Woodies vs Modern Arrows -- Your pick & why

[Sam McMichael]

Bisch, if you can easily tune carbon, you should have no problem adapting to wood. Just don't overthink it. After all, if I can do it anybody can. I would offer to help you, but Georgia is just a bit far to go, unless I can ever get to some Texas shoots.

[Fletcher]

RA, it can be done, but fir will splinter and chip if the blades aren't VERY sharp.  The pencil sharpener types also tend to be not real precise.  I do all my tapers on a disk sander with a V groove guide.  The sander works better and is much more accurate.

[Roy from Pa]

Yes Douglas fir can be touchy with a taper tool with blades. I taper them like fletcher does.

[Mark R]

I like any arrow I can shoot, but my favorite are woodies, I like to hunt and shoot a bow and arrows I made myself, although to me carbon work optimal on my lower draw weight bows, my real interest is with a well made wood arrow,IMHO nothing feels better.

[riverrat 2]

Tried woods when I first started traditional. But found them then..and still do not able to take a lot of abuse. They look great. In fact there isn't an arrow out there that can beat them in beauty or archery grassroots traditional charm. But I'll snap em' by pulling them out of a 3D target. They just didn't work for me. Carbons...did those also. Everyone who has shot them will tell you they are tuff. And they are. I hated the crazy tuning rituals I had to go thru to get a properly spined heavy enough arrow for my bows. And even then for a host of different reasons they would not fly good out of another bow with the same draw weight/draw length. So then I tried Aluminum. Cheap,tuff,easily tuned,heavy. And for me a 2018 will fly great from any bow I've owned in the past 6 years that had a draw weight of 48#'s to 55#'s but just changing the weight of my field points. Heck I even shoot them 2-fletched now because of how stable they shoot/fly.

rat'

[die_dunkelheit]

Originally posted by Roy from Pa:
Nothing flies better than a cane arrow with wild turkey feathers..

+1

They're cheap and easy to make too.

[goingoldskool]

I have Surewood taper mine....  no problems so far.

[slowbowjoe]

Wood, thank you. Cut 'em with my pocket knife (no power saw needed), quiet, easy to tune, no moving parts.
Yes, they can beak stumping... but I've mushroomed a bunch of carbons, popped nocks on a lot more, and found them touchy (for me) to tune. Don't like to handle a splintered one.

Haven't tried aluminum, but they'd likely be my second choice.
Don't want a carbon or aluminum bow, same with arrows.
For me.

[Terry Lightle]

Nothing but WOOD,shot aluminun for a couple of years in the early 80s.Never owned a carbon arrow for my personal use even though we sell a lot of them.Wood seems quieter to me than a hollow shaft and it just seems right for me.
Terry

[forestdweller]

Don't see much of a point in using wooden arrows.

They are more expensive than carbon arrows if you buy them and are not as straight, not as consistent, and not nearly as durable as carbon.

You get the most bang for your buck with carbons and more FOC.

If you take some GT Heavy Hunter's or foot your carbon arrows they are literally indestructible.

[dnovo]

John,
But you see for a lot of us that's exactly the point. Carbon arrows are lifeless, soulless.
Woods arrows have a life of their own when they are created. It takes some patience and skill to make a good set of wood arrows. It is a process of creation vs assembly.
Therein lies the joy of wood. That plus the thrill of watching them fly to the mark.

[Grey Taylor]

I shoot, and only will shoot, wood or bamboo.
A carbon or aluminum arrow may be straighter and more accurate but if I hit my target with a wood arrow, how much more accurate does my arrow have to be?
A carbon or aluminum arrow will always be nothing more than a utilitarian arrow. But a wood arrow, I can make a wood arrow beautiful.
How many times do you see other archers at a 3D shoot exclaiming on the beauty of someone's carbon arrows? I see it all the time with wood arrows.
How many times do you see someone praising the workmanship on an aluminum arrow? I see that frequently with a bamboo arrow.

Guy

[forestdweller]

Originally posted by dnovo:
John,
But you see for a lot of us that's exactly the point. Carbon arrows are lifeless, soulless.
Woods arrows have a life of their own when they are created. It takes some patience and skill to make a good set of wood arrows. It is a process of creation vs assembly.
Therein lies the joy of wood. That plus the thrill of watching them fly to the mark.

To each their own but technically wooden arrows are dead too.      :p     .

All that I care about in an arrow is durability, straightness, and spine consistency.

I demand as much accuracy as I can maintain and that means arrows that are consistent from arrow to arrow and can handle abuse.

I do not have the money to spend on high quality wooden arrows and do not have the time to cull through them and baby them.

I see wooden arrows as a luxury arrow. They are not superior to carbon or aluminum arrows in any way besides being more expensive.

