Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: $bowhunter$ on November 07, 2010, 02:38:00 PM
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for hunting purposes which would give better performance?
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for consistancy from one dozen to the next alluminum.for tough as nails dont have to worry about a bent arrow carbons...totally up to you i shoot both.early season alluminum,late season carbon..but for weight cant beat a alluminum
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sorry cant give you a anwser for woods...good luck
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Awful lot of animals killed with all the different arrow materials.
If you get the right arrow it will fly well. Get the wrong one and it will fly like crap.
That's a constant for all materials.
Pretty much your pick.
Guy
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Wooden arrows have done the job for centuries--they still do. For traditional archery nothing beats wood arrows. They can be made very consistently, matched well, and fly great. They are quiet coming off the bow and in a back quiver (also another great traditional tool). I also mess with carbon and aluminum--no "soul" to them. Some of you will understand that and some won't. I feel sorry for those who don't :D . Like anything else in archery, wood will be more than sufficient if you have quality arrows and put them where they need to be and work with them until you are comfortable with them.
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I love the look,feel and smell of a good cedar arrow, but for consistency its hard to beat aluminum to me. :archer:
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As Davis has said you need to spend a little of time hand spining and maching wood arrows,but then They can be as accurate as any other shaft material.Wood is more quiet too.Aluminum is very consistent in spine and weight,more noisy in some hunting situations,it doesn't need to many cares.By the way if I have to choose a ALU shaft I want a XX78.
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Alum. is just so easy to cut, glue etc ... (just stay away from the "Fall Stalker" alums).
Wood takes a bit more fiddling with.
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Performance just depends on how much effort you are willing to put into your archery. Aluminum arrows will do the job with the least effort. Wood arrows take more dedication to the craft, but but most folks get much more satisfaction from making and using them. Properly made and matched woods will perform equally with aluminum, and you can take pride in what you've done. Learning to make serviceable wood arrows can be a pleasure in itself, and expand your enjoyment of archery.
My favorite use for aluminum is beer cans.
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I've used them all with excellent success. I now shoot wooden arrows only.
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I just like wood anything else doesn't feel right.JMHO
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I only shoot wood so I can't compare to aluminum. I think it is purely personal preference; but if you are analyzing stick with aluminum-those who shoot wood do it out of love. JMHO :thumbsup:
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If you're just starting out I would say Carbons. They're bazooka proof. After you shoot a few seasons with the carbons I would try woodies. I like POC or my favorite Tapered Sitka Spruce.
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I am wood only too. No soul in any of the man made shafts but that is just one man's opinion.
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I think wood gives me better penetration but I am more consistent with aluminum.
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I am only target shooting for now. I shoot mostly bamboo (if you consider them wood although some say bamboo is grass) but sometimes aluminum. Aluminum flies better and group a bit better when beyond 20 yards.
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I must confess that I get more consistent arrow flight with my broadheads with aluminum. I also like the fact that if I mmmmmiss and bury a broadhead in a tree or root, I can unscrew the aluminum arrow and use it again. Not so with wooden arrows. I normally have to break it off. With the price of good wooden shaft now-days about the price of aluminum, I use aluminum for hunting.
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I like making wood arrows and I have some POC stashed away that is very good,very consistent and very old. Good POC is now it seems getting hard to find. The Sitka Spruce that I have tried has also been excellent.
I have shot a lot of aluminum arrows over the years and still do. I have a great fondness for 1918's out of 50# or so bows. I have what should be a lifetime supply of them.
Carbon is tough, consistent, fly’s well and it is easy to get a high degree of FOC it that is your goal. I have been shooting them more recently and have nothing bad to say about them. They are tough and I like to stump shoot a lot.
Not sure any of that helps or answers your question.
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For one of my bows I shoot aluminum for 3D all summer but get out the woodies when really in hunting mode......Hill style bow,maple shafts,deadheads equal much bowhunting MOJO!
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There are so many people who just don't understand why a person would want to shoot wood arrows when you can just buy carbons and yada yada. Truth is most of them don't have any understanding of wood arrows. All they know is that they have heard that wood arrows warp all the time. The remainder are folks who have used wood arrows and either don't have the time or just plain aren't interested in the building and care of wood arrows and would just rather buy them done or mostly done. since you mentioned wood or aluminum, I'd say start out with aluminum, perfect your form, and then start building wood arrows for your self. Only then will you understand them and can make a clear decision for your self on which is the better product.
