Thanks for revealing yet another archer rabbit hole….

[JohnnyBa]

….wooden arrows. From reading the thread on wooden bows and wooden arrows which showed a particular fondness for arrows of the wooden variety, especially when made from shaft to sanded, smoothed, straightened, sealed and fletched arrows that are not only our tools, but also, from what I have seen, works of art. So I, being an interested new-b, wanted to give them a try before buying more and more carbon shafts. I ordered a “Ready to Shoot” set of 45-50#(11/32) spine arrows, cut 28.5” and a 125 field point added. Nothing fancy, just fletched 3 and sealed. They were received quickly and in a bombproof box that revealed an utterly beautiful set of plane Jane arrows. I was so excited, I grabbed my Black Hunter Recurve and 6 of these arrows and had quite an experience. The bow seemed more “fluid” if that makes sense, and when I did my job, these arrows did theirs so, so well. They fly straight, dart like, even when shooting side by side a set of tuned carbons. Now I have a dozen bare shafts in my basket and want to try building up a set, but now, a couple of questions. After shooting, since I skipped this step, I brought the arrows to my bench and spun them, all had various degrees of not being straight, wobbles, etc. First, can I get a roller and straighten already fletched arrows? Second, how did these arrows fly so darn straight when they are not straight? Repeat, they flew as straight as a carbon (straightness @ .006 arrow) tuned to my bow. Now I am not so experienced to need tuned arrows and I take longer than usual as I know my routine is not “spot on, but can generally tell when it can count. At 25 yards and closer, 25 being the rare and extreme, is complete spin straightness required and can it be attained on a wooden arrow and at what exchange rate, ie, 1 out of 5 will not straighten?
That all aside, I can’t wait for it to warm a bit to go shoot these things again.
 

[Terry Green]

Johnny.... I luv ya...  go shoot your bow...and have  a  pistacio muffin!!!

All will be well!!!

[Terry Green]

[PrimitivePete]

What I've learned over the years when it comes to traditional shooting, perfection is not commonly required. Rather results are often a better focus. I once had a set of bamboo arrows, not perfectly straight but damn they flew fantastic out every bow I put them through even with broadheads.  I think I need to travel back down that road now.

[McDave]

I straighten all my new wood arrows before shooting them the first time.  After that, I straighten them after every shooting session.  Out of a half dozen arrows, my experience is that two of them always need to be straightened, two almost never need to be straightened, and two usually need to be straightened.

If you have the talent for it, you can learn to straighten them while you are in the field by sighting down the shaft and bending them in a clever way against the palm of your hand.  I don't have that talent, but I envy those who do.

Otherwise, just straighten them whenever you feel like it using whatever method you choose.  They all work. I use an Arizona combo spinner/straightener, but I don't know if they are made anymore.

[durp]

Yes u can and will need to straighten ur fletcher arrows...be carefully how u pull them from ur target 

If and when u get one that don't want to fly straight try turning the cock feather in...it may or may not help 

Now take Terry's advice and go have some fun with them...the finer points will come in time

[highcountry]

Nothing like well-made arrows! 
 Now, Terry, that picture is just awesome.  I hope it is blown up, framed and hanging on the wall somewhere. My little princess is heading out of town looking to go to college away. :(

[Orion]

Yep.  Wood arrows that aren't perfectly straight will still fly straight to the target.  Aluminum and carbon, not so much. 

Regardless, most of us still want our wood arrows as straight as possible.  A roller, as you're proposing, works fine.  I only use a roller to take out the stubborn bends.  Otherwise, I just flex the arrow in my hands, as McDave alludes to.  For really stubborn bends toward either end, I sometimes use heat.  Just a little warming over an electric stove burner.

When you fletch, put the straightest grain, rift (V's in the grain) up, on the nock end.  Then, that area will be least likely to warp and need straightening later, and you won't need to mash feathers to straighten the arrow. 

Good luck.  Have fun. 

[JohnnyBa]

First group this morning at 35 degrees. I swear, must be mental, but these things just feel better. Had my typical “outlier” but I have yet to group like this to date. Thanks again and I already have some shafts in my shopping basket.

[goose_]

Your groups look like mine. There's one in every bunch. Those look great, where did they come from? I've got the wood arrow bug myself. I'd like to pick up a half dozen just to play with.

[JohnnyBa]

I got these from Rose City Archery. It seems they have from full dressed up to plane janes. They work well and I have a dozen shafts I will work on next. I built guitars during covid and have lots of wood stains so I will be playing with colors. Posting pics when done. I like the fatter shaft size of the 11/32’s, but what do I know, these are my first woodies.

