Thinking about switching to woods.

[killzthemost]

Thinking about switching to wood arrows. But kinda lost on what I need.  My bow is a BW PLX 52@28" My draw is 28" . I like a good heavy arrow for hunting 550-600 grains. But dont want to buy alot of stuff I dont need. Any help will be appropriated. Thanks !!

[STICKBENDER98]

Give Surewood Shafts a call great guys to deal with and will give you the help yo need.  I have been very happy with shafts I have gotten from them.


Jason

[woodchucker]

Buy? Or make your own?

[killzthemost]

Originally posted by woodchucker:
Buy? Or make your own?

Buy maybe down the road make my own. I think hitman is going to hook me up.

[MnFn]

Surewoods or Paul Jalon at Elite Arrows

[MnFn]

[Stumpkiller]

Bitzenburger Dial-o-Fletch jig.

Woodchuck Taper Tool.

Fletch tape.

Duco Cement.

Ferr-l-Tite hot melt glue.

Fletching.

Nocks.

Points (125 gr will get you to 600 gr shafts with Douglas fir shafts)

Anything else is optional.  Like a cresting lathe for fancy & pretty.  Sharpie markers & Pilot metallic for pinstripes.

I use leather stains, wipe on MinWay polyurethane,   Duco cement for the nocks and Ferr-l-Tite for the heads.  A heat gun in a vice works great for the heads.

Really fancy is a homemade jig and a Bowyer's Edge plane to taper the last 11" down to 5/16" for better penetration & recovery.

[monterey]

Originally posted by killzthemost:
Thinking about switching to wood arrows. But kinda lost on what I need.  My bow is a BW PLX 52@28" My draw is 28" . I like a good heavy arrow for hunting 550-600 grains. But dont want to buy alot of stuff I dont need. Any help will be appropriated. Thanks !!

Lotsa great suggestions here so my adds are probably not needed, but I'm going to throw a couple things out.

Regardless of what kind of wood you choose, insist on close weight matched and close spine matched.  Talkin really close matched!  The POC shafts I buy are matched within +/- 5 grains and +/- 1 # on spine.  You can do just fine with way less precision but tight tolerances will keep you focused on tuning without fretting over if problems are due to mismatched arrows.

Getting them rear tapered and full length will improve flight and allow more tuning options.

[killzthemost]

Thanks all such great advice.!!

[TIM B]

In Fred Asbell's book "Instinctive Shooting" he has a wood arrow making section.  It's fool proof and down to earth.  It's also a must have book for anyone in traditional archery as it is packed with good info.
Tim B

[Eric Krewson]

One thing to keep in mind about woods; if you buy a dozen, you won't get a dozen good shooters, that is the nature of wood.

If I make a dozen from carefully matched shafts, I will get 9 or 10 good shooters, 1 or 2 marginal shooters, and possibly one that won't shoot worth a hoot.

I am a good enough shot to know the difference.

[Wheels2]

Spend the money to get matched shafts.
I recommend the folks at RMS for a couple of trial shafts in different spines.  The sell shafts of the same spine and in weight groups.
It was my experience that good spine tolerance outweighs weight difference, within extremes.

[Captain*Kirk]

If you are going to build your own and never have before, don't spend the extra for exotic woods or spine/weight matched shafts, or expensive fletching and nocks. You will probably bungle a few until you get your system and technique down. Start out with good old POC and regular bargain priced fletching. Also, don't plan on building a dozen, buy the components in dozens with the exception of fletchings; 3Rivers and The Nocking Point have them in half-dozen kits...and only build your arrows in sets of 3 or 6 until you figure out how you want to tweak them. Then finish up your dozen with the changes you will inevitably make.
After that you can try out different woods.
BTW, for POC or Larch (Tamerack) shafts, the El Cheapo 'pencil sharpener' taper tools work fine for around 5 bucks. And yes, the Bitz is worth the extra money.

[M60gunner]

Captain Kirk has good advice especially if your pockets aren’t that deep. Mine weren’t when I started out. But we could buy a “kit” from Doug Kittridge Bowhut to get a start.
 When I was trying out glues, finishes especially if I was worried about compatibility I used plain old dowel rods from the Home store. There are some very good tutorials on this website as well. Pay attention to the straightness of those shafts and read how to take the bends out. You can even use a round screwdriver to do it. Yes, the Blitz is worth ever penny and usually you can buy one used. Even my almost 50 year Blitz works very well.

[monterey]

I got the impression he wants to buy some made arrows to give them a try before jumping into building.

[Captain*Kirk]

Originally posted by monterey:
I got the impression he wants to buy some made arrows to give them a try before jumping into building.

If that's the case, I would highly recommend he try one of the 3Rivers test kits. They come with two of each spine arrow throughout the range of the kit. Not the highest quality, but they will tell you what you (and your bow)like pretty quickly.

[M60gunner]

There are vendors here who make some great arrows. They can help you choose what you need for you. BUT they can’t see you shoot. So I would also recommend a test kit. Then talk to the maker and let him know. Arrows an’it cheap and you don’t want to be disappointed.

[Captain*Kirk]

Here is the link to the woodies test kits:
 https://www.3riversarchery.com/3rivers-hunters-arrows-test-kit.html