Wood arrows--favorite shaft material and sources

[Glunt]

POC  'cause it smells the best when you nick a branch the arrow explodes.

[iohkus]

No one hardly ever mentions bamboo, why is this? Just curious.  

[iohkus]

I know, bamboo isn't wood, but usually is considered as such, generically.  

[Grey Taylor]

Bamboo makes a fantastic arrow, but it takes a real affecianado to make a bamboo arrow due to the amount of work. Plus, some parts of bamboo arrow making don't correspond well to what people are used to doing with a milled shaft.

Guyo

[tuscarawasbowman]

Raw Chundoo pine from Twig Archery. Had some ash once REALLY wish I had more.

[bigbadjon]

I still use POC as I can get it in perfectly matched spine weights. As douglas fir becomes more readily available to match in that fashion I may make the switch to those.

[Tron]

Normally Sitka Spruce that I get from Neil Hildebrand.  Gentleman and great shafts plus hes local up here.  I have a couple dozen old ACME cedars that are footed from Custom Footed Shafts up here in WA too.  Boy those are shooters, just not quite worth the price

[TomBow]

Well my experiment with wood arrows has almost reached the shooting stage.  Received the Tru-Center Taper tool yesterday from Lost Nation, along with some ferrule-tite, some Duco and some 125 gr. blunts.  Mounted 4 shafts with nocks, 3 of them with blunts and one with 125 grain tip after receiving said shipment.  Overnight, fletched the 4, 3 with 3-fletch and 1 with 4-fletch.  Will shoot this afternoon.  AGain, used generously donated POC shafts.  So far so good.

[ArkyBob]

Poplar from Magnus also. Nice weight, straighten easily, and seem to be really tough. I've been shooting them for a couple of months now, target and stumping with no broken arrows yet. Great guy to deal with also.

BOB

[TomBow]

Oh Baby!  Shot those four in the basement, then in the yard out to 40. Must o' done OK building because they are flying well.  They are hitting a bit right ( i'm a rightee)  but no surprise as my previous carbons are (actual measure) stiff for my bow but I've been shooting them (MFX 500's measure in the 400's!) for a while so I think muscle memory has adjusted a bit.  I'll have to shoot them a bunch !  (Awwww, too bad!! ;-()  Durn Wood is QUIET!

[Brock]

tried cedar, aluminum, fiberglass, ash, maple, laminated birch, chundoo, sitka spruce, douglas fir...

i prefer douglas fir...but have had best overall results with quality, straightness and performance with sitka spruce... a lot stronger than cedar without noticeable difference in avg weight.  take stain better than fir...easier to straighten...fly great.

That being said I just got me 12 new doug fir shafts to play with this Spring...now to make time.  

[Knawbone]

Cedar just shoots good.


POC/3R  DF/hildabrant  I havent found DF to be any tougher than POC.  Cedar is my go to wood,it just responds and shoots good  I don't have a ton of knowage on the subject, Jut know what works for me thus far.
.

[Knawbone]

Yes wood is quiet, and I find it doesn't spook the Deer when you bounce one off a tree. At least not as bad as unnatural arrow materials.

[Ben Maher]

the shafts I have purchased from Ted Fry at Raptor were fantastic ... straight and stayed straight [ spruce and POC ...

I also got some great doug fir shafts from Tim at Braveheart ... tough, straight and pack a whallop !

[Mike Gerardi]

POC and I get my shafts from Magnus.

[Owlmagnet]

I've tried Sitka spruce, Port Orford cedar, Norway Pine, Chundoo, Hex-pine, ramin, and laminated birch. All have their advantages and disadvantages. Lately, I have been shooting ash. While it may be a far from perfect wooden shaft, my Howard Hill longbows like the weight and they seem to be difficult to break. I believe I'll hunt with ash, this year.