The State of the wood shaft business

last arrow · February 23, 2015, 11:19:00 PM

I agree with bigbadjohn. Its a shame you don't have more choices for closely matched shafts.

Grey Taylor · February 23, 2015, 11:30:00 PM

I have to imagine that any of the smaller dealers would be happy to sell you the shafts you need. If you want them all in two lb spine groups and within three grains of one another it's certainly possible... for a price.
I'd never ask that of one of the larger shops like 3R, they're just not that custom oriented. That's why I like smaller shops, I get to place my order with the owner, who is also the guy who pulls the order and takes it to the post office. You can't beat service like that.

Guy

Shinken · February 23, 2015, 11:31:00 PM

Surewood...hands down....

Shoot straight, Shinken

Hud · February 24, 2015, 10:13:00 AM

Wow, absolutely unbelievable, call the dealer and let him know. I have never had that happen. I always check the spine against the grain, so the nock goes on perpendicular to the grain. Raptor Archery, Surewood and others have always been reliable.

LBR · February 24, 2015, 10:45:00 AM

I haven't bought shafts in quite a while...did some trading a few years back and got enough to last me a good while...

Makes me think of an order I got, probably 15 years ago (may be the same place). I bought some shafts at what I thought was a bargain. Got them in, they were awful...2 or 3 of them were cracked! I called the store and the woman that answered said "well, you DID order "select"!". I think they are still in business...they don't get my business though.

centaur · February 24, 2015, 10:57:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by monterey:

QuoteOriginally posted by FerretWYO:

QuoteOriginally posted by mcgroundstalker:
Try... RMSGear...

... mike ...
what mike said [/b]
X3

They will also match the weights if you request it. [/b]

Danny must be talking to himself after weighing and spining all their cedar shafts to close tolerances, but their shafts are very well matched.

dragonheart · February 24, 2015, 12:10:00 PM

I returned to aluminum in the last 2 years. Still that safest arrow material out there to shoot.

February 24, 2015, 02:02:00 PM

I bought some parallel cedars off the Eguess from somebody selling a number of spines by various clump sizes. What I got was obviously straight from the cheap lots of Rose City. I was told that Rose City spins their shafts when doing spines. I never have figured out how that could work. Nine of the 36 lot were perfect and identical, a few must have come from the most curved cedar tree ever. How and where one buys wood shafts is crucial. Other than cheap 36 lot, I have not run into a bad wood shaft in years. About half of my hunting arrows are now tapered doug firs or tapered cedars. I have over a hundred 1918s that fit my bows perfect, but when it gets cold out wood is warmer on the finger.

WESTBROOK · February 24, 2015, 03:15:00 PM

I've been burned enough to know that if they're cheap they're cheap for a reason. You WILL NOT get a quality shaft from the the bargain bin.

February 24, 2015, 04:13:00 PM

Crookeity bendy cedar shafts make really good tomato stakes.

LostNation_Larry · February 24, 2015, 05:43:00 PM

In the past we would purchase shafts by the 1000 count box and my wife would spend hours in front of the spine tester. It was COMMON to get 25% of them that spined heavy or light. Sometimes it was closer to 33%. We sell shafts as "factory" or "premium" and we always explain to the customer that Factory shafts are the first 12 we grab out of the box. I had a very hard time recommending "Factory" at the time. The supplier is doing much better now and I would say we get more like 90% within spine.

I still recommend "premium" if you care about your arrows.

don kauss · February 24, 2015, 08:42:00 PM

Surewoods are spot-on...

and YES, if you didn't get what you ordered, especially something as specific as spine on wood shafts, you should have called the dealer...it's a ridiculously serious detail...I would be shocked if they didn't apologize and make good...

Kevin Dill · February 25, 2015, 05:58:00 AM

I was sitting here wondering if it's possible to consistently purchase shafts matched within a 3# spine and 20g wt spread, and do it year after year. I'm talking about premium 11/32 tapered shafting. I wouldn't want to check spine myself.

Variations in shafting quality and performance were partly behind my decision to stop using wood. I shoot the exact same (carbon) shaft year after year now, and that consistency is something I value. If I ever move back to woods I'd be searching for the same.

Flinttim · February 25, 2015, 06:49:00 AM

Just a lesson learned. Some lessons cost a lot of $$$ some are cheaper. This falls in the latter. I'm not out a bunch and will check closer the next time.

Orion · February 25, 2015, 09:11:00 AM

I stopped buying POC shafts through the mail years ago. Now, I buy all my shafts at trad shoots where dealers will let folks go through their bulk shafts and select their own. I look for straight grain first. Most provide a scale so I can get the weights close. When I get them home, I recheck spine and weight and separate them into appropriate groups. I usually go through 300 or more shafts to find a dozen with the straight grain I want.

Did order some Surewood shafts a year or two ago. Spot on in weight and grain, and straight grain as well.

Surewood Steve · February 25, 2015, 10:55:00 AM

What everyone needs to remember that wood will never be as closely matched as carbon or aluminum. You could in theory get 12 shafts in a dozen that came from 12 different trees that all grew at different elevations and growing conditions. We go through several thousand shafts to get 40 or 50 dozen matched sets. Then we save the balance for the next run to hopefully match them up. This is after grading so we can offer only "shootable" shafts whether is be our "hunter" or "premium" grades. We have considered offering shafts with in a 2 or 3 pound spine range at a higher price, but the problem becomes one when a customer wants 3 or 4 dozen of a weight say 52-53#. Then the next guy gets a batch of 50-55# with no 52-53 in it. It may cause more problems in the long run. We are three retired guys that work at this part time, so we do NOT produce a million shafts, if we did we may offer more options. Ninety percent of our business is matched dozens and we try to keep is as close as we can. For the people who have tried our shafts and made the nice comments, we say thank you!!!

snag · February 25, 2015, 11:30:00 AM

"The state of the wood shaft business"...is in good hands with guys like Roarke, Bob and Steve who continue to carry the torch...aka the Surewood guys. Their commitment to putting out quality matched shafts starts with logs and is carried through to the finished shafts. They do it right.

bigbadjon · February 25, 2015, 11:56:00 AM

Surewood would get my vote , as their quality is outstanding, if they could fulfill one of two criteria. If they sold matched shafts or if they could produce a quantity that I could sort my own. However they are always sold out and rarely have bulk shafts available. It looks like the other qualiity shaft producers like Hildrebrand and Rogue River are also starting to make douglas fir so maybe the availability with start to open up. I do think douglas fir is going to be the material of choice for disciminating archers.

Green · February 25, 2015, 12:17:00 PM

Surewood, Wapiti, Hildebrand, and Kootenai (recently purchased Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods) are all top quality producers and tend to give you better than you thought you ordered. As for non-producers, my favorite to deal with is Tim at Braveheart....he always goes out of his way to make sure he receives and sells only the best from the producers. I'd say the state of the wood shaft business is in great hands!

Pointer · February 25, 2015, 07:10:00 PM

Flinttim...my experience exactly with wood shafts for more than a few years now. I stopped bothering with it ..carbon or aluminum for me now.