OK, so for the last 7 years or so, I've been a carbon man. Probably more because I was hoarding my last dozen Acme Premium cedar shafts than anything else. I used to use Rogue River tapered cedars (I believe Wapiti runs that operation now)and they were a great shaft, but lost touch with them.
Well this past fall I wanted to hunt with wood arrows again. I made up my last dozen shafts and took 3 deer with them. Of course now the flame was rekindled, but I saw the "wood box" was empty. Along comes various posts here about Surewood shafting (our fearless 2nd in command Administrator Rob leading the drum beat). OK, so I bite and ordered the test kit from Braveheart Archery (sponsor here who filled the order quickly and flawlessly, thank you). I must say that I'm impressed. Great grain structure, straighten up nicely (mostly just gentle long bends in the shaft, nothing serious), good finish and a true 11/32. Please note I've been spoiled with Acme Premiums cedar shafting for years. I got my stash from the late John Grumley, who was the son of famed Bear boywer Nels Grumley. That's a whole different story.
Well, once I have a chance to test these out and dial in my spine, I'll be ordering more. So, for those of you thinking of taking the leap from carbon (or baby step from another wood), I'm going to second Rob's recommendation for Surewood shafting. Take it from a spoiled Acme Premium Brat. ;) Thanks Rob!!
Yup I got a couple dozen and have notbeen disapointed with the shafts at all.
Ray I understand I used to buy my shafts from Rose City and Acme when it was good to buy 250 or 500,or 1000 at a time and then sit down and grade them and spine them my self .
I have about 100 left . PLENTY enough for my self but im down to the the last 10 shafts to make for my son . Which Im doing this week .
I have been thinking of buying some Surewoods my self to try them, knowing I will not get the quality shafts I used to in Cedar .
Thanx for the review gets me a step closer to ordering the Surewoods .
deaddoc,
John Grumley had bought a 1000 shafts from Acme years ago. He had a shorter draw and lower weight bows, so he was mostly shooting the 50-55 pound spine shafts. I was using 65-70 and 70-75 at the time, so he sold them to me and my best friend way back when. He had gone through and spined in 5 pound groups(but usually within 2-3#s and weighed within 10 grains), wrote down each spine and wieght on the end of the shaft, and bundled in dozen groups. He had bins made out of 6" PVC pipe that he made a rack out of and they were tilted up ever so slightly. He then put the bundled shafts in the appropriate bins. John knew his wood arrows and he had the best jig for point tapers that I've ever seen. He had a local machinist mill a piece of aluminum with square channels about 8 inches in lenght that the Acme shafting fit with no wiggle room. This was mounted to a verticle sanding disk on a small table saw and the aluminum block would fit perfectly in the saw top channel guide. On the top of the channels for the arrows was a rubber flap that would help hold the arrow down (along with his finger as he fed the shaft through). The tapers would always come out absolutely perfect and the broadheads would spin like a top every time, first time. Anyway, that shafting, his knowledge and his taper jig really spoiled me.
The old ACME's were great Port Orford cedar shafts. But with the quality of the douglas fir that Surewood Shafts is putting on the market I have been very happy making arrows from them. This along with the proper jigs for tapering (tip, nock, and tail taper if desired) and you can make arrows that shoot great. These are "the good ol' days!"
I like the Surewoods so much the POC just stays in the boxes!
Ray, Thanks. That's good to hear. I'm making the switch from POC and just ordered my Surewood test kit. T
I have been shooting DF shafts from surewood now for 3 years. I will continue to shoot them as long as they keep making them!
Love my surewoods. I went with Douglas fir to gain a bit of weight. I won't shoot anything else unless it's for stumping and such.
I do use my old cedars for the steel targets at shoots :D love that smell when one breaks
surewoods for sure...i have cedars left over that my grand kids can finish off...
I just picked up a couple dozen Surewoods from a sponsor on here, they look great!!! They came in at 490-500 grains raw at 32". If you wanted something closer to cedar weight wise, I would take a hard look at Hildebrande Sitka Spruce. The shafting I've gotten from them has been top notch also but I can't say the same for the cedar I've bought in the last 5-10 years from several different vendors.
As far as my grain weights, my 50-55 through 65-70 4 spine group test pack had weights within 10 grains of each other in the group and the groups had ranges between 410 and 460 grains (the lightest spine actually had the highest grain weight). As mentioned in another Surewood shaft post, the Surewood website does give "average" grain weights to be expected within a spine group for those looking to figure out estimated finished arrow weight (they're 32" shafts).
Douglas fir comes in a wide range of weights even within each spine group. So it is possible to get shafts that are the weight of other lighter woods, as well as, heavier. It covers all the bases.
The successor of Rogue River (Wapiti) makes excellent shafting as well.
I ordered 2 doz. of their imho cheap priced kids arrows for $35 a dozen. This is 5/16 shafting tapered to 9/32" at the nock end. About 7 out of each dozen were really crooked, but a little compression straightening with a screwdriver was all that was needed. The little sticks now spin perfect like my old RR arrows do. Even their tapered shafting is reasonable priced for what you get.