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If you want extreme accuarcy, shoot aluminum. If you want quiet, shoot wood. If you miss with wood it does sound a bit more natural when it goes bouncing off trees and other stuff. Not admitting that I ever missed, I preferr to call them warning shots, but looking back to my younger years, I some times got a second shot with a woody miss. Never can remember getting a second shot with aluminum.
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I'll put a Surewood Douglas Fir shaft at the top of the list for being straight and tough as hell.
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If you want extreme accuarcy, shoot aluminum. If you want quiet, shoot wood.
Well said.
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Like others, I like wood better... That said I hate to brake them... So aluminum is to me, more durable and more "accurate". But I have to get some SureWood chaft to try out i heard only good thing about them!! I shoot a lot of cedar, and they seem a little fragile. I have some Grizzly stick carbon arrow that I like but they are not undestructible.
I think aluminum is the cheepest and toughtest arrow to shoot... but the loudest!!
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Yep, no shaft can handle Northern Territory stump shooting like wood (especially Douglas fir). Wood takes hard impacts much better, in my experience.
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For me, it's wood. I was given some aluminum and they fly great etc etc. But I look at myself as a "son of Mother Nature" not a guest. So when I go looking for Her offerings, I stay as close to traditional as I can; and that includes hiding behind dead fall and in the deep grass and right down to my wool shirt, hood, sash, etc. Wood for me.
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Osage61, neat avatar picture. I see what you mean.
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I've been shooting aluminum arrows out of my recurve bows for the last 46 years. I don't care for the skinny diameter of carbon arrows and when it comes to wood arrows, they aren't durable enough for me and not uniform in weight for a dozen arrows.
As for quiet, when I shoot a 637 grain 2117 aluminum arrow out of my 42# recurve with a 12 strand Dyna97 bowstring, the bow is whisper quiet upon arrow release and the bowstring doesn't have any string silencers attached to it.
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All wood isn't created equal. POC is soft and fragile, but my yellow poplar hardwood arrows are tougher than the aluminum I used to shoot.
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I'm also wood only. I enjoy full tapering them with a razor plane, working in the nock and point tapers, cresting and fletching them. Can't say I enjoy dipping them (the smell is a little potent). But the smell of working the cedar itself is right up there with fresh ground coffee. Mmmmmmm.
I throw a lot of arrows into stumps, and I destroyed my aluminum arrows in short order and never looked back. I also found wood to be quieter in drawing.
I have no doubt aluminum gives better performance. But then a .30-06 gives better performance than my feeble bow, so that's obviously not the point. ;-) We all have our quirks and preferences. I prefer wood.
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I've experimented with metal, carbon, and wood. Wood arrows shot out of a wooden bow is just the way it was meant to be....for me.
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Sounds like a lot of you will understand this. For shooting at the range or 3d targets, working on form, etc. it's aluminium. They are easy to cut, straighten, can take a beating, weigh the same, easy to tune, etc. I am a better shot (not a "good" shot, but a "better" shot!) because of hours spent with aluminium. But about a month before the first frost I switch, and when I walk out of camp after whitetails, my broadheads are on the end of some beautiful cedar arrows. Can't explain it, but that just feels right for me. :archer:
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Originally posted by NY Yankee:
There are so many people who just don't understand why a person would want to shoot wood arrows when you can just buy carbons and yada yada. Truth is most of them don't have any understanding of wood arrows. All they know is that they have heard that wood arrows warp all the time. The remainder are folks who have used wood arrows and either don't have the time or just plain aren't interested in the building and care of wood arrows and would just rather buy them done or mostly done. since you mentioned wood or aluminum, I'd say start out with aluminum, perfect your form, and then start building wood arrows for your self. Only then will you understand them and can make a clear decision for your self on which is the better product.
1+ I've got experience with all three. Wood isn't nearly as inconsistent as people say and it is WAY more durable than people give them credit for. I spent 3 days putting a blunt-tipped cedar through the kind of hell that would have busted at least 5 aluminum arrows.
Wood is also a very forgiving shaft, naturally heavy, and much cheaper once you start collecting the tools and what not for them.
I also think that there are a lot of folks who do not understand how to spine wooden arrows. I used to think I would need a 55# shaft for a 60# longbow at 30". Thank God I talked to someone first but I bet a lot of people take the leap like that and then complain about bad flight.