Douglas Fir arrows

[eagleone]

I found some super douglas fir at the hardware store- nice straight grain end to end.  Bought that and got myself a veritas dowel cutter.  

Anyway after a little monkeying around and about 20 broken shafts later, I still dont have ONE good shaft!  Pretty much every shaft I cut has grain runout. I bend them a little to test them and POP!

 Looking at these boards I cant imagine finding better (straighter) grain than this!  Maybe I need tighter lines? Anybody got any ideas?

[Art B]

Have you tried splitting your board with a hatchet to check for straight grain? Dress the split up and THEN start cutting out your blanks. This way you'll know for sure that you're working with super straight grain material.......Art

[jsweka]

I've never tried making my own shafts from a board, but the douglas fir shafts I've purchased are the straightest wood shafts I've ever used.  My only complaint with douglas fir is that it isn't much more durable than cedar.

I like the idea Art B suggested.  Let us know how it works.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I love fir shafts. But I just buy mine.

[chad graham]

i was told fir should be sanded not doweled!

[fujimo]

i have run many hundreds of d. fir shafts thru my veritas doweller- the one with the two seperate blades- never had a problem- nice tough shafts ver very durable- i have used them as my stumping arrows, and eventually around the .357 shell head they start to compress- with all the rocks one hits in the dirt etc- so i just cut em off scarf splice a new piece of shaft back on- about 3 ", re make the blunt, an shoot them m any thousands of times- i usually lose them befor i totally destroy them. as you can see i way prefer stump practice than target practice- its just better for me- every shot is a "real shot".

many of my shafts have a bit of runout- in fact i cant say that i have ever had a truly straight shaft.
but now i live in the pacific north west- with abundant sitka- so i make all my new shafts from spruce- i like it even more- they are more consistant- i find with the fir i had to run many shafts to get a desirable weight and spine.- with the spruce it is way easier. and the spruce retains its straightness once straightened properly.
 those veritas are real tricky with set up.
maybe the fir was too dry- i have had that problem befor too.
a lot of fir is second growth fir of inferior quality- some of the second growth is really good though.
if that board is a dud- get another board from a different tree- wait a bit- or go to a different shop maybe!!!
 not all boards are created equal- ask any board bow builder- hell i have had absolutely perfect boards fail, then i have had boards that should never have survived last for ever and are still shooting today.
g'luck
wayne

[eagleone]

thanks for the advice- Im not gonna give up on it yet but I will have to keep my eyes open for some sitka!

[fujimo]

if you would like, i can get some for you- i like to trade!!

[eagleone]

hmmm... what kind of stuff would you be interested in?  I dont have much but try me

[fujimo]

whisky, young woman- must be skookum good woman- good hips, an' good teeth.

but no big deal- anything that you have or can get hold of- ipe boards, bamboo, hickory backs, feathers, stone points- a can of urac glue,just anything- an if you really dont have anything i will just send you some anyway.- its more to get the trade on the postage costs than anything else- and that it feels good to trade- just for whatever you feel its worth!!
best wishes
wayne

[GREG IN MALAD]

You could try ash. I have a drill and router set up and ash is by far the easiest wood to use. Doug fir works easy but gets really brittle if it's too dry.
Fujimo, I almost spit diet coke on the screen when I read your post.

[briarjumper12]

I been doing hard maple and hickory in my veritas 2 blade set up.  The hard maple made prettier shafts than the hickory.  Higher spine too.  I got some popular seasoning too.  I like my set up.  Gonna do up some self nock arrows soon and when I get some metal I am going to my own broadheads.  then I will have a complete setup built by me.  I am growing to hate plastic nocks and bought broadheads.

[fujimo]

yup thats what i found out about fir via the hard way- when it was dowelled- thus a very small volume of wood- and i came back to them a year or two later, some had got very brittle- i am now rehydrating them- to see if that will help. or maybe the damage is already done.
g'luck.
wayne

[Don Stokes]

I believe that a moisture content of around 10% works best.