Tapered shafts vs. Regular shafts

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I'll be getting my new striker slapstick in Nov. and am gonna go with woodies.
Why or why not go with tapered shafts?
I would like POC and plan on a 4 point footing of osage or something similar and want to set up as heavy an arrow as I can possibly shoot out of this bow. It will be 45 to 47# at 28@ so with my draw of 28.5 " it will be a little more I figure. What do you guys suggest.

[Jesse Peltan]

Tapered shafts are more forgiving and penetrate better but usually cost a little more. Depending upon the cost I would get the tapered shafts.

[Brently]

I use tapered spruce with my longbow, just can't beat a wood arrow.  You can't go wrong with a footed cedar arrow, they just look really good.

[thp]

Strker Stinger loves woodies, tapered and straight.

[Orion]

I've shot both for a lot of years and can't really decipher much difference in the way they fly, though theoretically, the tapered shafts recover from paradox a bit more quicky.  Also, because there should be somewhat less flex in the shaft on impact, they should penetrate better.  However, I haven't noticed a difference in penetration on deer size game, probably because most times, I get passthroughs.  I do my own tapering and tend to shoot tapered shafts more now.

Depending on the diameter shaft, tapering the nock end will reduce the weight of a 11/32 shaft by about 20 grains.  Likewise, footing it will add about 20 grains to the front.  More for 23/64 shafts.  So, you can get slightly higher FOC by tapering, slightly more overall weight with a parallel shaft.   Another way to add weight to the shaft is to soak it in Watco  or some other oil.  That generally adds about 50 grains to 11/32 shafts.  Good luck.

[Frenchymanny]

I'd go with tapered ash: Plenty heavy, tough, and fly great. Beautiful grain you can stain

F-Manny

[NancyVTAS]

I use compressed/tapered/cocobolofooted  real tuff-straigten out quick good FOC

[Don Stokes]

Parallel shafts are a product of the machine age. Before mass production, practically all shafts were tapered. Many were barrel tapered, for the best performance. That's my preference, since I used to manufacture them.      

Dean Torges has endorsed them; you can check it out on his web site,  http://www.bowyersedge.com/

[Steelhead]

i think the quicker recovery is the main advantage to the tapered shaft and thats always a good thing.Especially on close shots.I think they clear the shelf and strike plate a little cleaner as well with less fletching contact.Fletching tends to get less wear in my experience with tapered shafts.Tapered is a good option and barrel tapered is even better IMO.

I am shooting some parellel sitka spruce right now and they perform very well.I shoot all 3 styles.Since the barrel tapered and tapered cost more the last few dozen shafts I have bought have been parrellel.

If i was gonna be a perfectionist and wanted the best wood arrow I would get an Elite arrows barrel tapered style.

[WAC]

I would go with a tapered shaft for the above mentioned reasons. I have tapered my own on many occassions with a one inch thumb plane. Set plane to make thinnest cut possible and experiment with an old shaft. I believe most produced shafts are tapered the last 9 to 10 inches on the nock end.I started 12" back and made a series of passes side by side,move 2" toward the nock end and plane off the high spots,repeat. Finnish with sand paper and the shaft chucked in a cordless drill. not as hard as it sounds with a good plane.