Heavy wood arrows

[Orion]

Jack Harrison describes the process in his book, "Traditional Bowyer, More Unnecessary Fun."  Basically, Sweetland would start with billets about 36 inches long and about 1 1/4 inches thick on one end tapering to 5/8 inch on the other end.  These billets were compressed under heat into 3/8-inch slabs.  3/8 inch square shafts were then cut from these and then doweled, providing a very dense, weight forward shaft.  The end of the arrow shaft with the greater density was intended as the point end, providing greater strength immediately behind the point.  Of course, it also increased the FOC of the arrow, but no one used that term back then.  Of course, the other big advantages of compressed shafts were greater spine and weight in smaller diameter shafts.  

Sweetland used other board dimensions as well to yield different levels of compression, spines, arrow diameters, etc.  For exmple, I had some 11/32 shafts that tapered to 5/16 a while back that spined at well over 100 pounds and weighed about 800 grains per shaft.  I also have some 9/32 shafts that are tapered to 1/4 inch that spine 50-55# and weigh about 475 grains.  Still have a few 5/16 parallel shafts as well that spine about 65-70# and weigh about 520 grains, give or take a little. These are raw shaft weights, not arrow weights.

Harrison and a couple of buddies bought the equipment and moved it to Alaska several years ago.  I believe Bill Sweetland provided some consultation on getting the equipment up and running.  Their company, Alaska Pioneer Supply, I believe it was called, did produce shafts for a while out of Alaskan hemlock. (I think that was the wood species they used.)  The business has been for sale for several years.

[duncan idaho]

Who makes custom heavy wood arrows now? I watched a 3Rivers video where Don Thomas killed a Australian buff with a heavy wood arrow make from "IPE". Anyone know who makes these? just curious.

[snag]

I have some Forgewoods that are 80#-85# spine weight with 160gr tips. They weigh 800 grains. At 20yds they hit the mark with a 5" higher adjustment because of being heavier.

[Ron LaClair]

Thanks Jerry for filling in the blanks. If I remember correctly Sweetland stopped making the compressed cedars because they ran out of the "old" cedar that they had always used.

[Al Dente]

I won a set of compressed elm arrows at a banquet several years ago.  They were really heavy, and like Ron said, the penetration is ridiculous.

[Jack Skinner]

Duncan,
I dont believe anyone makes Ipe arrows. Ipe is seasonal at best at least out west. It is used in decking. As for arrows it is supposed to make good footings (I am looking forward to trying some). If ipe was used it was a special made set of arrows. Having said that if you can find yourself an good Ipe board with straight grain you may want to give Allegany Mtn Arrow woods a call. On their web page on arrow shaft materials they say call them and they will give you a quote on turning shafts from your material.

good luck

[Mike Vines]

I sent a bunch of teak over to Bill at Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods, and he turned them into shafts for me, and best of all the price was right.  I ended up with 3 dozen shafts out of 70  pieces of square stock that I sent him (the grain was hard to read till they were turned into shafts).  They are very heavy, about 800-850 grains and spine out from 75#-102#.  With just clear gloss finish on them, they are extreamly beautiful.

[Don Stokes]

When I was researching the arrow shaft business in the late '80's I visited Bill Sweetland to get some insight into his process. I was doing some experimenting with compressed wood at the time. Bill was a gracious host, taking in a stranger and giving me an afternoon of his time. We talked technical for hours, but his advice was that the process he used was just too expensive to be worthwhile. I was able to imitate his process with other woods and chemical additives using presses at the local university, but finally concluded that he was right. Too expensive, when natural wood does such a good job.

My arrows vary in weight with the draw weight I'm shooting, but I am most comfortable with 12-13 grains per pound of draw weight. I can handle 15, but that's the limit for me. I achieve those numbers with yellow poplar shafting and 160-190 grain broadheads.

[snag]

One of the benefits the Forgewoods had that no "modern day" shaft will is they were heavier at the head. Who I guess you can sink some metal in the front of a wood shaft to achieve this today. But Mr. Sweetland used planks of POC that were wider at one end. Then when compressing them there was more wood, thus heavier, at one end. Weight forward shafts way before anyone thought of it with carbons!

[Bjorn]

Lots of things are possible with wood. I had some POC made up with 8 inches of Cocobolo footed to the front end, including the splice the entire front end was footed
 
The hard part is you end up running out of spine unless you are shooting a bow with a minimal shelf.
The Sweetands had that problem solved; but for a limited market when carbons came along.

[duncan idaho]

Thanks, Jack.

[SlowBowinMO]

I use Surewood Fir shafts  starting on the heavy side, then jump up 10 pounds or so in spine and load up the point using either the Internal Point Jig or Woody Weights.

Shot one deer last fall with a Snuffer tipped 730 grain Surewood (point was loaded to 250 grains) and penetration was fantastic!  It's not too difficult to locate Surewoods in the 500 grain raw weight range if heavier finished arrows are needed.

[MarkE2006]

Is anyone still producing a compressed shaft?

[Buckhorn47]

Nice topic. I have always used heavy shafting, usually with heavy bows, however, waning years have cost me in poundage, so now am down to 40-50 pound draw weight. Wonder of all wonders, I have found that the heavy shafting works just as well or better with a lighter draw weight as long as they are spined correctly. I currently favour ramin or hickory - usually around 700 - 750 grain, point included. As has already been detailed here, the shot is quiet and hits hard.

[snag]

[snag]

No compressed shafts being made today that I am aware of MarkE2006. Port Orford cedar was "the" wood to do this with because it has a high level of a chemical compound called lignin that under pressure and the amount of heat glues itself together. The lignin in the wood polymerizes and flows once this heat and force are applied to it. Cooling the compressed wood re-solidifies the lignin. Other woods just don't have this in quantities that are sufficient enough to do the job.

[3Feathers]

Anybody use maple???

[hvyhitter]

I havent been able to find good maple lately but I still have 7 maple arrows out of a dozen I had made 10 yrs ago, they are 790 gr with 160 snuffers and are whisper quiet and blow through deer. Only use them out of the one bow and only to hunt with. I also have 8 IPE shafts I picked up from Allegany at Denton Hill 2 yrs ago but havent got around to making them into arrows yet. They are spined 70-75 and weigh 740 to 760. I have been looking at laminated maple lately and may give them a try this spring. I have played around with weight forward wood (woody weights) and I dont seem to get as good of flight with EFOC as with overall heavy wood,  but thats just me.