Just curious why so many trad shooters like wood arrows.
Is it because they are relatively easy to make at home, and people like the DIY aspect of it, or do they genuinely shoot better than carbon or aluminum?
I've read you have to constantly re-straighten wood arrows, and they are obviously easier to break. Seems like a lot of work!
i like them casue they just seem a little bit more traditional. but overal carbon and alum. are bothe straiter and more consistant than wood. ive never needed to restraiten shafts yet. im sure some real serious wood shooterrs will jump in on this.
I don't know about easier to break, some of those woodies are tough as nails.
They don't shoot as well as aluminum or carbon. But we do this bowhunting and archery stuff for the fun and challenge, don't we?
Used to be they were much cheaper. Now I do it because I enjoy working on wood shafts. It's relaxing and better than watching TV on February evenings.
And there is a great deal of satisfaction in harvesting game with an arrow of your own make.
Constantly restraighten? Maybe that's my problem. Once they're made up I may go . . . forever without straightening unless one happens to have a problem I notice. Occasionally I get bored and check them for straightness. I have hundreds of wood arrows and might straighten two a month. When I buy raw shafts I straighten them all. Then again before cutting the nock and point tapers, then after all is done. If one needs a forth straightening after that it's a suspect arrow and gets on the little bus to the bunny quiver.
Why walk through the woods when you can travel faster on an interstate in your car?
Why fly fish when you'd catch more with bait?
Why homebrew beer when you can buy canned beer cheaper?
It's a zen thing.
I can make a wood arrow beautiful, something I'm proud to shoot and show off.
A carbon or aluminum arrow will never be more than a carbon or aluminum arrow.
Guy
Wood has 'soul'. As stated, no, they don't shoot as well as aluminum or carbon, but they are fun to work with, and when they break, they smell great (cedars). I have not had problems with having to straighten wood arrows over the years. Some of us are evidently in trad archery in part, at least, for the nostalgia and romance of it all, and wood just fits those parameters better than metal or carbon. Just my biased opinion.
I guess I do mostly for the nostalgia. I rarely need to straighten one, I think they shoot quieter and I just like shooting a wood arrow out of a wood bow. I have tried again and again to shoot carbons and aluminums but its just not the same to me. To me they are also pretty forgiving on the shot.
I enjoy working with wood and the quiet shooting; don't particularly care whether it is trad or not.
Since long bows and recurves are considered "Traditional Bows", why not shoot "Traditional" arrows from them?
I have shot wood, aluminum and carbon arrows. I enjoy making my arrows and have done so with all 3 materials but IMO making my arrows out of wood is more satisfying to me.
For me, I guess it is like what Stumpkiller and Centar said.
Why paddle a wood canvas canoe? Why use a cavas pack. WHy start my fires with flint and steel or wear wool long shirt instead of a coat? Same as wood arrows I guess. Might not be better, just feels right I guess.
Bob.
For the same reason we shoot longbows and recurves instead of compound devices. ;)
I like the smell of the wood and also if you do break a wooden one it rots away. Unlike all the aluminum and carbon arrows I see laying in the woods at the local archery ranges.
Maybe aluminum/carbon are made more consistent, but my cedar arrows fly every bit as well as any of them imo.
I think I understand. :thumbsup:
Not to mention those of mine with a little bend shoot around corners..... :eek:
I have spent over 300 bucks on carbons and can't getem to fly as good as my woodies. So for me it is a tuning issue.
IF, and that is a big IF, one is willing to pursue perfection in producing a well matched set of wood arrows, they may not get absolute perfection, but they can indeed produce some excellent wood arrows that fly very well. Wood is very quiet and also very forgiving.
It may take more time to set them up, but they become part of the journey. They are perfect to be made up during the off season.
But besides that my bows love to shoot a heavy woody, and I really don't see a major difference in my accuracy at all.
Carbon and aluminum are straighter, but lack the "spirit" of the handmade wood arrow. Killing an animal with something you made and with a broadhead you coaxed into sharpness, adds immeasureably to the hunt and the taking of game.
if you hafta ask "why?", you'll never understand the need to fling wood. ;)
I agree with most there is just something about wood arrows. By far I've taken more game with carbon and aluminum. My journey into traditional archery began however with woodies so I'm going back to wood exclusively this next season. Well made wood arrows put where they belong are very effective!
....?
QuoteOriginally posted by Rob DiStefano:
if you hafta ask "why?", you'll never understand the need to fling wood. ;)
That's it Rob. I'd just add that you should live with some GOOD quality wood arrows and see how it goes. Sometimes experiencing something goes a lot longer in helping me understand it by explaining it with just words. :thumbsup:
I started out with aluminum, tried carbon, then I got into making my own woodies. I understood why wood.
They aren't easier to break. Aluminum breaks and bends far easier from my experience. I put two off a concrete floor from 15 yards up and didn't even put a bend in them tonight.
