So when I started to shoot traditional archery I went all out.  Bear grizzley recurve with a dozen cedar shafts from the local archery shop.  I also got a few cheaper carbon arrow for gopher hunting as well.  When I started shooting the carbon's flew great, and the cedars not so much.  Some flew straight, some fishtailed, some porpised.  I was not impressed.  I started reading reviews and figured that was just the way wood shafts were, especially cedar.  

Well here I am five years later and back with wood shafts for my hill style longbow.  I thought "no way cedar, there just not consistant", so I went to see bert frelink of quarter moon longbows for advice.  His advice was cedar shafts. I was sceptical but tried them.  Wow, they fly great, beautiful weight. I love them.  How could they be so different from before?

So I decided to look at some of my old cedars.  and I notice that they were fletched like a carbon shaft, the nocks were set so some had the grain right, some had the grain parallel to the string, some 45 degrees to the string.  No wonder they flew terrible, and I broke so many. It is amazing the stuff you noticed when shown the right way to do things.

Lesson Learned and I am sorry Cedar, I misunderstood you  

Jesse -

It is hard to beat good cedar for arrows, but it is also much more difficult to find good cedar for arrows. Sounds to me like the first ones you bought were assembled by someone that didn't know wood.

 

I too have drifted away from cedar.  But to Douglas fir.  

Three at 20 yards last night at a "plain" deer torso size target (aka "pick a spot") with the Red Wing Hunter I will be hunting with this fall.

   

When they stop making trees I might look into carbon.