Woodies and their heads

[S.C. Hunter]

For those of you who shoot wood arrows. What is your head of choice and what weight head is it?

Do you tune your woodies with a broadhead or do you get tuned with field points and then use a broadhead of the same weight?

I ask because when I tune my carbons with a field point I can simply switch it out for a broadhead and I am good to go. I have not used woodies in a while for hunting mostly practice and 3D with field points. I am looking to start back using them more for hunting as well not just for practice. What works best for you? I am having some test shafts made but they will have field points. Do I need to have any made with BH's as well?

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I tune my arrows with field points.  When making hunting arrows, I will put the broadheads on and shoot them a few times.  If there are any persistent flight problems,I usually find by rotating the BH a little bit, it takes care of it.

Typically though if the BH spins true, they fly good for me.  Always shoot the BH arrows before hunting with them.  Good luck.

[magnus]

I do the same as Charlie. I shoot Magnus 1's 160 grain STOS 160 grain and VPA 190's

[Keb]

If you get the right spine, ect tuned with wood, it should not be a issue.

[Dendy Cromer]

I first bareshaft EVERY single shaft-- and ditch the ones that fly poorly. Then i fletch and shoot them with field points, and again, cull any poor flyers. Then the remaining arrows get broadheads and shot a few times each. If they pass this time, they get sharpened and slid into a quiver- these are the ones that can be completely depended on to do the job.

[cahaba]

I do like Dendy with the exception of bareshafting. Theres nothing like a set of finely tuned broadhead tipped wooden arrows.I shoot 160 grain STOS

[Kris]

X2 what Charlie said.  

I always shoot my BH's after field point testing, but DO NOT rotate them for tuning, as I prefer 2 blade orientation to be horizontal only.  I also do not feel adjusting BH orientation affects arrow flight, but that's just my opinion.  Get close with field points and you should be good with wood.

You’ll be less successful front loading Woodies as compared with carbons.  Zwickeys are particularly easy to mount on wood shafts, as are many other BH’s.  I just learned this past weekend, listening to Jack Zwickey’s seminar at our annual WTA banquet, that he and his father, Cliff Zwickey, established the industry standard for this taper of 5 degrees.

Good luck!

Kris

[Bjorn]

I bareshaft out to 25-30 yds with FP's, my BH's weigh 20 gns more but that's not enough to show up. I don't bareshaft every shaft, but do check spine and weight pretty carefully. I shoot Abowyer brown bears and STOS    

[Stumpkiller]

X3 what Charlie said.

I tune to 125 gr field points and then swap the heads to 125 or 130 gr broadheads and test-fire into soft stumps before resharpening and hunting.

[hvyhitter]

For my hunting arrows I tune each with 160 snuffers to get perfect flight then put those away till needed. For target arrows I start at 31 to 31 1/2 long and use 125 heads then if I break it off behind the head(as usually does) I replace with 160, break again and go to 190. That way my target/3D/stump arrows last a bit longer. Currently have about 2 dozen at 27" wait for me to try reparrows................

[S.C. Hunter]

Thanks to everyone. I don't recall ever having a big issue getting tuned with a broadhead after using a field point for the initial setup. Just looking for any ideas. It is good to hear what others do with their own setups.

[Wheels2]

Spin them to make sure that the heads are on straight.  If not, heat the glue and twist them back and forth until they seat straight

[fujimo]

with getting the weight up forward, i like to use spruce arrows, which are really tough, and quite a bit lighter than other shafts. then bring them up to my desired hunting weight with the required point.
i also use a full length taper- to help with penetration and to help move the weight forward.
if you really wanna be fancy, put a heavier footing on a tapered spruce shaft!!!

and then tune as others have so aptly described above.
i have moved to vented 3 blade heads- they give me way better flight characteristics, than my 2 blades ever did- just easier to set up, and maybe a tad more forgiving!!

incidentally, spruce is considered to have the highest weight to strength ratio.
it also has the greatest interfiber strength out of all the softer woods.
i find it to have the straightest cleanest grain, with the least amount of run out.

just what works for me.

[Brock]

I typically use Ribteks in 160 or 190 weight depending on bow shooting and arrows...which are usually douglas fir or sitka spruce.  I also have a set of Grizzly Kodiak 200gr heads that I have mounted on some beautiful doug fir shafts.

I tune arrows with field points of same weight and then shoot some broadheads on a couple of the other identical shafts...if issues arise I rotate and remount head a few times to work out problem.

[markliep]

Tune with 125gn field points then move to 135gn BH on either spruce or bamboo - toughest shafts to tune ive had to date have been carbons - had to add a bit fletch to the back - M