Hi,

im wanna build some woodies for my next bow, but as ive got no experience with wood arrows after all i have some questions.

What is the strongest wood for making arrows? I want them as durable and robust as possible as i shoot alot of stumps and hate broken arrows      
Ive thouht about laminated birch, maple or ash but am concerned about the straightness issues.

Where to buy quality and and close matched shafts?

And finally the most popular correct arrow question:

Wich shafts would i need?
Bow will be a Thunderchild 63#@my 30";
I wanna shoot arrows with 31" length about 650 grain total weight.

Thanks alot!!!
Axel

If you want a tough arrow at 650 grains, Ash would be a good choice with a 125-160 grain point should hit the mark. For straightness, like all hardwoods they take a bit of work and will need touching up daily. Someone did an arrow build along with Hickory which will give you a good idea of working hardwood shafts.

A good place to get them Allegheny Mountain woods, Raptor Archery and The nocking point all sell them.

As for the last question, I would guess something spined around 70# but maybe someone with a longer draw length will have a better idea.

Ich stimme Ash 160grn 75-80 # Wirbelsäule .. Sprechen Sie mit Ted,, Er wird richten Sie


Soory, ich denke immer noch in Englisch

QuoteOriginally posted by mysticguido:
Ich stimme Ash 160grn 75-80 # Wirbelsäule .. Sprechen Sie mit Ted,, Er wird richten Sie


Soory, ich denke immer noch in Englisch

Thanks for the help.

The translation is kind of funny, though.
"Er wird richten Sie" means "He will excecute you"...      :D  I hope not!  

I'd go with ash for your wood choice. It makes a very durable and heavy arrow. I always get my shafts from Bill at Allegheney Mountain Arrow Woods. He makes a great product and is really good at answering your questions to make sure you get what you need. I get all my other arrow stuff from Mike Horton at The Nocking Point. Can't say enough good things about him.

From that bow, and at that length, you're going to need some seriously strong shafts, around 90# I think.

I sincerly doubt you will find any ash that lite for total weight. Try poplar or chundoo. They are both stronger tha cedar the chundoo will be lighter and slightly less strong than the poplar but stronget that cedar. I usually only break points off and that's after a lot of abuse. My buddy swears by poplar. Check out twigarchery.com
He is known world wide for great shafting.

I shoot Douglas Fir and some Sitka Spruce, both are tougher than Cedar and finding good straight Cedar has become a chore. If you really hate broken arrows and you do a lot of stumping you are probably in need of one of the hard wood shafts and it is my understanding that they take a lot of continuous work often with heat to maintain straightness.

Yellow poplar would be a good choice. Lighter than ash or hickory, and at least twice as tough as any softwood species.

Ask Bill form Alleghenny Mountain arrow woods.
Ash shafts are a good choice, as are maple.
My personal favorite is tapered maple shafts. Not laminated, but the normal stuff. It is usually physically lighter than the laminated stuff. I don't know if he still makes them.
Go one spinegroup higher than spine for soft woods, because they will react a little weaker dynamically.
Such a light physical weight will be hard to accomplish with maple or ash at the spine you'll need.
Maple stays super straight if sealed correctly. So please seal hardwoods really good and they usually will stay straight.
Spine recommendations are hard on this one, because it depends on the shaft diameter and how far to center the bow is cut. 75-80# may work, which will likely be a 23/64" shaft.
Dinks feather shop offers laminated maple as well. You can order a test dozen there readily made up.

You can always get footed arrows or do them yourself with aluminum.

I have ash 30"BOP 60-65# topping off around 700grn

You won't hit your spine requirements (90# plus) with anything other than Cedar, Fir, spruce or exotic hardwoods like Cocobolo. Exotics like Cocobolo will be too heavy and Spruce and Cedar too light and breakable, by your specs.
Fir from Surewood can be had up to 115# in 11/32 so that is what I would pic.

my advice is to get a surewood doug fir test kit from braveheart archery.

Yeah, I'd go with Surewood. You'll be heavier than 650 grains, though.  Probably around 600 grains for the bare shaft. You'll probably need 85-90 or 90-95 spine, maybe even 95-100. The test kit would be a good idea.

For a reference, I shoot 65-70 spine full length out of a 51@31 Hill. With a 125 grain point, they weigh 650 grains.

They are tough, much tougher than cedar. I've broken a few, but that was when I hit rocks. It still is a good idea to not knowingly shoot a solid stump, though.