the advantages of wood.........

[Bjorn]

What's worst is every time I kill a pig with wood he breaks it! Just can't get any respect!

[Drakho]

The great pleasure of making them, the smell, the beauty of wood veins and a smaller impact in case of loss (I only put some linseed oil to seal them)

And also the feeling in my hand

[snow leopard]

amen, orion. there is also an inherent beauty to wood you cannot duplicate with any other shafting material. maybe i'm a nut case, but i also love the smell of cedar.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by snow leopard:
amen, orion. there is also an inherent beauty to wood you cannot duplicate with any other shafting material. maybe i'm a nut case, but i also love the smell of cedar.

amen to all of that, but yer espousing form over function, for whatever that means to you.

[snow leopard]

rob; i respectfully disagree. if the function of a straight arrow is to hit where i am "aiming," and i am shooting it at a distance that i feel comfortable with insofar as hitting my mark, and i subsequently miss, i believe i need to look at myself as the reason for the miss, not the arrow.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by snow leopard:
rob; i respectfully disagree. if the function of a straight arrow is to hit where i am "aiming," and i am shooting it at a distance that i feel comfortable with insofar as hitting my mark, and i subsequently miss, i believe i need to look at myself as the reason for the miss, not the arrow.

no disagreement there.  your previous post talked about 'form' based aspects of wood shafts and not 'functional' based.  

i have no dislike of wood arrows, i build and use them ALL the time by the dozens.  they're just not for everyone for reasons other than aesthetics.

[bigbadjon]

I disagree with a blanket statment that wood is inconsistent. My cedar arrows are more precisely matched in spine and weight than either carbons or aluminums, it just takes a lot of time and shafts to match them. Also staightness is not a huge issue, if you are shooting POC or Sitka spruce. Douglas fir, hickory, and pine are notoriously kinky and I don't think the higher weight is worth the effort.

[snow leopard]

i do realize wood arrows are not for everyone. i shot 2016's and 2018's in the late 70's and just didn't care for them.  too noisey, for one. in any event, i do realize the problem i have with aluminum and/or carbon lies within me, and it is personal. it would be a very boring existence if we were all the same.

[Overspined]

Wood exclusively. Carbons are a pain to tune. Aluminum is loud even when tuned. No inserts, monkeying with "stuff" all the time. Wood is warm, quiet, flys good even if crooked, small game cheapies are great and who cares if they break. Less monkeying with points, just glue it on, u can straighten and repair many that are damaged. I have even glued and thread wrapped split arrows and kept shooting them for years...just get some custom straight and properly spined ones for hunting. U can learn to straighten as well

[karrow]

arrowslinger22 said it perfect wood bow wood arrows it makes sence

[Andy Cooper]

Note: keep all your broken POC shafts. You can redo the point, as needed, just to fill the shop with that wonderful aroma. All it takes is a couple of turns in the tru-center tool, and, viola! Aroma therapy.

[Rob DiStefano]

here's what makes most sense - consistent accuracy.

don't matter at all what the arrow shaft material is ... nope, not one little bit.  a dead critter is a dead critter whether hit with wood, carbon, aluminium or glass (hey, remember micro-flyte fiberglass?  is that 'trad' or what?  :D )

Yep...you can get a lot of milage out of aluminum and many will agree with what Rob pointed out about the learning curve....eventually you will get to the place where you can appreciate the woodies.

[Kris]

Not so much an advantage...you're either romanced by wood arrows and you "get it" or you don't.  It's just something you have to feel...it's the love for things made with wood.  

If you haven't tried them and are attracted to the idea of wood arrows, what do you have to lose?  It is really fun to build a dozen beautiful wood arrows, even more fun, is to shoot a really decent buck with them!

I've kept all my broken woods for the past 25 years (especially the crested ends for artistic/pattern reference), I love the smell of POC.  You can buy carbons at a big box store...it's not the same!  Having said that, I do shoot carbons as well    

Kris

[NTD]

Rob,

I get where you are coming from, I think, but apply your logic to trad versus compound.  We obviously choose to shoot trad for seemingly illogical and purely "form" reasons rather than pure function.  It seems to me that Trad archers care a heck of a lot more about form and less about ultimate functionality or we wouldn't be shooting with strung sticks.  

When one of my Hill style longbow buddies wants me to make them arrows and they supply me with carbons or aluminum, they either don't fly at all because they are one notch off of what they should have or with the carbons there is always messing around to get them to go.  With the woods they leave it up to me and I can hit just the right arrow first time every time, so far.  We do not seem to have the straightening or crooked arrow problem that is so often talked about.  I wonder if some folks are bending them when yanking them out of the targets.  I have had dissenters tell me the same thing about how wood is not as accurate, usually to hear about how they find that wood is more forgiving.  I have found that with two of my bows that I have the perfect aluminum shaft, 1918s, oddly 1916 nor 2016s fly with those same bows, while they handle a span of wood spines that all seem to fly as good as the 1918s. Besides snow doesn't freeze on wood like metal arrows.

[Flying Dutchman]

I take care my wood arrows very consistent. My supplier measures the spine, sorts the weights and makes sure they are straight. This service costs 0.24 cts extra per shaft.
So all my arrows weight he same and have exactly the same spine.
An important advantage for me is the FOC. Since I shoot 3D only, a FOC of 8% is considered to be ideal. An 11/32 wooden shaft at a lenght of 30 inches and a fieldtip of 100 grains exactly gives me that at the ideal weight of 10gpp.
With a carbon shaft I end up with 15%, which is too high.

[Plumber]

I would suggest you make 1-doz to play with to see what everyone is talking about. come on here ask questions geather your materials an build some for stump shooting.just to experince the wood arrow dont be swayed by others words see what this part of archery is all about.

[Flying Dutchman]

There you go!

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by NTD:
Rob,

I get where you are coming from, I think, but apply your logic to trad versus compound.  We obviously choose to shoot trad for seemingly illogical and purely "form" reasons rather than pure function.  It seems to me that Trad archers care a heck of a lot more about form and less about ultimate functionality or we wouldn't be shooting with strung sticks.      

in a perfect world, your logic makes sense.  but for newbies and those that can't or won't deal with the nuances of wood, best stick with non-natural shaft materials and be more consistent overall.  

organic arrows just aren't for everyone - more so if yer a bowhunter, where the emphasis is on quick dead critters and not wounded ones.  

yeah yeah yeah, wood kills.  yer preaching to the choir, i know that first hand.  i still use wood.  just saying that wood takes more care and thought and fussing than those other shaft materials, and thus may not be best for a newb at the least.  

there are at least a few notable bowhunters who will not hunt with wood because of environmental conditions - byron ferguson comes first to mind.  not looking to start a 'fight' or cause controversy.  in this matter of shaft material choice, it just is what it is, and it don't really matter as long as you are confident in yer personal choice.

to those who keep espousing 'wood is trad!' - yer nocks are self cut?  yer bowstring is linen?  yer bow is all wood and no glass, carbon or foam and is laminated with hide or fish glue? etc etc etc.  hah!