. Especially shooting a compound. But, I bet you could make a replaceable insert with another sheet when you wear a hole through it just by making a tapered square plug (like 18 inches square on front and 12 inches on back). One durable target I have see used at ranges around here is that tarred fiber board used to sheath houses cut in strips and stacked. Can be hard to get arrows out of if you're shooting a compound and it's fairly abrasive I think too. You can do that with carpet too...very heavy though. Have to make sure kids can't tip it over on themselves. A 48 x 48 inch Reinhart target is like $1800 I think.
@@KoalityofLife bigger target = less looking for arrows. So it's a good idea to have a decent sized one. And they shoot one 130cm square with a 122cm target face on it at the Olympics. The 10 ring is only 12cm in diameter (about 5 inches). They manage to be quite accurate at 70cm on such a large face....
Not true. This is simply a backing. You can put any sized "target" or bull's-eye you want on it. I agree, smaller target, smaller margin of error. It is better to shoot at a smaller bull's-eye, again this is a backing, awesome to have when you have the space to shoot at 40,50,60+ yards. Can't wait to have the space to build myself something like this. I like this specific idea. Just concerned bc I shoot 73 lbs not 40 lol
