Hard Wood for Arrows ?

[Pine]

Does anyone have any experience with hard wood for arrow shafts ? I have heard that they can be a problem to keep straight . I am thinking of trying them and have ordered a test kit because the place that i am getting them from says that the spine of hard woods will be about 10# lighter than cedar and that I will be amazed . We shall see . I am concerned that the over all weight of the arrow is going to be very heavy but that might be OK as long as my arrow flight isn't like a rainbow at less than 30 yds.

So any input ?

[Steve-ALA]

Check out Forrester Wood Shafts

[Bjorn]

Hickory is great but very heavy, buy top stuff and they are problem free. I bought some ash shafting a few years ago they were dead straight then and still are. Ash does not recover as quickly as cedar so you do need to order a little stiffer. The heavier shafting will need more spine. Make sure you buy the best and ask for a specific grain weight range otherwise they will be all over the place.

[Pine]

Forrester is who I am dealing with .

[J.T.]

I'm willing to bet the shafts will be straight when you get them from Kevin and they will stay straight.  Forrester shafts are the best hard wood available you won't be dissapointed

[jsweka]

I often shoot ash shafts from Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods and I haven't noticed any difference in spine compared to what it might say for a batch of cedars or douglas fir of the same spine.

They do need more straightening and you will need to keep an eye on them even after sealing, but I've never had one I couldn't get straight.  They are far and away the toughest wood shaft I've tried.  You really have to hit something hard on a sharp angle to break them.

[Pine]

I have a paint question as well . I want to cut in self nocks and paint them , so what paint is going to be compatible with Min-Wax Polyacrylic ?

[Stumpkiller]

Don't want to try and talk you out of paint, but I have had great luck with much simpler coloring using Fiebings leather dye under wipe-on MinWax poly.  Not as opaque as paint but I like the grain.  The brown is alcohol stain (pecan).  Bohning fletch tape or Duco work well to attach the fletching.  The "crowns" of both sets are yellow leather dye.

These are both Douglas Fir.

   

   

[Bjorn]

Beauties Charlie!!!  

[Blackhawk]

I'm also a fan of Forrester.  They are the best of hardwood shafts and Kevin knows his stuff.

 http://www.forresterwoodshafts.com/

[Zradix]

I tied ash years ago. they were a PITA to keep straight.
It could have been just crappy shafts but I did hear good things about the guy making them...but I wasn't very happy with em.
..they were very strong though.

[M60gunner]

I tried laminated birch some years back. The spine was fine and I was able to straighten them using heat and a "shaft tamer". I found them to be tough and hard to break. Finally shot one straight on into a boulder to break one.
I think the arrow flight would depend on the weight of the arrow and the poundage of your bow. I was shooting between 65lbs. and 80lbs. In those days. I used the birch from my 65lb. Longbow.

[atatarpm]

I hope this will help my bow pulls 60# at 31&1\\2 draw. I am usiing golden oak for shafting spineing at 61# exactly. I am shooting a 12 strand astro flight string. 125 grain points with two fletch and glue on knoks.  My arrows weight 698 to 721 grains.

[Bear Heart]

Shot a round of 3D with Kevin. Great guy with some tough arrows.

[Brock]

alleghany mountain arrow woods has a good selection of hardwoods...maple, hickory, ash.  ash was hard to keep straight but if you did it was very durable.  hickory is really tough...and heavy.  maple was very durable, heavy but very light grain so dont take stain very well but nearly impossible to break.


Forrester Hardwoods is a good source for other more exotic woods...purple heart, red balau, leapord wood, teak, etc.  I got a set of red balau shafts from him recently in trade for some natural turkey fletching.  The ones I got have a natural footing for 11/32 on one end and the rest of shaft is 5/16...it is more of a compression or taper almost.  Shafts by themselves are over 500gr if I remember right.  He has video of him shooting a few into granite, cinder blocks, concrete with no damage...haha

great guy and very knowledgeable of the more rare hardwoods for shafting in America.

[Shakes.602]

He has some Awsome Wood Choices, no doubt about that!!

[Dan bree]

Just talked to Kevin and got some mahogany shafts. Good guy. And knows  his woods  helped me calculate my spine to the miller I'm shooting

[Bowitis]

I placed an order with Kevin, Very helpful and I had very prompt responses to my questions. Also the video he has on his webb site was very impressive.