Having to straighten them constantly is also a myth. If you buy decent shafts, heat straighten them, and check them as you apply finish, they'll stay straight. In fact, most are bent from being pulled out of targets carelessly.
I should point out that I shoot a 23/64 shaft, that may have something to do with it. I've also found that woods are way more forgiving. Matching them is key. I weigh matched sets again after purchase and batch them accordingly. I only take like batches to the range. I don't mix them.
So you guys who make your own arrows, do you also make your own tips?
Why yes, we all do make our own tips. Right after we are done growing the trees to make the arrows, we mine the materails for the tips. :rolleyes:
What a great thread! Keep it coming.
I shoot wood because I can.
Shoot 6 woodies, then 6 of anything else. If all is correctly tuned, I seriously doubt you will see any practical real difference in "downrange where it hits the target" accuracy at 20 yards or less.
Esthetics does it for me. Additionally, wood seems to be a lot quieter than aluminum to me for the same weight arrow.
'Cause I like em. ;)
Just getting started but I think it has to do with association :bigsmyl: So if you keep hangen arround you will also end up with some woodies in your quiver.
Agreed...I thought all of you woods guys were elitist fools. lol A total naysayer. I bought a set to have a frame of reference and have been making my own ever since. Can't stand the feel of anything else.
Moral of the story - don't knockem till you try 'em.
There are so many things can do with wood arrows, I have just started to make my own wood arrow from scratch started with 3/8 piece of Spruce and plane it down to 11/32. I love this Stuff
I started with carbons, they shot great, but something about wood arrows just intrigued me, so I bought 6 chondoo pine shafts made them up and tried them out of my longbows! I was hooked, they shoot greatand are very forgiving,plus I love building them, as to toughness I have POC and Douglas fir both! I shoot inside once a week and outside when whether permits at 3D targets I havn't broke one yet and I have bounced them off a few trees etc!As to straightening, once they are built and finished that has not been an issue either!
All three types will get the job done. Aluminum and carbon are just arrows though, not much to talk about, just a piece of equipment we use to be archers. IMO, wood is not only an arrow but part of the maker. It is a labor or love, a hobby, it helps me get through the winters here in PA, it shows personality and is always a topic of conversation among archers. It becomes part of me, not just some piece of equipment I use. It just seems like the right thing to do with a wooden bow. I would also like to make my own bows someday.
QuoteOriginally posted by Grey Taylor:
I can make a wood arrow beautiful, something I'm proud to shoot and show off.
A carbon or aluminum arrow will never be more than a carbon or aluminum arrow.
Guy
exactly
I build and shoot all three but, like wood the best. Plus, they look good in the "trophy" pictures.
shooting a nice set of woodies is just beautiful. And in the end IMO you feel like you did something that not everyone can do..But thats just IMHO.
it's natural preriod. And nothing beats long strong wood. :goldtooth:
If you shoot a lighter poundage bow the carbons can be tuned to shoot well. But I just can't make myself like 4" of shaft hanging out front. And I end up with what I think is way too many grains per pound of bow weight. Long before I thought about FOC or XFOC I killed lots of critters with plain ol' POC. And they were not even tapered. I'm going back to woods and plain two blade broadheads that don't weight a bunch with a 100 gr. insert.
QuoteThere are, of course, several good metal alloys that can be used to make arrows which fly beautifly and are quite durable. Many archers say these shafts of metal are superior to those made of wood, and - to be very frank - I think perhaps they are right, but so far I have stayed with wooden shafts. Somehow, I feel that arrows of wood are more in keeping with the real spirit of old-time archery and require more of the archer himself than a more modern arrow; maybe that is a silly reason for shooting wooden arrows, but most of us archers are silly, one way or another. Call it sentiment if you like.
Howard Hill penned the above nearly 60 years ago. It is as true today as it was when it was written.
Aluminum/Carbon = Science
Wood = Art....not only in making them look good, but in trying to perfect a naturally imperfect flying object. When you have made a set of woods, and have gotten them to fly to your mark....well then, you've done something.
Shooting carbon arrows out of a longbow is kind of like fishing with a nightcrawler on the end of a bamboo flyrod - It might be very effective, but something just doesn't seem right about it.
Thanks for that, Rooselk. I'm with HH on this one. You can't get more involved in archery than when making your own wood arrows.
They are quiet.I also like working with wood arrows.
QuoteOriginally posted by Don Stokes:
Thanks for that, Rooselk. I'm with HH on this one. You can't get more involved in archery than when making your own wood arrows.
I agree. To my mind traditional bowhunters making their own wood arrows is akin to flyfishers tying their own flies. It just seems to me to be a natural part of the sport.
As stated wood is not as tough as carbon, so I choose carbon for economic purposes.
At least for outdoors shooting this is an apparent $-saver!
This is especially so if you reinforce the carbons with aluminum tubes front and back!
However, wood feels better to shoot (imo) and relates more to the trad of trad archery!
