old wooden arrows

[txcookie]

So I cant help seeing all of these vintage boxed arrows on Fleabay. Many still boxed and never used. Are they safe to shoot ?

[Pat B]

Unless they were abused there is no reason why not. They are more valuable in the original box unused, though.
 I did use some old Bear green painted arrows with a hickory backed lemonwood ALB and donated the set to the raffle table at the Tenn. Classic a few years ago.

[Orion]

If spined correctly for your bow, they'll be fine. A lot of times, the spine isn't known though.

The weakest feature is likely the nocks.  They get brittle and weak over time.  I usually replace them on old wood arrows.

[McDave]

Does anybody have any problems with old arrows being crooked and hard to straighten?  I don't have any experience with old arrows, but it seems to me that if they sit for many years in a box, they could gradually bend and take a set.

[Pat B]

The few that I dealt with were all straight as an arrow.   

[pavan]

i bought a dozen new/old Bear cedars with Bear broad heads in the original box once for $12, I figured that I would use the the heads on my wife's arrows and find out what the spine was and use them on any appropriate bow.  To my surprise there was no attention paid to the nock/grain alignment and the arrows as fletched showed a wide spine variation.  I checked the spine with the proper alignment and found that they ran from 47 to 51 pounds, the box was marked 40 pounds. I stripped them and rebuilt them and gave them to a friend with 6 Bear heads and 6 blunts on them.

[Deno]

I have to agree with Orion on replacing the old nocks. Close inspection for cracks especially if they are painted arrows.

Deno

[Bud B.]

Bear would mark their boxes with which the bow the arrows within should be used. The arrows spining higher than what is on the box is proper.

For BOWS 45-50 lbs