Curious about dowels? Here's the dope.

[SCATTERSHOT]

Well, I was curious, too, so I ordered 50 3/8" birch dowels from American Woodcrafters. They are all straight, 36" long, and look like they would make decent arrows. Some grain runout, and a few knots here and there, but for the most part they appear to be serviceable. Out of the 50, here's how they spined out:
68-1 70-1 73-2 75-3 76-2 79-1 81-1 84-1 87-7 90-2 93-4 96-7 98-1 100-5 104-8 108-3 130-1

Those are WAY heavier than I thought they would be, but I wanted to see for myself.

The 5/16" I have used in the past maxed out at 55#, with the majority going in the low to mid 40's.

Just thought you'd like to know.

[poekoelan]

I've been curious about that, thanks.

[Shakes.602]

I use 5/16 Dowels, and "Perfect" they arent, but I have had a Lot of Fun Building them and Shooting them. "Frugality" is just another Word for "Cheap, but Good"!!
Oh, I shoot either a 45# LongBow, Or 50# Recurves!

[SCATTERSHOT]

I performed an experiment last night with one of the stiffest shafts in the bunch. I took a 108# shaft (!) and straightened it, then tapered the shaft to 5/16 at the rear, and made a self nock. Then I cut the shaft to 32" and installed a 160 grain point. (You can tell we're still snowed in here in Denver).

Surprise, surprise! The thing bareshafted great from my 52# Pronghorn! Of course, that's in the basement, but still...

At 32" and 770 grains, you won't win any flight shooting contests, but it's a viable arrow, at any rate.

[sir_h_c]

I'm curious what would happen if you took them down to 11/32.  How much spine would you lose?  Also, doesn't shortening an arrow increase spine? curious?!?!

[SCATTERSHOT]

Shortening an arrow increases dynamic spine. That is, it acts stiffer, but the actual spine doesn't increase. It's the same stick. I guesstimated 32" mainly because I didn't want to fool with a 36" arrow, LOL! You can reduce spine considerably by decreasing it's diameter, but I haven't done it.

[Aram]

Good info, thanx.
Does anyone know how ramin compares with birch?

[SCATTERSHOT]

I believe it's heavier, but it's becoming hard to get in the U.S. It's not imported any more due to environmental concerns.