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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: STICKBENDER98 on January 02, 2017, 05:03:00 PM
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I was looking through my arrow stock today and started feeling a little bit nostalgic. I have several dozen aluminum and carbon shafts all dipped, crested, and fletched, and only a few cedar shafts left from when I first switched to traditional. It got me to thinking about wood shafting again. I have been using either 125 grain woodsman originals or 165 grain snuffers with inserts to make 225 up front, with GT carbons I have been getting a 500+ grain arrow. I have some Grizzly Sticks with the same tips that weigh in just over 700 grains. Now for my question, I'm planning a black bear hunt for June of 2018 in New Brunswick and would like to put some wood arrows together that will weigh in around 600 grains. I am curious about which woods that are available to get me close to that. I am leaning towards using my woodsmans glued to the shafts.
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I use to have Rogue River sort sets of super heavies for me. Those with 190 Ribteks are around 700 grains. I would bet that one could get firs heavy for the spine and matched with heavy points that could top 600 grains for your poundage.
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I'd bet Doug Fir in your spine would get you there, and probably with the 165's. If not, Chundoo would. Haven't used Chundoo yet, but have been very satisfied with the several dozen sets I've made up the last 4 or 5 years.
Take a look at the Surewood website; they have a chart showing the approximate weight ranges for various Doug Fir spines. Call or email them, tell them what weight shafts and spine you want - they'll work with you.
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I have some Doug firs that weight 800+ grains, that might be to heavy for you. But you can achieve that weight with Doug firs
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Another vote for Doug Fur .
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Ash can easily get up to 700 or 800 grains for the shaft alone when you get into a #65 shaft and up. I have some #70 ash that are 780 grains bare.
Doug fir also is a good option.
Good luck on your hunt
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A lot depends on your spine needs. Its going to be pretty darn easy to hit 600gr with wood.
12.5-13 gr per inch, 200gr head (125 woodsman on 75 gr woody weight), is going to get you very very close to 600gr or over. You can get that with cedar, or Douglas fir easy.
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My hunting arrows are surewood fir shafts and the are 610 grains all said and done
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Forrester shafts
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Hands down surewood shafts dougfir they are tough heavy arrows
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Yep. Doug fir will get you there. Pretty hard to reach that weight with POCs and 125 grain heads, but possible with shafts on the heavy side of cedar's range. Ash and Birch in the lighter weights of their range will also do it. Hickory and maple will likely to too heavy, even in their lighter weight range.
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Hands down, my choice of wood shafting is Douglas Fir. It is no problem at all to get arrows to 600+ grains (I do it regularly), not to mention the quality of Surewood shafts are what I look for when I start a set of arrows. It's easy to get a quality finished product when you start with A+ quality shafts.
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Welcome back to wood arrows! My first choice would be Doug Fir as well. First, I find DF to be the best shooting of all the arrow woods; it has been my favorite for many years. DF also varies quite a bit in mass weight, which makes it possible to achieve most any reasonable arrow weight. 600 gr should be easy. Contact Surewood Shafts and they will be able to set you up.
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I have made quite a few dozen arrows from surewood douglas fir shafts and still own and shoot a few dozen. Very few have ever weighed under 600 grains.
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As written above... DF shafts are one of the best shafts I used. Chundoo was good but seem hard to find. I had made up some that were barrel tapered and with a 125g WW head they came in around the 610g area. All round... a great shaft in my opinion.
AK.
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X2 on the Surewood shafts.
I have several sets of Surewood shafts with 145 grain Eclipse broadheads (153 with the bleeder blades), they all weigh in around 600-625 grains, depending on the finish.
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Douglas fir or hemlock, or obviously you could go to hardwood like ash or maple.
Also the higher the spine the more you can load the front up, and the longer you can leave the shaft.
I've built around 8dozen Douglas fir arrows over the last three years or so and they weighed in between 460 (at 26" with 125gr points) and 600 grains (full length with 160gr points). They were all 50-55 lb spine.
The heaviest arrows I've made were from hand spines 3/8" oak doweling. They weighed ~20gr/inch. At 32"BOP they came in around 800grains. I gave them away as a set with a 65# bow to a guy with a 31" draw but I'm sure they were basically indestructible.
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Thanks for the input guys, looks like I'll be giving the folks at Surewood a call. I knew I could get into the 600 grain area I wanted with woods, I was curious about what everyone was using these days after being away from woods so long. I'd like to be able to put an assortment of spine weights together and play around with them a bit to see which ones would work best for me. Thanks again guys.
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My doug fir shafts are around 415 grains before doing anything. Finished with a 300 gr head, they are 834.
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Originally posted by pavan:
I use to have Rogue River sort sets of super heavies for me. Those with 190 Ribteks are around 700 grains. I would bet that one could get firs heavy for the spine and matched with heavy points that could top 600 grains for your poundage.
With 190 gr heads and some heavy spined Doug fir you'll be up over 650 grs depending on overall length of course.
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How well do the doug firs hold their straightness after being finished? Does temp change or humidity change affect them much?
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No problems here with straightness, especially after sealing/finishing. I remember having to mess with only one out of a couple dozen and that was a "hunter" grade shaft. Stayed straight before sealing. Great product.
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I use Surewood Doug Fir and my problem is keeping the weight down....a 600 grain arrow is too easy with Doug Fir....
Been using them since 2005...never had to straighten one yet. Matter of fact, every year I find arrows out in the yard that buried up and I thought were lost....the tip will be rusted away and the feathers mostly gone..but the shaft is still straight....
Doug Fir.
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I just sorted through some acme premium cedar shafts last night and came up with a dozen or so 70/75 spine shafts that weighed in at 440-445gn they should finish out in the low to mid 600s.
Doug Fir shafts may be more readily available but you can still find cedar that fits the bill if you dig around enough.
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You can get there with almost any wood...I have cedars that well over 400 gr. before any finish or points/feathers/etc.
Another option besides shafting is using Woody Weights with your Wensels. I use the 75gr ones all the time and it allows me to get those 125 gr broadheads we love up to the 200 gr weight I like up front.
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You sure don't need a bunch more weight for bear than you do for deer, the same setup will work.
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Thanks again for the input guys, haven't had a chance to call the guys at Surewood yet been busy at work trying to catch up after the holidays. But I am definitely going to give the doug firs a try. I'm real curious about a little heavier spine with the back taper they offer, I have a couple Northern Mist longbows that really like the heavier weight.