footing shafts questions

[imskippy]

I've been looking back trying to read some old threads about building your own footed arrows. I'm curious what the rule of thumb is for spine should I use the same spined arrows I shoot now?

[Orion]

A normal length foot, about 6-7 inches, won't change the spine much, perhaps add a pound or two.  Use what your currently shoot.

[imskippy]

Any preferences in respect to shaft materials? I currently shoot POC but have been looking at other options. Is one better/heavier than others?

[Jeremy]

I don't like shooting POC.  Every time I went stumping with it I'd come back with broken arrows.  I made the switch to ash and was using the same stumping arrows for 3 seasons.  Heavy suckers though.

I'm using chundoo now.  One batch of shafts I absolutely love and the other is much less dense and of lesser quality.  Both spine the same, but one is 11/32" and the other is 47/128".  Big difference!

I've like the doug fir shafts I've tried, though finding the tight grained denser fir seems to be difficult.  Birch (not the laminated birch) is also good and a little heavier.  

Any of them would be good candidates for footing with something dense.

With a normal length foot you'll be adding around 25gr to the front end of your arrow... it'll probably react like an additional 10gr of point weight, so unless you're right on the edge you probably won't notice it.

[Orion]

The main purpose of footing is to strengthen the area immediately behind the head, where arrows most often break.  Hardwood footings on softwood shafts like Port Orford cedar, Doug fir and Sitka spruce also add 20 grains of weight, give or take a little.  There's little value in footing a hardwood shaft with another hardwood because the strength and weight will be the same as the  unfooted shaft.

Personally, I like footed cedars.  Doug fir is considerably tougher than cedar so I don't bother footing them.  Sitka spruce is a little physically lighter than cedar and about the same strength, but I have very little experience with it.