Even Howard Hill used alloy arrows on some of his hunts and Byron uses carbon arrows and those two are the best traditional archers bar none.

I've seen some really really nice looking carbon arrows as well with good cresting jobs or the traditional ones with the wood grain finish such as the CE Heritage arrows or the Easton Trads.

With the traditional carbons everyone that I know thinks that they are wood due to the paint job put on them at the factory and they even feel similar to wood.

With the amount of shooting I do I'd probably blow through a dozen wooden arrows once a month.

Also I could care less about whether someone thinks my arrows are beautiful or not (kinda silly but like I said I've seen some really nice carbon arrows) I only care about their utility.

I guess you could call me a utilitarian as I don't care about beauty in my bows or else I'd go shoot the prettiest recurve I could find.

Howard Hill had to resort to using an alloy arrow I believe because he could not split an arrow using a wooden arrow for the original Robin Hood film because of straightness issues.

When it comes to being as accurate as possible and having the toughest cheapest arrows possible I'll stick to carbons.

You also gain more FOC if you shoot a mid ranged or light carbon, and if I want to make them really pretty I'd just crest them and give them a custom paint job.

I'd agree that it's definitely possible to build a set of wooden arrows that are very spine consistent and straight but it would require a lot of time, they would be expensive, and with my kind of shooting they would not last long.

The arrows can be as beautiful as they want to be but if you are missing the target or they are not shooting well they are useless and belong in a display case.

[Roy from Pa]

So John, ya saying you don't shoot well? LOL  

[Longtoke]

I think it depends on what you shoot and how you use your arrows. If i were only shooting a target then about any arrow would be good assuming it was tuned well.

When I am having fun with my arrows, shooting freely at stumps or rabbits then I want a strong no fuss arrow like carbon.


I like wood arrows too! i shoot them often.


I want to learn to make cane arrows,  Natures carbon in a way,  That sounds great to me!

But if I was going camping for a week and wanted to stump shoot, hunt rabbits, and chase deer all at once, I would probably take carbon arrows, and a few different tips.

IMO the worst thing about carbon is they require a special saw.

[Roy from Pa]

Carbons cut very nicely with a dremel tool with a thin cut off wheel on it.

[drewsbow]

for me carbons are more durable and closer in spine and straightness so that's my choice

[Tim Finley]

My very favorite arrow of all times i doug fir . I'e shot them for along time since 93  . I have loads of cedars arrows and shafts but I get better flight from my douglas fir arrows out of any bow I shoot. I do like carbons and have 3 different kinds and I use them for 3ds and hog hunting, I hunt at night and use lighted nocks.

[Austin Brown]

I have all three at the house and shoot them all at times.  Cedar are my favorite to build and shoot.  They just take more time to build and at times I get too busy and end up running low on arrows.  

For that reason if I had to pick one material and stick with it, I would probably choose aluminum.  Contrary to what some are saying here, aluminum are still straighter and more consistent weight wise than most reasonably priced carbon.  I get the straightness/durability thing if you are stumping/abusing arrows but personally have never had much trouble bending aluminum shafts with the type of shooting I do.

I still have carbon and will probably experiment more with them in the future.  I just haven't had as much luck getting them to shoot as well easily for me as with wood and aluminum.

[Bowwild]

I made up some wood arrows (port orford) back around 2001.  Prior to that I had built carbon and aluminum. Just cut and fletched them, sometimes a wrap.

I made a heck of a mess trying to dip those cedar shafts.  I have a cresting machine that was given to me, I liked putting crest rings on the shafts.   I only used he pencil sharpener type nock taper tools and didn't realize they weren't up to snuff.

Bottom line, except for fletching I wasn't much good at it (producing quality wood arrows).  Then I'd shoot those arrows in 3D targets and they came out of the target looking "burned" on the front 5-8". Destroyed my work to get them looking good. I'm sure it had something to do with how I finish coated them.

I have a new dozen of PO arrows from a fellow in Medford, OR who makes his shafts from the tree itself. They are beauties but I haven't even put points on them.  Also have some nice arrows that have the hardwood splice up front...brain fart right now and can't think of the term for that to save my life.  Wait...hardwood footed shafts!   I've never shot them.

This thread has caused me to rethink woodies a bit.  I was drawn back to recurves for nostalgic reasons.  I didn't need increased challenge, I wasn't unhappy with compounds, and I didn't/don't have shooting issues that a compound exaggerates. Just wanted to return to my roots. Well my roots are Bear Cedar arrows with Razorheads. So I reckon I haven't returned all the way.

Now days I shoot the most hi-tech arrow on the market, deep six FMJs by Easton. Love them. Easy as pie to tune, excellent penetration, and plenty durable.