Douglas Fir or Cedar? Simple as that.....
Not really. How heavy an arrow do you want? Doug fir is generally heavier than cedar of the same spine, though a light doug fir may weigh about the same as a heavy POC.
I shoot both. Doug fir is tougher. Can't beat Surewood Doug fir shafts for quality. However, I've also collected some very good POC over the years. I shoot more cedar than Doug fir. Some folks have trouble finding good POC nowadays.
Regardless, either will work just fine on targets and critters.
Red fir or cedar? Yes!
Yes.
I have more cedar but am using Douglas fir for my deer hunting (and stumping & target practice with my two primary hunting bows).
P.O. cedar still is great for lighter bows and, since I have eight dozen matched 65-70# and two dozen 55-60# from a lot of 100 raw shafts I bought some time ago from Silver Arrow Archery and around a gross of made-up cedar arrows I will likely keep using them.
Douglas fir (Surewood) has lovely straight grain and is a tad more durable. Harder to work, especially if you taper the shaft (I taper the last 12" of 11/32 shafts or full length 23/64" shafts in either cedar or fir).
I have a ton of Cedar stashed away, and I'm making most of my current arrows with Surewood Fir, the quality is as good as it gets, haven't rejected a shaft yet!
IF,IF and IF again you can obtain really good Cedar by all means shoot it, it's great. I occasionally can from a friend and I love it. You can call Surewood Shafts for Douglas Fir 52 weeks a year and get extremely high quality shafting in a fairly wide weight range, there is nothing not to like.
It is hard to get any higher quality shaft than Surewood doug. fir.
Started shooting POC in 1972.Switched to Doug Fir last year and will never go back.Buy my shafts from Snag @ Wilderness Arrows a sponsor here.
Man those Sherwoods are great shafts, no doubt about it. Been shooting sitka due to the wt and still tough, not as tough as the Fir though.
Both good.The guys at Surewood are super.They go to great lengths to find great wood,before they even start the shaft building process.Port Orford and Sitka Spruce are good too,but the Surewoods are heavier and tough.
I like sitka spruce too. But cedar is good
douglas fir for me!!!
Ok ok ok fir it is! Never shot cedar though so I thought give em a try.
for woods, i love surewood douglas fir or hildebrand stika spruce. poc's just aren't the same as they were back in the 50's and 60's.
I use cedar, Norway pine, sitka spruce, Ash, laminated birch and poplar.....each has it's place.
Have shot cedar for many years. I've also tried Douglas and prefer it over cedar. However, I've just received 2 dozen split-pine hex shafts from Bob Burton at Whispering Wind Arrows. Tapered shafts weigh in at 410 - 413 grains. It will be interesting to see how these compare to the cedar and fir after finishing.
Fir.