Strongest wood shaft

[gordydog]

What is the strongest wood shaft at the weak part, the taper going into the ferrel? Footed cedar with coco bolo or purple heart wood or full length douglas fir?  Any other recommendations? Cedars fly great, but I've had failures at ferrel taper.

[Pat B]

The strongest dowel shafting I've used was yellow poplar(Liriodendron tulipfera) I got from Charlie Jefferson(stringstretcher, RIP) a few years ago. Charlie sent 2 dozen shafts in my spine weight and told me to make arrows and try to break them. I couldn't under normal shooting even though I tried to.   
I've never tried hickory but I've heard they are bullet proof but heavy.

[woodchucker]

I've tried a bunch of different arrow woods over the years...

Chundoo (lodgepole pine?) Had a dozen and used them as 3D arrows. 7-8 years later, I still had a few in my quiver!
They would just bounce off trees and rocks, like a rubber ball. Bad? Most of them looked like corkscrews, lmao

Ash or Hickory are TUFF!! But, they are heavy!!

Now? I like Cedar!!! They smell nice when I break them!
AND, my son Tyler can make them, as fast as I can break them!!!

[Orion]

A hardwood foot on a softwood shaft would give you as much strength behind the head as an all hardwood shaft, but with less physical weight. A footed POC would likely be marginally tougher immediately behind the head than a doug fir shaft, but the remainder of the shaft wouldn't be as durable.  However, for the kind of failure you're talking about, breakage immediately behind the head, the durability of the rest of the shaft really isn't a consideration.

I've shot hardwood shafts and Doug firs into big critters without any breakage behind the point.  For me, it's been extremely rare for an un-footed POC to break behind the point on impact in deer size animals. I have had some that lodged in bone (scapula) break behind the head as the critter ran away, slapping the arrow on shrubs and trees.

Though I've carried hardwood footed POCs in the past, I never killed anything with them, and stopped using them for deer size critters.  I would consider them for larger critters like elk.  However, I use Sweetland forgewoods for elk.  Their progressive compression provides a built in footing so to speak.  If you can get your hands on some of those, they're as tough as hardwoods, and also about as heavy, which may or may not be a good thing.   

[Horsehide]

Hickory is tough, but it's the only shafting material I have had to fight to keep straight.
Loved ash shafts from Silent Pond when I was shooting heavier bows. Haven't found another supplier since he quit making those. Wanted to try maple, but since my bows are now in the mid fifties, they are a tad heavy.
Douglas Fir seems to offer the best balance of weight and toughness for lower poundage bows.

[Eric Krewson]

I had a love affair with ash because of the weight and toughness, I got over it because of the difficulty of keeping them straight. I had a few that would stay straight and still have them 20 years later but sold dozens of them for a buck apiece just to get rid of them, they were all dolled up with cap dip, cresting and wild turkey feathers as well.

Poplar was a close second to ash, stay a little straighter and weigh a little less. I made barrel tapered arrows out of 3/8" poplar dowels from Lowe's, very labor intensive getting them sanded down to around a 50# spine but they made very good arrows.

The only non breakable shaft I have ever shot was river cane or bamboo.

[MnFn]

I have broken one POC SHFT and one Douglas Fir.  Both were while target practicing.  The Douglas fir hit the edge of a 18-1 target.  The POC was previously damaged, I should have check it closer after I shot it and it made an odd sound when it hit the target. That was all on me, and it was an eye opener when I released it and it explode on the bow.  But none have broke when hitting an animal.
I had a set of Sitka  Spruce that were very good arrows. Didn’t break any of them.
My preference tho is Douglas Fir from Snag. They have nice weight,  stay straight, and are tough enough arrows in my opinion.

[KentuckyWolf]

Never had the budget to try some of the tropical hardwoods, but of the domestic wood arrows I have had the pleasure to shoot... hickory is hands down the toughest. They are heavy weight..even in smaller 5/16 diameter...they seems to spine heavy for there size too. Had some 5/16, spining 60-65lbs, close to 600gr.

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, I forgot about hickory, I had a bunch of 48" 3/8" ramrod blanks with runout, I picked some 28" sections with straight grain from the lot. I sanded a few of them down to 5/16 and adjusted the spine to 55-60, they all weighed over 600 gr,  I doubt if I could break one.

[M60gunner]

Toughest wood shafts, good question. I used Ramin wood shafts, Ash, Maple, and while all were much tougher than Cedar or Fir they weigh a bunch. Let’s fast forward to today. I am trying some shafts from Kevin Forrester at Forrester hardwood shafts. The wood is Aspen and light in physical weight like Fir. So far I have broke one out of seven bouncing it off a rock. The weakest spot seems to be the point taper. If I decide to buy more I will get them barrel tapered to 11/32 so I can use my Top Hat components which don’t require a taper.

