I have several pieces of white cedar that we just cut away from the house. OLD growth stuff some 50 years old and now am going to try cutting to maybe 36" lengths and then eventually try making some shafts from. What do you think? Will that wood work and how should I  go about doing that? Suggestions...maybe 200-300 board feet of pretty clear stuff.

First you'll need to let the wood season. Probably at least a year being from Pa. maybe longer.

If you have a way of ripping the wood, rip it following the grain as much as possible.  This will give you a straight grain so it will make you some good shafts.  You can cut the wood to length and cut it into slabs then let it dry for awhile.  This is how I do it with the wood I use.

how do you plan to "dowell" it?

Well was going to dowell it by planning the square edges then again and agin then go thru a series of steel plates to get to final dial and then ....???

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=60496&cat=1,180,42288  

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=42331&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1

Hopefully the links are OK.

I agree with Magnus about letting it dry for a year or so after you have cut it into square dowells.  I have found that boards, logs, etc. just don't dry well enough for arrow shafts until they are cut into smaller pieces and left to dry for a while.

Within those pieces of cedar you may or may not have any usable spine groups. Manufacturers of shafts have to process a lot of wood to get good spine groups AND mass weight groups. Might not be a fruitful endeavor....?

QuoteOriginally posted by snag:
Within those pieces of cedar you may or may not have any usable spine groups. Manufacturers of shafts have to process a lot of wood to get good spine groups AND mass weight groups. Might not be a fruitful endeavor....?

I am sure there will something for my bow 45-65 and IF I DON'T TRY I'll NEVER KNOW.No sense getting discouraged already ...

That is what makes this fun.  You get to try different things and see if you can make something yourself.  Or you can just buy something already made for you and miss out on all the fun.

Split out the shafts like the old timers used to do.  Jay Massey shows how he did it in his "Primitive Archery" book.  If it's good straight grained wood it should make excellent shafts.  Don't know until you try!  Good luck.
I've hand carved many shafts from old fir flooring that I ripped to around 1/2" width with a table saw.  They make great arrows.

i have found with the sitka spruce that i like to use- that within a board all the spines seem to be pretty close- all i do is adjust the diameter to get the spine that i want- however that will also obviouly change how it shoots- thicker and thinner diam. shafts against your shelf. but i make a few- shoot them and then adjust diam and keep testing until i find exactly what i want- than i make a whole schwack of 'em. this way i seem to get the highest return for the effort spent and best return out of the wood- just my experience
good luck- and go for it.
remember- dried wood is not always seasoned wood- there has been a few discussions on the bench about this with regards to staves- the boards are obviously well seasoned- i would split them and maybe use a bow building  hot box to dry them to the m/c that i wanted- do some google/research as to what would be the best temp to run it at- and use a moisture meter- even the cheaper ones with the prongs work well cos you can test them  towards the ends , where you are gonna trim them anyway- just mark the test ends first- so you know which end to trim.
and if you are going to do more of this type of stuff- then lee valley sells a very neat dowelling machine- with infinately adjustable sizes
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=42331

its what i like to use- gotta make sure the blades are razor sharp- it improves the finish- very high drill speed and slow feed rate also help( about i minute per shaft length)
good luck- and go for it- however you decide to build 'em.

THANKS ALL---WAY more info than I thought I would get ---much appreciated !

Not trying to discourage you Stickbowhntr. Just voicing my opinion. I hope you enjoy your journey in whatever path you take.