What about Birch Dowels?

[Cutty47]

Ramin guru's, anyone out there tried birch dowels for heavier draw weights?  Especially now that Ramin seems harder to come by...

[jacobsladder]

http://www.americanwoodcrafterssupply.com/wooden-products/dowels.htm#Dowels

Scattershot would be the trad gang expert on this subject.... I'm in the process of ordering some in 5/16" for lower 40 spines.... the 3/8 are spined heavier... Check some of Scattershots previous posts and he has some more detailed info.

[SCATTERSHOT]

Well, I'm no expert, but I recently bought 50 birch dowels to play with, and they were pretty stiff. You can certainly use them for arrows, and most of them will make good ones, but you may need to leave them long to weaken the dynamic spine. Here are the spines I came up with on 50 of them....
68-1 70-1 73-2 75-3 76-2 79-1 81-1 84-1 87-7 90-2 93-4 96-7 98-1 100-5 104-8 108-3 130-1  They are pretty heavy, too. One I weighed (finished arrow, 160 grain point) was 776 grains.


Hope that helps.

[SlowBowinMO]

I worked with some in 5/16.  I ended up with a few good arrows, lots of culls though.  The finished arrows flew wonderfully and were very tough, with good weight to them.

I've had some issues keeping birch straight, even when properly sealed.

[Cutty47]

Thanks guys! Great info as usual.  I'd be shooting them out of a #67 LB with FF, so the lower end of those 3/8 dowels might just work.  The weight would be good too...

I'm concerned with the keeping them straight part, but seems like it might be worth playing with them.

[SCATTERSHOT]

Yeah, at .25 cents/shaft they're well worth playing with, and you can afford a few culls. Remember, too, that you can compensate for stiffness by leaving them longer, if you don't mind a little extra length.

Good luck!

[Aeronut]

I have a bunch of 3/8 birch dowels that I use for nutters.  I taper the back 10" and they make a hard hitting shaft.

Dennis