"quality" of wooden arrows

[T.L]

Hello all.

I am curious about the relative quality of today's wooden shafting. I keep reading/hearing about how one of the issues with wood shafts is that they are inconsistent or poorer quality in comparison to synthetic materials.

 That seems fair enough but how much of an issue is this if you buy your shafts from a reputable source such as some of the sponsors here? Further, if you buy a set of spined and weight matched shafts, will the average shooter notice a difference in accuracy?

 Any opinions would be welcome.
thanks,
 Tom.

[Raminshooter]

T.L.
Quality wood shafting is the only thing to use in my opinion and as long as you are buying quality you have nothing to worry about.  We all choose to use traditional equipment and nothing quite rounds that out like good wood shafts.
Couple things to remember when ordering though:  If the outside diameter of your current shafting (whether carbon or aluminum) is smaller than 23/64 or 11/32 then you will need to make some adjustments to spine when ordering your wood shafting.  To try and fine tune what exact combination you will want (this is easier if you shoot a recurve over a longbow because your riser is center or past center cut) then simply order a half dozen shafts of different spine wt's and experiment with those before taking the plunge.
Easiest material to start out with would be good cedar shafting and work to other woods from their. Cedar staightens easily and stays straight and is a very forgiving wood when stump shooting with it. Have fun no matter what you choose.

[Bjorn]

The quality today is absolutely horrible please stick with carbon or aluminum!  

[jrchambers]

you can get some verry good wood, i like sitka spruce they recover well, i belive much of the problems people have with wood is in the lack of patience to make sure they are as straight as they can be, and the nock taper and the nock glue on itself.  both need to be extreemly consistant.  or someone might think the quality of the shaft is at fault

[Focusource]

I bought a dozen cedar shafts last March from Kustom King.  The last one finally expired in December.  I took about 10,000 shots with those shafts (I keep a spreadsheet).  They were the hand spined and weighed variety.  I expect my current dozen will make it through the summer.

[csdqm2]

I find that every thing is a compromise. Carbon is strait and stays that way till it EXPLODES. Aluminum is easier to get heavy but somtimes squeaks on the draw. Wood needs to be straitened occasionally but can be. I like wood it just feels warm and natural. I went from aluminum to cedar to carbon and now to ash. I just like the feel of the wood. My cedars were very inconsistant but were from a big supplier. My current ash are from Allegeny Mountain Arrow Woods and I love them, very consistant. Wood is natural so don't expect machining production tolerances, but from a good supplier they can be matched very well.

[George D. Stout]

T.L.  you won't notice much difference in accuracy with good quality shafts.  No wood shaft will be as consistent from shaft to shaft as the synthetics, but they work very well.  Buy them both spined and weighed.  The little extra you pay is worth the money.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

My wooden arrows shoot just as accurately, and are just as deadly, as the carbons or aluminiums I've used..."The Goodness of Woodness!"

[Broken Arrow 1]

Originally posted by Raminshooter:
T.L.
Quality wood shafting is the only thing to use in my opinion and as long as you are buying quality you have nothing to worry about.  We all choose to use traditional equipment and nothing quite rounds that out like good wood shafts.
 

I have to agree

[John3]

Buy quality "matched" sets of woods and you will have NO issues... Spend the money to buy the best you can find. $30.00 a dz. from Mike at the Nocking Point for the BEST quality hand spined/weight matched POC shafts I've ever shot.  

I know that is a bold statement, but in over 15 years of shooting "woods" these are the best I have found. I only shoot POC's out of any of my longbows.
Even a slightly crooked wood shaft will shoot superb if you have the nock installed correctly...  

Shoot carbon,,, what are we NASA payload specialists.. LOL

[SuperK]

I agree with the guys..buy quality shafts and assemble with care.  I have bought shafts from several folk but I now buy mine only from Twig Archery.  John KNOWS wooden shafts/arrows and will help you with any problems or questions you may have.  His shafting is quality all the way and his prices are great!  Give him a holler...You will not be disappointed.

[T.L]

Thank you for all the responses to my questions.

I have a hybrid longbow which shoots pine shafts better than carbons. There seems to be a little less handshock and noise (the carbons are about 11 gpp. - I'm not sure about the wood) and the groups are more or less the same.
 
I was just curious about the quality of shafts these days. One can read a lot of " out of 100 shafts only 10 were decent..." stories on these boards. It can make you wonder (me at least).

thanks,
 Tom.

[roper]

I have been making cedar arrows for over 20 years
and the quality from good suppliers is still very
good.  I buy my shafts in 100 bundles that have been weighted and spined and I might loose 2 or
3 because of grain run off or knots but thats about it...I buy 23/64 and hand taper 10 inches to
knock.  Ive shot alum. carbons and glass and I like my woods much better!  allen

[Orion]

The quality of cedar shafting has gone down hill over the years, but there's still some good stuff around.  Also, there are some very good sitka spruce and douglas fir shafts being made now by vendors on this site.  Likewise, there are a number of good hardwood shaft makers.  It is important to buy from reputable vendors so you're more likely to get what you order.  Also helps to have a grain scale and a spine tester so you can check the shafts you buy.  I've found spine variations as much as 20# and weight variations of more than 50 grains on bundles of a dozen shafts that were supposed to be spined within 5# and weigh within 10 grains.

[Chuck Hoopes]

I have always bought just ave. or below cheap$ shafts---$25/doz. or less.  I have found that if I put enough feather on them they'll fly just fine.  I use a 5 1/2" bannana cut. This is also really good way to see the arrow and enjoy the flight. Wood arrows are not going to perform at the level carbons do, but than again Iam not Byron Ferguson trying to slip one thru a ring. I hit what Iam shooting at, but if I should happen to miss and break one,there's always that nostalgic aroma of cedar to gladden the heart.  IMO these high end premimun shafts are over-rated, as well, many guys over rate their shooting ability-- i.e. believing that they are capable of pin point accracy given the right arrows. Neither will the best arrow make a poor shot a good shot  Arrows matter of course, just like having the right bow and set up- but in the end its the operator--Just put enough fletching on them and they'll be just fine for us mortals.  Ever see the clip of HH shooting differ wt. bows one after another w/ a variety of arrows,- a lame,motley,mixed match of pure "junk" -- Of course, he nailed the mark every time, anyway.

[hera]

I bought about 20 dozens POC shaft recentely years.
Most of shafts are within 5% spine group,but some are not.

Wood shaft are warm and natural but annoying     .

Same spine  =\\= same weight.

[Apex Predator]

I would love to shoot wood shafts, but haven't yet found any that are consistent enough for me.  Unfortunately that means I'll stick with my carbons.  I also like the smaller diameter, and extremely high forward of center balance I get out of them out of my lighter bows.

[George D. Stout]

Yeah, I did notice that the woods hit about a 1/4" to the left at 90 yards as compared to carbons.          

If you buy good cedar, spined and weight matched, they will be as consistent as any can get.  I like all kinds of arrows and it's hard to find really bad ones if you buy from a reputable source.  Quality wood will be as accurate as you can be with them under most circumstances encountered in the field.

[Jim Stewart]

Now THAT was funny, George!  And your statement about buying from a "reputable source" is certainly true.  Am still working my way thru the bundles of Chundoo purchased from Kelly Peterson - he was truly a "reputable source".

[Old York]

Sometime back, I bought a bunch of inexpensive Douglas fir shafts [$18/dozen] which I built up into some "good enough" arrows. They had a happy short life being quickly broken & lost. At that price, they sure have a place in my quiver, especially for say rabbit hunting in deep snow.

Sometimes 'quality' is relative to an arrow's purpose and woodies have a huge range of opportunities.