All that said, bamboo arrows are very hard to crack, and imo better than alum, and almost as good as carbon in durability! They look cool, retain the trad concept and offers a very durable self nock! Plus you can be even more Trad and grow them yourself :p
QuoteTo my mind traditional bowhunters making their own wood arrows is akin to flyfishers tying their own flies. It just seems to me to be a natural part of the sport. [/QB]
Good comparison !
I also liked the Howard Hill quote.
Dan
:coffee:
An age old question but always a good one and one well answered here by all above.
Bows came into my life about around 1957. No one in my family had or or EVER had one to my knowledge....
From then on it was love at first skinned forearm!
I drove my parents mad when we DID go to town to buy MORE 19 cent hardware arrows for my all wood, warped, high school shop made recurve a neighbor didnt want. Arm guard? Glove or tab? I had no clue they existed. No mentor, no idea of what I was doing...except it was a part of me from day one. Perhaps sharing a birthdate with HH was my "curse" lol.
I was in my teens before I was able to hold in my hand a bow that wasnt homemade. You whipper-snappers give that some thought. :biglaugh:
Nothing was safe and mom always said she KNEW where Steven was at all times......out shooting his bow with Spot tagging along.
No better times were ever had by boy and companion out "hunting" sparrows and you name it!
Of course, wood was the ONLY option then and, for me, the "zing" of archery is solidly linked to those first years when life was so simple and fun.
Times have certainly changed for me as an aging adult.......but part of me remains in that young boy and his Fox Terrier cruising the fence rows and thickets, stalking and shooting.
Wood arrows were also part of my first "serious" archery sets and I think I hang onto the past as much as I am able.
With a 60s recurve in my hand and woodies on my back with age appropriate broadheads.....time has taken a turn back to a simplier time and they have yet to fail me.
Ive tried all the arrow matierials. Still shoot a few "new fangled" fiberglass ones too. :)
The deer just didnt seem to notice all the high tech statistics of the "new and improved" shafts.
Dead is dead as the saying goes and since it ain't broke.....no need to "fix" it.
With the high costs of our trad stuff today, one of my thrills, that remains a thrill every year, is an old used recurve and 30-40 yr old arrows and heads that I dont have 100 bucks in all together.....successfully doing today, what they did "back then"...and doing so just as well.
My "quest", odd though it may be, is to find as many 1952 items as I can afford (aka CHEAP) and take ye olde wiley whitetail with the set up from the year I came kicking and screaming into this vail of tears.
Size be danged....a trophy that will be...for me.
Additionally? A broadhead on an arrow should LOOK LIKE a broadhead on an arrow. Tough to explain.
Wood, feathers and a two NON moving blades are mandatory to me........or it isn't TRULY an "arrow".
I fell in love with a certain way, believe in it and it has proven time and again worthy of such dedication.
To me, it is not mearly a question of THEIR "worth" but more so if we, ourselves, are worthy of using them as those that have gone before us.
Sorry......windy old coot anyway.
God bless
SlowBowke, well said.
Yeah, I could never have said it that well, or typed that much!
Wood connects us back to the earth in a way that carbon fiber and aluminum can't. (Yes, I know all the materials come from the earth technically) That said, I shoot tonkin cane shafts.
:archer2:
Douglas fir is tougher than carbon, at least when hitting heavy bones or when stump-shooting termite mounds.
Also, they are accurate enough for minute-of-milk bottle shooting.
Amen, Steve, and beautifully written sentiment! Thanks!
SlowBowke,WELL SAID thanks
Because it feels better. And because no wooden arrow can ever be perfect, just like me.
Slowbowke said most of it. Same reason I shoot 2 blades and sharpen with a file. Wood is art, "OLD SCHOOL" and I'm too old to change. It also is an excuse when I MISS! But they look purrty!
SlowBowke, as I read your reply, it took me back to my youth in the late 50's and 60's....hauntingly similiar. Only thing to add is wood has life.
Jerry
I love the look and "feel" of wood arrows. I can group my wood arrows 6" or less at 20 yards when I am faithful to practice. Carbon or aluminum might shoot a little better than that, but the deer wont notice the difference If I have only a marginal shot, I would rather just let them walk, knowing that I got close enough is a reward in itself
wood have a soul. I do shoot carbons as well.
Who or what company makes the best wooden arrows?
I really like the HH quote, Thanks Rich. I shoot a HH bow and don't take his advice lightly. I even paint my arrow shafts similar to Howard's. If you shoot like he did it is an easy decision to shoot all wood. But until an archer attains a high level of accuracy and consistency s/he will burn through the wood arrows like kindling.
I prefer wood and like the fact that you have to be a better all around archer to shoot wood. And I will only hunt and shoot 3Ds with wood. But when it comes to practice in the walk through I am using carbon right now. This allows me to spend less time fixing arrows and more time flinging them.
So until I get closer to Howard's skill level I will be shooting both.
Dave
Seattle