Walnut shafts?

[Sam McMichael]

Does walnut make a suitable arrow shaft? I have a pickup truck load of sawn and planed walnut. Most of it has swirled grain, but some of it straight grained. I am not a wood worker and have had this wood since the 1970's, so I don't know what to do with it. But I was thinking maybe some of the straight grained stuff could be worked into arrow shafts. What say you guys who know about this stuff?

[McDave]

I don't know how it is in Georgia, but around here walnut goes for a pretty penny.  If I had a truckload of walnut in good shape I would sell it and buy a truckload of arrows!

[Gdpolk]

It would likely be a little brittle for an arrow shaft. However if you want to get rid of some let me know by pm and I may take some to carve.

[robhunter]

Sam,
I made a few arrows from walnut my cousin gave me.
They come out heavy and a little stiff. They sure
are good looking when finished.  Robert

[soy]

 

 

[soy]

Love m

[Pat B]

The arrow on the left and the fluflu are both black walnut shafts...
 

 The arrow has an Abowyer trade point and the fluflu is a blunt. These shafts were turned from square stock. I left the square end on and
re-shaped it into a blunt.
 

...and they all have self nocks.
 

[soy]

Looking good pat  

[Sam McMichael]

Thanks for the info, fellas. Now a couple of other questions. If it is stiff, would I be better off trying 5/16 or 11/32 arrows? I would like either 40-45, 45-50, or 50-55 shafts. Also , what kind of jig is used to take square cut stock and produce round shaft?  I guess I need to check out the condition of this wood and sell it. Is swirly grain walnut useful for bow veneer?

[Gordon Jabben]

Sam, I agree with the others that it will make a good arrow but the spine will vary quite a bit and lean toward the weak side.  I think most would be in the 40 to 55 pound range with 11/32.  Can't help you with the jig.  Mine was made by my nephew and I'm sure he wouldn't want to make another.

[Pat B]

You can reduce square stock with a hand plane. You can also buy a pencil sharpener type dowel maker, running the square stock through, mounted to an electric drill. I don't remember the name of this dowel maker though.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Sell the walnut, and buy douglas fir, or spruce for arrows. and i'd buy shafts too.... milling your own shafts takes hundreds of them to get matched dozens.... been there ... done that...It just isn't worth it.

The stuff is too brittle for arrow shafts and will not stay very straight for you either...

If you have any wild looking grain stock, i'd be interested in looking at it.

[wood carver 2]

If you weren't so far away, not to mention in another country, I'd offer to buy the whole load from you. I go through a good bit of walnut every year.
Dave.

[V I Archer]

I made dowels from walnut for draw bore mortise and tennon joints.  I found it to be surprisingly brittle.  Trade it to a bowyer for credit toward a new bow;)

[Mike Vines]

Originally posted by Kirkll:
Sell the walnut, and buy douglas fir, or spruce for arrows. and i'd buy shafts too.... milling your own shafts takes hundreds of them to get matched dozens.... been there ... done that...It just isn't worth it.

Parallels my experiences EXACTLY.  I switched over to all Douglas fir for all of my wood arrows.

[atatarpm]

I use it to foot and double foot Poc for weight and foot birch shafts when they break to regain length works great for that. Makes some beautiful arrows.