[fujimo]

personally, i like Sitka Spruce( not the German spruce mind you!)
they are incredibly tough, and as a wood is considered to be the strongest wood for their weight in the world.
They have an inherent characteristic (highest percentage of  interconnective fiber than pretty much any other wood specie) that makes them first class as a shaft choice.
My all time favourite is a Sitka with a hardwood footing!!
A  phenomenal combination , the heavier front and a lighter shaft affording  incredibly high FOC values for a wooden shaft.


The best thing i like about them for hunting arrows, is that very high FOC can also be achieved with just a heavy point, whilst still keeping the overall weight of the arrow down to something reasonable for mid-weight bows.
Many other shafts that i have tried, by the time you have loaded up the front enough to get the desired FOC,  the overall mass is very high. Heavy arrows are a good thing, to a point, excessive mass will have detrimental side effects. IMO

I also think the Sweetland compressed shafts are a phenomenal shaft.
Attaining incredibly high spines in very skinny shafts. i know Bill achieved #100 shafts in 9/32" diameter

Here’s a Sitka stumping shaft that actually split the hex head. No damage to the arrow!

[Pine]

Forester claims Mahogany is the toughest wood arrow you can get.
I have seen them shot into a cement block with a field point and only the field point shows damage.

[Pat B]

That's how the poplars were for me, Pine. I shot into cement blocks and oak trees, straight on and at an angle. And, actually the sapwood poplar was way tougher than the greenish heartwood. The heartwood was more brittle than the sapwood. Also, Charlie seasoned his poplar boards for over 2 years before he doweled them.

[Terry Green]

Compressed Maples.

[jsweka]

Yes, ash is awesome for it’s toughness, and heavy if that is what you are after.

However, if you want to stay with a shaft made of natural material and is TUFF, try some bamboo shafts.  Even ash doesn’t compare to bamboo in terms of toughness.

[Ted Fry]

Yes , we all have experiences leading us to what we like and dont like, me as well albeit for different reasons due to running a traditional supply company for thirty + years.
I have found most hard woods difficult for the general public to straighten , do they make good tough shafts? Yes. Are they heavy? Yes.
I have found most tend to like either Cedar, Sitka Spruce or Douglas Fir. They all have their pluses and minuses. Cedar is a good light weight shaft in general and smells good, nice and straight when manufactured correctly.
Sitka Spruce , like cedar tends to be lighter in mass say mid to lighter in general and has great strength for weight ratio. Also a good shaft for hand straightening and generally straight over all, hard to find in heavier spines. definitely my favorite for lighter weight arrows so I can taper back 10", foot them and add a 160 grain point to achieve both FOC as well as overall mass weight.
Douglas Fir is a generally  heavier wood , 50 grains aprx. Good straightness and a good choice for people wanting a bit heavier arrows, good to hand straighten , good for heavier spines as well.
All of these can achieve high FOC by choosing a tapered back 10" shaft or a heavier point, dont forget to add spine as you go up in point weight.
In my opinion the Forgewoods are by far the best wooden arrow shaft ever made, small diameter, heavy mass weight and tough as nails, I have a couple 5/16" dia. that are 110 pound spine and 650 grains raw shaft. They are just hard to come by for now.
All of this is assuming the shaft is manufactured in a manner that is conducive to bring out these attributes  in the different species of wood.
All in all I have found different pluses and minuses, as far as the shooting bricks and hard stumps , they all tend to do good straight on, its the deflecting blow that is the death of wood shafts, all will work with a good sharp broadhed and placed where it needs to go. Experiment and find out your preferences.

[M60gunner]

Have to agree with Ted Fry. There are times when the arrow should be broke by what it hits. Then they seem to break for no reason. That happened yesterday on the 40 yard target. I shot low, arrow bounced off the cement base, bounced back into the rocks, bounced agian onto the trail. Should have been busted but it wasn’t, even the field point was still in orginal condition.
 For hunting big game a wood arrow will do its job if placed correctly like any other shaft material. But if stumping or small game hunting with wood arrows I would plan on some breakage. The “old guys” in the club bought wood shafts by the hundred saving the best for deer or island hunting, the rest went for rabbits and squirrels.

[Wheels2]

I keep waiting for the return of a compressed cedar shaft.
Same for the Hex shafts...
I have been told that they are in the works, but that has been over a year ago.

[two4hooking]

Natures carbon - bamboo.  Not technically wood, but natural.

[Pat B]

The absolute toughest wood shafts I've ever found are hardwood shoot shafts(ie. sourwood, viburnum, red osier and other dogwoods) also some cane. The problem with these materials is most folks don't want to take the time to work these materials into reliable, good shooting arrows. I can understand that. Cedar, spruce, fir and other commercially doweled shafting allows John Q Public to make good shooting arrows without the full knowledge of the dynamics or how an arrow works in relation to the bow and shooter. I've used cedar, spruce, fir, ash, hickory, cherry, black walnut, poplar, aspen and other commercially made and individually made doweled shafting, most with good results. These shafts allow John Q. the ability to make good shooting arrows...which is a good thing for the masses.  But, the knowledge of how it all works is what keeps me going in my quest for keeping it as simple as possible without diminishing the total effectiveness of these arrows.