cedar gpi?

[lee77spit]

I'm A new member to Trad Gang name is Dick. I just got A good deal on A new-to-me Rudder long bow.(thanks Rob). I would like to use cedar arrows to get started and was using spine calculator on Stu Millers site but one of the in put areas needs the shaft grains per inch. is there A general gpi for cedar shafts? any help would be appreciated

Dick

[David Mitchell]

Welcome the the 'Gang, Dick.  This is a great site with lots of friendly people.  Regarding your question it would be impossible to give you a gpi on any wood arrow due to big differences in the wood density and so forth.  You can get cedars that vary probably 100 grains or more per shaft in mass weight.  The better arrow makers and shaft suppliers can match them up for you usually within 20 grains.  That being said, most of my cedars weigh about 525 grains finished in a 29 1/2" arrow to the back of the point with 125 grain tips mounted on them.  That would work out to about 13 grains per inch.  But I have groups of shafts in my stash that will run from 350-420 grains in the full length unfinished shaft.  This may be more info than you want, but longer story shorter, if you figure around 11-12 grains per inch for the finished arrow you would be in the ball park.  All that being said, I have never once in over 50 years of bow shooting worried about such things.  I buy shafts that are a match to the bow weight I am shooting and make arrows.  I do not bare shaft or any of that stuff, and believe it or not I have absolutely no problem getting wooden arrows to fly well--and I am particular about clean arrow flight.  Back in the day when what we now call traditional archery was all the archery there was, nobody was doing all this technical business--and we had fun and managed to kill game without it.  Don't get too bogged down in lots of charts and graphs and FOC concerns (foward of center weighting) for now.  Keep it simple--that's why we do trad archery after all isn't it?  

[Bjorn]

Welcome! Cedar can vary by as much as 100 gns plus; but it is safe to say an average 32" shaft will weigh 425 gns.

[lee77spit]

thanks for the info all . At the distance I expect to be hunting the weight difference probably won't matter much.

[Emerald Traditional]

I would highly recommend getting a couple test shafts once you figure out a starting point for your bow, regardless of which arrow shaft material you settle on. Just because you can get by with a range of spines out of your bow, why waste your time shooting anything other than the ideal arrow for your set-up? Try to decide what your goals for traditional archery are going to be. If you are looking at things from mainly a hunting perspective, you may want a heavier shaft than say, the target archer. If you go with wood shafts, which I think you'd really enjoy, I would error to the high side of spine. If you end up with an overspined shaft, you can always use a heavier tip to compensate for it. Too light, and you're sol. Hope this helps, and good luck, Jeff.  

[lee77spit]

main intrest is hunting and maybe a trip to a 3-d range once in a while. the bow is 45@28" but my short draw 25" cuts that down some so will probably look into some 45s to start with. thanks
dick

My last set of 45s from Wapiti archery are 320 to 327 grains full length. That would make them about ten grains per inch bare shaft, cut to 27" 15 grains for nock and feathers a few grains for finish and 125 for the point that makes.... ah .........about 420 grains total.  somehow that doesn't sound right, should work anyway, because they fly perfect.

[Smallwood]

11.1 gpi- Sitka Spruce
12.2 gpi- Port-Orford  Cedar
13.5 gpi- Douglas Fir

Wood Shaft Diameters to be used with the Dynamic Spine Calculator--------
5/16" - 0.313
11/32" - 0.344
23/64" - 0.359

[Ground Hunter]

I would add that the shaft "finish" will bump up gpi some depending on the finish used.  H

[lee77spit]

thanks for all the info I'll start with 45 pound spines and work from there.

[Emerald Traditional]

Good luck. Let us know if we can help along the way. Jeff.  

[Flying Dutchman]

The weigth also depends a bit of the spine and diameter. The weight will increase as the spine increases. My 5/16 45-50 POC's with a lenght of 30.3 inches, a 100 grains fieldtip, a cresting of lacquer, waxed and fletched weigh 460 grains as an average.