Arrows

[scott myers]

Hey y’all,
So I’ve been using carbon and aluminum for years.  Mostly aluminum when I was shooting compound and mostly carbon out of my recurves and longbows.  I did try a test kit of doug fir arrows from Andy Ponce at Addictive Archery.  I thought they were very nice and seemed to shoot very well.  I’m trying to decide what I want to hunt with this season.  My current set up is a Rustic Archer Mongol recurve 54lbs @26” and I have tuned an Axis Nano 5mm, standard insert, 250 grain Zwickey Eskimo, 3 5” feathers, cut to 28 3/4 “.  I had fantastic results this past season.  I am kind of drawn to the wood arrow and was curious about your thoughts.  People that use them all the time or ones that have compared back and forth on the different materials.

[Bud B.]

It's your choice, really. As long as any arrow you choose is tuned with broadheads and flys straight and true you cannot go wrong.

[Orion]

I shoot both.  Wood mostly for about 50 years, but now mostly carbons.  You won't be able to front load wood the same way/as easily as you can carbons.  Not that it makes a heck of a lot of difference. Either arrow will zip through medium size critters.

[scott myers]

I hear ya Bud B I guess I was wondering more about the advantages to woodies if there were many over the other materials?

[Tedd]

I'll probably get in an argument. For a hunting bow I find wood quieter, much easier to tune and more surprisingly more tolerant of variation in length and point weight carbon.(I don't know anything about target archery and aiming with the point, plungers and rests. So I can't compare wood/carbon for that arena.) My second choice is tapered carbon. Wood shafts are a lot easier to break than carbon especially if you just can't pass up a tricky shot. So that is a negative.
  Parallel carbons have always given me fits of every kind. Usually a week or so before deer season starts.
Tedd

[Kingstaken]

I like tapered cedars with glue on 150gr heads coming in around 560gr at 28.5" arrow. I personally don't see the need ever to load the front as mentioned above but if needed weight is needed they do sell adapters (3Rivers etc). I think about 1.5" overall length & 50gr that are tapered so you can glue on the front of wood and use a screw on broadhead. Gives you many options for broadheads not available with only glue-ons.  The adapters work great when you break an arrow behind the point as well.

[Roy from Pa]

Cane or bamboo arrows are nice too. Strong, front end heavy, and shoot well.

[LostNation_Larry]

Wood is quiet.  I can't get any other material to be as quiet as wood.  I like making them just a little fancy with my choice of stain and crest.  No stain or crest on my carbons.

[scott myers]

Tedd.....yes, I’m talking hunting and not target shooting.  Straight off the shelf with nothing else.  I know when I spoke with Andy Ponce he explained to me about not having to front load like you can with carbons.  Thus keeping weight dispersed over the entire arrow instead of mostly up front.  Makes good sense.  The test kit I tried were not premiums so I had two nice arrows and one that had a little bend in it but then again they were just to try out and beat around.   They do feel nice coming out of the bow for sure.  So do you all buy the bare shafts and make them yourself?  Do you buy made up shafts?  Where are you buying them from?  I’ve only really looked at rose city and surewood

[M60gunner]

I also find my cedars quite. Easier to tune and a simple formula to aid in selecting the spine. I also like SureWood Doug Fir shafts. Another cedar option is Wapiti. They have a website and FB Page. They make some real decent cedar shafts.
 Woods are time consuming to make, break easier, need maintenance but there’s something about them that keeps me wanting to make them, use them. I not a romantic by any stretch but just something.....

[NY Yankee]

A carbon arrow is a hollow tube. To attach a point, you need to add a threaded insert. If you hit something hard with it, it is liable to force the point and insert back into the shaft and split out the mouth of the tube, ruining the arrow. Or, you have to reinforce the shaft with a piece of aluminum to try to stop that. A wood shaft is a solid piece. To add a point to it, you cut a taper on the end of the shaft and the point is adhered on to that. When you hit a hard object, the force on the point is supported by solid wood. Often, the wood arrow will shrug off the hit. Depends on the wood though. I have seen Birch arrows bounce off steel plate and could be shot again. I once shot a Douglas Fir shaft into a brick wall and it lived to shoot again. Wood is easy to work with. Carbon arrows need to be cut a certain way and the dust and fibers are dangerous. Wood arrows do need to be cared for, but it is not difficult. Just my $0.02