I've been shooting the Sherwoods for a while now and cant say enough about them. Man they are tough. Just looking em over yesterday and they are covered with battle scars that would have trashed other shafts.
I have been curious about the spruce though to try and drop the shaft wt. for a 3D /hunting shaft. For those that shoot these how do they shoot and hold up ? Thanks
Scott
Hi Scott, what weight are you wanting shoot for the 3D shoots? DF comes in a wide range of weights.
I love Sitka spruce. Like it much more than cedar since it is so hard to get good cedar these days.
Sitka is roughly the same weight as comparable Port Orford Cedar but MUCH tougher. I like both Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce. As mentioned, DF can be had in many weights but will generally be heavier in comparable shafts than Sitka.
Good quality shafts of either wood will produce great arrows.
Snag, I would like to get into the 430-460 range at 29 in with 4 in fletches and 125 grns up front.
My firs are in around 526 finished. My last 2 doz averanged in at 415 raw shaft at full length, I'm in around 46-48 lbs at my draw depending on the bow.
I have shot Sitka Spruce and found that they are indeed tough. Got mine from Hildebrand. Just let them know what you are looking for as far as shaft/arrow weight and they will get as close as possible to your specs.
This is what I was hoping to hear ! Thanks
(Sitka is roughly the same weight as comparable Port Orford Cedar but MUCH tougher)
Surewood Doug Fir is absolutely the way to go; but having a big stash of 50 year old Cedar is good too! :archer: :archer2:
I have made arrows with both Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce. You can't go wrong with either, and both Surewood and the Hildebrands are great to deal with.
Rick
I must be the odd ball here, but in my experience douglas fir doesn't seem much, if any, tougher compared to cedar. Certainly nothing compared to ash.
Now having said that, I do love Surewood douglas fir for their straightness and consistency. In fact, I just came in from the grarage where I was dipping two dozen shafts I recently purchased.
Just for our (and my) curiosity, how long are the Surewoods full length?
They are 32" full length Mark.
Scott, are you looking for 45/50's, 50/55's?
Figures, it is getting harder and harder to find woodies at least 33" anymore.
A fair percent of the Doug Fir I get is somewhat crooked; in contrast with most of the Spruce I get which tends to be straighter. Both are good woods and I like the Spruce and Doug Fir arrows which I have.
For heavier weight or more weight options I recommend the Doug Fir. If I was going to aim for a more consistently straight arrow shaft because I don't care to fiddle with straightening them; then I would go with Spruce.
Most of the time I am shooting the Doug Fir because I like 500+ grain arrows.
I started with Sitka Spruce two years ago. I never looked back. They are about 10% lighter then POC and much stronger indeed.
My last batches from Hildebrand were as follows:
Full lenght, 53 lbs: 10,1 GPI as average
Full lenght 59 lbs: 10,6 GPI as average
Most of the time they don't break when hitting trees. However, they can get hardly visible fractures. This means that the shaft is almost completely broken, but you can hardly see it. However such a shaft is mostly bent too and when you want to straighten it it will crack or bent in all directions like it is rubber. A close inspection will show you the fracture.
It is my experience that the raw shafts aren't very straight. But they are easy to straighten with the screw-driver method.
Alltogether I can recommend them.I you want a light shaft yet very durable, buy them!
I made up a set of Sitka spruce and i am not impressed at all, I have a dozen surewood shafts on order from Braveheart.
Snag .. Been using 55-60 for my Hummingbird which tends to like a little stiffer shaft , but have a slightly lower Wt bow due here today and not sure where it will be, live and work out of a motel much of time these days so dragged along some bare shafts to see where it will be. I really want a lighter shaft for this lighter Wt bow which should be around 46 lbs or so at my draw.
Stone knife .. What didn't you like ?
I've used both and they both make good arrows. IMO they are both as good as POC and also more durable. You should definitely try the spruce.
Sitka Spruce from Hildebrand is top notch arrow wood. Don't know about other suppliers though.
QuoteOriginally posted by moththerlode:
Stone knife .. What didn't you like ?
X2
Love the surewoods!
I agree with Dutch about the cracks.I really do not want to turn this into a debate , but I have tried them all and for some reason returned to cedar.I find spruce breaks easier than cedar,and fir is so so at best.
QuoteOriginally posted by moththerlode:
Stone knife .. What didn't you like ?
Had several shafts break straight across the grain for no apparent reason, now I don't trust them. I have shot a lot of cedar and Doug fir and like them better. I would never buy Sitka spruce again.
BOBTAIL SITKA SPRUCE ARE VERY TOUGH.SITKA SPRUCE IS USED IN SPIERS IN AIRPLANE WINGS ALSO FOR MAST ON THE MOST HIGH PRICED YACHTS.
I believe in real world experience. They also make buildings out of laminated beams. Does that mean a laminated shaft is better than a solid wood shaft? No. I think our experiences with different woods for arrows is what is most important...not boats, airplanes, and beams.
Mind you, the cracks or fractures ONLY occur with a obvious reason. i.e when I shoot at full speed in a tree, it can happen. No POC would survive that and break right away in pieces. I experienced that many times. Not only by myself but with lots of other 3D archers. I would say that in 50 % of the cases Sitka DID survive. It seldom breaks in pieces, but cracks or fractures may appear.
But no way that they break without an obvious reason. Shafts don't break from themselves.
QuoteOriginally posted by Flying Dutchman:
Mind you, the cracks or fractures ONLY occur with a obvious reason. i.e when I shoot at full speed in a tree, it can happen. No POC would survive that and break right away in pieces. I experienced that many times. Not only by myself but with lots of other 3D archers. I would say that in 50 % of the cases Sitka DID survive. It seldom breaks in pieces, but cracks or fractures may appear.
But no way that they break without an obvious reason. Shafts don't break from themselves.
Guess again, no solid hits just into a foam target. Bad batch maybe but I have heard of this before.
I sincerely like the doug fir real well. It is tough , stays straight, looks great when stained and sealed and basically is a great wood for arrows.
I also shoot and like the Hildebrand spruce as well. Tough as nails, holds their alignmenet real well, stains almost exactly like doug fir, and are exactly the right weight I am looking for when I call and get them from Neil.
Here is my expierence with the shafts, which isn't nearly as much as some but has some merit also. I am shooting the doug fir in 75-85 spine and they are coming out of a 60 pound recurve like a missle. They hit real hard and make for a dynamite combo. I am also shooting some 75-80 spine spruce outta that same recurve.
I have yet to break a spruce shaft. I have broken 4 fir shafts and no spruce shafts. Now, no more samples or shots that I have of them both it may be a little biased but I have shot the spruce into the same stuff I shot the fir and didn't have a problem.
Now you have got to understand, I am not shooting the premiuim shafts in the fir as I am in the spruce and they do have a little grain runout in them, so this is probably the difference. A couple more dollars on ordering day and this wouldn't happen and I am certain of that.
The bottom line is that both are excellent choices and both make dandy arrows that are strong, stay straight, and both are found in a large variety of weights. And both Surewood and Hildebrand are top notch people bro. I say get a dozen of each in your spine and weight range, finish them, and you are going to have a real hard time telling the difference in their performance.
God Bless