Exotic Wood Arrows

[Kanuck]

Hi Folks!

Just wondering if anyone out there has ever fooled around with super-heavy wood shafts made of woods that are denser than water, like lignum vitae or ebony?

Either would make a beautiful super-heavy shaft but I wonder what the spines would be like.

[NY Yankee]

I've seen shafts made from Ipe and Purple Heart. I think they ran 700-800gr and 900+ gr respectively. Allegheny Mtn had them at Denton Hill last year.

[Kevin Breaux]

I have some ipe and osage I just turned and barrel tapered. The ipe is 925 without feathers.

[Aeronut]

I have some Ipe that are 5/16, 70+ spine, and 880 grains.  I would like to get a supply of Ipe to make some shafts out of.

Dennis

[wingnut]

I've turned a few from ipe and bulletwood.  They are in the 800-900 gr. range and 70+ spine.

Mike

[Kanuck]

Ipe would be interesting but I can't find a density for the wood.  NY Yankee says it is lighter than purpleheart, while the impression I got from the others is that it is considerably denser than purpleheart.  I thought it should be similar in density to purpleheart/hickory (0.88g/cm3).  The 5/16", 880gr, 70#+ spine sounds pretty good but that weight must be for a pretty long shaft.  Even for a 32" shaft, the density must be running 1.45g/cm3 to hit 880-900gr.  What shaft length are you guys running for these weights?

Lignum vitae runs 1.25g/cm3 while ebony runs 1.45g/cm3.  Both sink like a rock in water.