High FOC Shaft wood suggestions

[monterey]

For some high FOC woodies.  The ideal wood would be relatively light and as stiff as possible.  I will be spinning the shafts so no need for recommending suppliers.

There will be a hardwood footing, drilled to insert lead wire and topped with a 190 rib Tek.  Finished arrow target weight 650 to 700.  Shafts Will be tapered to some degree.

So, I'll need a light(ish) yet stiff wood for the primary shaft.

Bows are ASL's 41 to 50 draw weight and will probably be shot out of Hope as well.

Suggestions??

[Prairie Drifter]

Sitka spruce

[Orion]

Agreed, Sitka Spruce or POC.  Generally the spruce will be a tad lighter within a given spine range.

[Pat B]

Poplar is about the same weight as POC, maybe a little lighter and tough as nails.

[monterey]

I have used poplar to make some conventional shafts and they did make a nice arrow.

So far Sitka spruce and poplar are looking good.

My dad built a few wooden boats and he preferred Sitka spruce for framing (if that's the right word).

[Pat B]

Being from Colorado, aspen also makes a good shaft, Similar to poplar.

[monterey]

I hadn't thought of aspen.  It's probably available locally at some of the specialty wood stores.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

[Jack Skinner]

Another vote for poplar. It can be frustrating at times I by a good looking board from Sears and Trustle in Ft Collins and the wood doesn't make spine but most of the time I get enough heavy spine for shafts to use for footing arrows,medium for parallel and low spine for grandkids. But at like 20 bucks for a board and I usually get over three dozen use able shafts it's a bargin

[monterey]

I'm going to be in ft Collins for a day in March and will look up Sears and Trustle. Love getting into a new wood supplier.  Feel like a kid in a new toy store.

Pretty much settled on poplar and will explore spruce also.

Thanks for the well thought out suggestions.  

[Fletcher]

One big advantage to Sitka is that Hildebrand can sell you matched shafts and can also tail taper them if you want.  Sitka Spruce also has the highest strength to weight ratio of all woods.  It also has a fiberous structure that hold it together.  Tapering really helps with FOC.  Footing helps with tip strength, altho that really isn't an issue, but actually does little for FOC.  Going up a litte higher in point weight or woody weights will do far more.  As the FOC moves forward, the length of the arm decreases forward and increases aft so increasing forward weight has much less effect than decreasing weight aft.

[Jack Skinner]

Monterey if you want to talk shafts making PM me and I will send you my phone number. When I go to S&T I am like a kid in candy store. You can buy by the board foot so you only get what you want/need. They also have all kinds of hard woods and exotics for footing (expensive). Also very close in Loveland is a Woodcrafter and they have lots of different woods as well. Good luck