Wood Arrows

[LimbLover]

my bow i shoot is rated #45 at 28". do i need to buy shafts rated #40-#45 or #45-#50?  

What is your point weight?

Is your shelf a simple notch or is it cut deeper?

What kind of string are you using? (how many strands)

 

...what is footing a shaft?  

Basically, capping an arrow with a harder wood to reinforce it. You can foot carbons with aluminum of a larger diameter. This is fairly popular.

If you taper the arrows correctly you won't break as many tips and that is usually what tends to break. That and nocks. You will lose a tip from time to time but if you continually check them you will be okay. I put a drop of gorilla glue in my target points along with the standard hot melt.

[d from phx]

Guy Taylor makes some super arrows. Uses sitka spruce. Look up Greenman arrows on the web.

[Blueridge]

I love wood shafts , have over 100 that I bought in the 90's and have started using them for my HH Wesley and BW longbows, they are quiet and fun to make. My Hill 56#@28 shoots a 65-70 125gn
head and the Widows need a heavier spine.

[S.C. Hunter]

Wood seems more quite out of my bow. May just be me but that is my experience. I am very happy with wood and get a lot of compliments on them. My carbons are still nice I just enjoy wood arrows.

[Stumpkiller]

I was a complete naysayer when it came to woods. Thought they were stupid and for elitist snobs. lol I've come a long way.
 

LOL!  I think the same about carbons.

I did try aluminum in around 1980 and went back to wood.  That's all I use: Port Orford cedar.  I tried ramin back a few years when cedar was scarce and did not care for the heaviness.  They snapped at the tip as or more often than a cedar would.  At my draw length I still get 540 to 580 grains of arrow weight depending on 11/32" or 23/64" and with a 125 gr head.  Plenty for deer.

I break plenty on rocks and stumps - but I enjoy making them and I'm not afraid to take shots where I might hit rocks and stumps.      

How much does it cost to go out and blow 50 centerfire pistol shots?  Replacing maybe two arrows in a few hours of bunny hunting or stump shooting is still a bunch cheaper!

[sweeney3]

Definatly another reccomendation for Mike at The Nocking Point.  Great guy and place.

I like Sitka Spruce and POC both.  I personally find wood to be much easier to tune than carbon.  You can change points without having to match all the components such as inserts and whatnot.  When you get close, just start trimming the shaft a little bit at a time untill you got em flying well.  Wood is, in my opinion, but less OVERALL hassle than carbon, because you don't have to have as much stuff to work on them.  Add to that the asthetic value, and wood wins hands down.  I too have some Gold Tips left that I am going to keep shooting till they are chewed up, but only from one of my bows.  After that, I'm even gonna use wood in that recurve.  All my selfbows already get wood.  It's really a fun - and plenty functional - material.

[bulldog42]

thanks for all the info guys! i'll get my specs posted sometime soon hopefully. what do you guys think about wood arrow from 3 rivers? my question is how hard tuning is. ive heard that its hard to find a dozen shafts that weight realatively about the same and be able to tune them right. thanks for all the help and keep the info coming!

[Ralphie]

I would also recommend The Nocking Point. I just ordered a good amount of stuff from Mike, and was completely satisfied with both the service, and his prices are really fair.
Ralphie

[LimbLover]

Originally posted by bulldog42:
my question is how hard tuning is. ive heard that its hard to find a dozen shafts that weight realatively about the same and be able to tune them right. thanks for all the help and keep the info coming!

Yes, weight does fluctuate. Most custom arrow makers are going to match your arrows as closely as possible.

Ripforce and I handle the weight fluctuation by batching our shafts. In fact, I'm buying a grain scale this weekend to do just that. Weigh them and put them in similar piles. Shoot one pile at a time rather than mix them in your quiver.

We use the heavier arrows for hunting.

[Fletcher]

Wood shafts can vary quite a bit in weight, that is one reason matched shafts cost more.  I match shafts to within 10 grains or less per doz.  Spine is more important than weight tho, IMO.  Even at 20 yards, it is hard to tell the difference in 50 grains, but if you are off in spine it will likely show.

Fir varies the most in weight; 150 grain spread in a hundred shafts of a given spine is common.  I can go thru a hundred fir shafts and only get 2 or 3 doz that will match within 10 gr.  At the same time tho, it allows us to choose from heavy or lighter shafts.  POC varies less, about 100 gr and Sitka Spruce only 50gr or less.

Fir has been my personal favorite for many years and IMO is the best shooting of the arrow woods.

[d from phx]

I shoot wood arrows with my longbow and sometimes my recurve.I have been shooting Sitka spruce and find them to be great.

At the Coon rapids shoot a group of three were ahead of us.  Two were shooting carbon, one wood. on one target two of them skipped off a branch, one split carbon and one shattered wood.  While they were looking for the carbon that ended up being damaged they were walking around sniffing the pieces of cedar they picked up.  Two targets later the the carbon shooter was still sniffing the broken cedar. Cedar and longbows will always be the spirit of traditional archery.

[BowHuntingFool]

I shoot the Surewood Shafts from Braveheart Archery, once I made the switch....... I never looked back!

[RPolk]

I'm a fan of the tapered Ash shaft from Raptor Archery

[shikari]

Bamboo all the way,once you try them you will forget about other stuff.