Is it possible to achieve EFOC with hardwood arrows that are 29.5" long for a 54# center shot R/D LB? I've tried to research and read on this subject but to no avail. I read about guys hunting with 200 gr. blades and low profile feathers but they don't say what their shafts are. I first bought cedar and they don't stand up to my misses. Then I bought Hickory and they shoot nice and flat out to about 7 yards but I might want to shoot out to 20 yards. I'm very new to archery and it would be easy to spend hundreds of dollars I don't have, experimenting. Hopefully, someone out there can steer me right. Thank you.
Ash shafts w/ hickory footing. some say if you soak the shaft in ( I forget the stuff now) it will gain some weight. You can also melt down a split-shot in the head to add weight as well.
do a search on woody weights...
EFC - for me, no. But that is around a 34" arrow, and 56-59 pound bows drawn to 32"+. If you play with Stu's dynamic spine calculator, you can see what spine shaft you need to get a desired point weight up front (hence a desired EFOC). For me, my non-EFOC-arrows are 105# spine (using a 145gr point), and weigh over 800 gr. Trying to go EFOC means increasing spine to ranges that are impossible to find.
Try the calculator as a starting point. Good luck in your experiments.
BobW
While it may be doable, I am also one that found getting EFOC with wood shafts just flat too much hassle.
another 2 cents is all.
EFOC is harder to achieve the heavier your shafting material. You can still get plenty of weight up front with woodies though using our internal point jig, woody weights and/or heavy points. If you can't hit with it the point is moot however, you need to have an overall arrow weight you can live with and shoot accurately. EFOC is best achieved with lightweight but strong shafting, which is why most truly EFOC set ups are concocted with carbon shafting. I do shoot one set up with Surewood DF point loaded to 220 grains which I would consider high FOC, not EFOC, but it works very well. As you might imagine, more spine is required to do so.
I would highly recommend you do not sacrifice tuning, shooting qualities and accuracy just to obtain EFOC.
For me I'm not convinced that EFOC works well on wood or aluminum.It can work great with carbons because they recover faster from the paradox.
Thanks so much for your input guys. I will probably try to hand make some maple arrows footed with scrap ebony and or purple heart. I might even try an insert that's heavy. If all else fails, I guess carbon isn't out of the question. Thanks again.
EFOC is achieved by having most of your arrow weight forward. As SlowBo said, starting with hardwood (heavy) shafts is going to kill your attempts for EFOC unless you go to a very high final arrow weight. If you start with a lighter shaft such as spruce, cedar or fir, you will have much better results. Both fir and spruce are stronger than cedar and can give you a reasonable arrow weight, 10 gr/lb, and trajectory with a heavy point for good FOC. I have some tapered fir that are in the 19-20% range, but it took some effort to get there.
If you are willing to put the effort into footing, I would suggest starting with a lighter shaft material or even one of your broken cedars and moving up to a 160 gr point. I believe you will be MUCH happier with the end result. If you craft pool cues, footing isn't going to be a big challenge for you.