Heavy wood arrows

STICKBENDER98 · January 02, 2017, 05:03:00 PM

I was looking through my arrow stock today and started feeling a little bit nostalgic. I have several dozen aluminum and carbon shafts all dipped, crested, and fletched, and only a few cedar shafts left from when I first switched to traditional. It got me to thinking about wood shafting again. I have been using either 125 grain woodsman originals or 165 grain snuffers with inserts to make 225 up front, with GT carbons I have been getting a 500+ grain arrow. I have some Grizzly Sticks with the same tips that weigh in just over 700 grains. Now for my question, I'm planning a black bear hunt for June of 2018 in New Brunswick and would like to put some wood arrows together that will weigh in around 600 grains. I am curious about which woods that are available to get me close to that. I am leaning towards using my woodsmans glued to the shafts.

January 02, 2017, 05:14:00 PM

I use to have Rogue River sort sets of super heavies for me. Those with 190 Ribteks are around 700 grains. I would bet that one could get firs heavy for the spine and matched with heavy points that could top 600 grains for your poundage.

slowbowjoe · January 02, 2017, 05:32:00 PM

I'd bet Doug Fir in your spine would get you there, and probably with the 165's. If not, Chundoo would. Haven't used Chundoo yet, but have been very satisfied with the several dozen sets I've made up the last 4 or 5 years.

Take a look at the Surewood website; they have a chart showing the approximate weight ranges for various Doug Fir spines. Call or email them, tell them what weight shafts and spine you want - they'll work with you.

frassettor · January 02, 2017, 05:37:00 PM

I have some Doug firs that weight 800+ grains, that might be to heavy for you. But you can achieve that weight with Doug firs

Pine · January 02, 2017, 06:16:00 PM

Another vote for Doug Fur .

Tyler C. Moore · January 02, 2017, 07:09:00 PM

Ash can easily get up to 700 or 800 grains for the shaft alone when you get into a #65 shaft and up. I have some #70 ash that are 780 grains bare.

Doug fir also is a good option.

Good luck on your hunt

Shadowhnter · January 02, 2017, 07:19:00 PM

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Shadowhnter · January 02, 2017, 07:22:00 PM

A lot depends on your spine needs. Its going to be pretty darn easy to hit 600gr with wood.

12.5-13 gr per inch, 200gr head (125 woodsman on 75 gr woody weight), is going to get you very very close to 600gr or over. You can get that with cedar, or Douglas fir easy.

mikolay87 · January 02, 2017, 07:54:00 PM

My hunting arrows are surewood fir shafts and the are 610 grains all said and done

Gil · January 02, 2017, 07:57:00 PM

Forrester shafts

Jayrod · January 02, 2017, 07:58:00 PM

Hands down surewood shafts dougfir they are tough heavy arrows

Orion · January 02, 2017, 08:20:00 PM

Yep. Doug fir will get you there. Pretty hard to reach that weight with POCs and 125 grain heads, but possible with shafts on the heavy side of cedar's range. Ash and Birch in the lighter weights of their range will also do it. Hickory and maple will likely to too heavy, even in their lighter weight range.

Mike Vines · January 02, 2017, 09:09:00 PM

Hands down, my choice of wood shafting is Douglas Fir. It is no problem at all to get arrows to 600+ grains (I do it regularly), not to mention the quality of Surewood shafts are what I look for when I start a set of arrows. It's easy to get a quality finished product when you start with A+ quality shafts.

Fletcher · January 02, 2017, 09:30:00 PM

Welcome back to wood arrows! My first choice would be Doug Fir as well. First, I find DF to be the best shooting of all the arrow woods; it has been my favorite for many years. DF also varies quite a bit in mass weight, which makes it possible to achieve most any reasonable arrow weight. 600 gr should be easy. Contact Surewood Shafts and they will be able to set you up.

Jim Wright · January 02, 2017, 09:53:00 PM

I have made quite a few dozen arrows from surewood douglas fir shafts and still own and shoot a few dozen. Very few have ever weighed under 600 grains.

Al Kidner · January 02, 2017, 09:59:00 PM

As written above... DF shafts are one of the best shafts I used. Chundoo was good but seem hard to find. I had made up some that were barrel tapered and with a 125g WW head they came in around the 610g area. All round... a great shaft in my opinion.

AK.

Walt Francis · January 02, 2017, 10:01:00 PM

X2 on the Surewood shafts.

I have several sets of Surewood shafts with 145 grain Eclipse broadheads (153 with the bleeder blades), they all weigh in around 600-625 grains, depending on the finish.

LittleBen · January 02, 2017, 10:12:00 PM

Douglas fir or hemlock, or obviously you could go to hardwood like ash or maple.

Also the higher the spine the more you can load the front up, and the longer you can leave the shaft.

I've built around 8dozen Douglas fir arrows over the last three years or so and they weighed in between 460 (at 26" with 125gr points) and 600 grains (full length with 160gr points). They were all 50-55 lb spine.

The heaviest arrows I've made were from hand spines 3/8" oak doweling. They weighed ~20gr/inch. At 32"BOP they came in around 800grains. I gave them away as a set with a 65# bow to a guy with a 31" draw but I'm sure they were basically indestructible.

STICKBENDER98 · January 03, 2017, 04:17:00 PM

Thanks for the input guys, looks like I'll be giving the folks at Surewood a call. I knew I could get into the 600 grain area I wanted with woods, I was curious about what everyone was using these days after being away from woods so long. I'd like to be able to put an assortment of spine weights together and play around with them a bit to see which ones would work best for me. Thanks again guys.

newhouse114 · January 03, 2017, 07:03:00 PM

My doug fir shafts are around 415 grains before doing anything. Finished with a 300 gr head, they are 834.