Your groups look like mine. There's one in every bunch. Those look great, where did they come from? I've got the wood arrow bug myself. I'd like to pick up a half dozen just to play with.

[ChristopherO]

Now take that outlier arrow and shoot the others without it.  See if it is that arrow or your form.  There tends to be one arrow in the dozen that will be contrary.  My son, who shoots expensive carbons out of his compound, mentioned this not too long ago.  I've found it to be common over the year, as well. 
I've wanted to craft wood arrows, but haven't gotten a 'Roundtuit' button yet to do just that.  Years ago my youngest son and I found a bamboo arrow at a Traditional 3D shoot.  I knew whose is was and toted it along to give to Greg next time I saw him, but not without my son first using it with the Osage sinewed backed recurve I had made for him.  Man, the boy never shot so well as he did with that bamboo arrow. 

[Kirkll]

Read this with my morning coffee…. Gotta love it! 

Johnny,

The longer you keep it simple, and just concentrate on the joy of archery, the better off you’ll be.

That is what is so fun about this sport. There are a lot of rabbit holes to explore. I remember the days when I built my first woodies, and all the fun I had shooting them.  My arrow tuning process was simple…. The ones that shot well, I put in my quiver. The ones that wouldn’t cooperate I just broke over my knee so I wouldn’t shoot them again….

You mentioned that you built guitars….. I’ve been a woodworker my entire life, and luthiers have been some of the most skilled craftsmen I ever worked with.

  Be careful my friend…. Once you start looking at building your first bow, that’s a rabbit hole you may never escape. It’s been 15 years now and I still haven’t found my way out…. Good sport, but be warned…….It’s a deeeeeeep hole. 

Have fun!      Kirk

[Pat B]

"Straight as an arrow" ain't necessarily necessary. I've built lots of arrows from cane, red osier or sourwood and none of them are straight as an arrow.  I learned to build "primitive" arrows from Art Butner(artcher1)one of the best arrow makers I've ever known. Art really understands how arrows work, from store bought shafts to what he could find in the woods in WV where he lives. What Art explained to me is that as long as the nock end and the point end line up what's in the middle doesn't necessarily matter(within reason). He showed me a pic of the winning shot he took with a sourwood arrow with an "s" curve behind the point. He was shooting a selfbow and his crooked arrow against guys with glass bows and some real pretty wood arrows.
 I used to make quite a few of these crooked arrows and enjoyed seeing folks jaw drop on the practice range when they watched me shoot them.  There is an old archery pic of Chet Stevenson(I think) with a snaky bow and snaky arrow that really impressed be but that was from when folks made all their own archery equipment and understood the physics of it all.

[M60gunner]

In another thread I mentioned a 50 year accumulation of archery “stuff”. A lot of it is for making arrows and if it wasn’t enough I couldn’t pass up a taper tool for barrel tapering wood shafts recently. wood arrows do require some maintenance like checking for straightness, cleaning gung from the targets off the front of the shafts, storing them properly not standing in a quiver in the corner. Changes in the weather especially if you’re in a humid area can tweak you arrows no matter how much finish they have on them. Now you can understand “rabbit hole” but it’s one I would not have missed.

[Kirkll]

Hey Terry... Are these your grand kids?  That photo is priceless!

[Pat B]

Kirk, you are going to make Terry feel old.    I think those are his daughters. 

[deaddoc4444]

If you read the old literature on arrows and arrow making you see how wood arrows have been handled . Howard Hill always wrote that he never made arrows just by the dozen   but made arrows in large groups  all with the same Spine and generally the same weight . he then went out shot the arrows  at about 20 yards then marked them into groups .   He would then  mark them and end up with 3 or 4 GROUPS   of  arrows that went to the same place .    SO wood arrows   USUALLY have a few fliers that stay that way regardless what you do . Mark them  , then make them into other uses LIKE  for Judo points  for stump shooting .
   When making arrows from bare shafts  I Always  look carefully at the ends before cutting and tapering . Any flaws at one end becomes the end  that is cut . Perfect end becomes the nock end . I have found ,over the years , that if the nock end  is the perfect end they tend to hold their straightness much better and longer . NOW  I taper end all my shafts  ( from 11/32 to 5/16)  so MAYBE this has to do with that also ?  I am also a great believer in tapered  wood shafts   for flight and penetration and I have virtually no issues with arrows   going out of straigtness  with my shafts   AFTER initial straightness.

[Terry Green]

Kirk, those are the Bowhush CEO and CFO.

This was their 1st ad.....

Then they grew up.....