poplar dowel

[Will Taylor]

I bought some poplar dowel's at Lowe's.Made up a dozen arrows,but they range from 490gn-650gn.Sanded from 3/8 to 11/32.Any thought's or input? I also found that Rural King has birch dowel's,i think I may look into those.

[hova]

I used a couple of dowels myself . so far I prefer the river cane that a generous member sent me...

lets see some pics...

-hov

[Eric Krewson]

A friend gave me a dozen 3/8" poplar dowels he never got around to making arrows from.

They were about 90# spine. I barrel tapered them and sanded the middles to get them down to 50-55. The finished weights were 595 to 650 gr. I have lost or broken all but 2 or 3 of these over the years but they are some of the best shooting arrows I have ever shot.

[4est trekker]

I buy all the straight grained 5/16" poplar dowels  I can find each time I go to Menard's. When I get home I cut them, spine them on a cheap homemade spine tester, weigh them, and bundle them in 4 pound groups (i.e. 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, etc.). In no time at all you will have a pretty good supply of weight and spine matched shafts to choose from.  Here's my hunting set I made this fall:

 

 

 

And a custom set for my brother-in-law:

 

 

[hova]

those look nice. where do you find perfect fletch?

-hov

[Will Taylor]

Nice!! I'll post pics of mine tomorrow.I have a Ben Pearson @ 40#,another one @ 45# and a hickory self bow @65#,quite a spread,hard to see arrows that will fit all of them at the same time.

[Will Taylor]

Oh yea,the birch dowels were made in china.bought some anyway.Reckon they are birch?

[Sal]

The Chinese birch is a birch, but it seems a lesser quality than American/Canadian birch.  I've had a hard time finding good birch dowels.  

The poplar makes first rate arrows, when selected and sorted properly, I've made a few excellent arrow sets from poplar dowels.  Make sure you use the American dowels made by Madison.  The poplar that's sold at Home depot is crap.

[Will Taylor]

My Home depot does't sell them,however Lowes does.Haven't got to the pic's yet.

[walkabout]

ive used ramin dowels with good results too, you just have to watch the grain closely before you buy. i started carrying one of those eye glass cleaner wipes with me so i can wet them to see the grain better. of course i always burnish/compress the grain on all my dowel shafts too for good measure. ive also heard some using oak dowels though i havent tried it yet myself.

[Will Taylor]

pics
 
 

[KellyG]

those are nice

[Will Taylor]

Those tips obviously are not for hunting,killing maybe.Bet you could use them were you are LellyG.I don't recall if the Geneva Convention has an issue with this type of weapon.

[hova]

if a cheytac is allowed , i dont see how those couldnt...


mmmmmmm200


-hov