I need to order some new shafts and was wondering what the thoughts were out there on Sitka Spruce vs. POC. Which is your preferred shaft material & why. Also, what is your favorite shaft source. Thanks much.

Mark

Do yourself a favor and try Douglas Fir.

I got some sitka spruce shafts from Hildebrand in Oregon and they are far superior in grain runout and straightness than any poc that I've ever gotten.
Denny

I have been using SS lately too with good luck.

Sitka spruce is a generally a bit lighter than POC within a given spine range.  Sitka spruce does generally have good straight graiin.  Good cedar does as well, but it's becoming more difficult to find good cedar.  Without the option to hand select it, Sitka Spruce will probably be straighter grained direct from a vendor.  Doug fir is also a good softwood, more durable and physically heavier than either cedar or spruce.
Spruce.

Hildebrand's are in Washington.
They supply the BEST spruce shafts in the industry.
I have been able to get both in the same spine weights and close to the same weight. Spruce is a little tougher if you are stumpin'.

Before you buy, give poplar a try.  Lots tuffer than cedar.  Easy to straighten and keep straight.  It has some grain but not as much as cedar.  You can get it in weights equal to or heavier that cedar.  Easy to taper with hand tools like cedar.  Only thing I miss about cedar is the smell. Twig archery has some good ones.

I bought 100 seconds from Hildebrands for squirrel and rabbit arrows.  Seconds sure made nice tuff arrows.  First grade must be good.

rusty

I've used the Hildebrand spruce and the old Rogue River POC and the new POC from Wapiti Archery that bought the Rogue River business from Cecil and Paula when they could no longer handle it. I find the Wapiti shafts are as good as the Rogue River shafts were. I've found that the spruce shafts are slightly lighter and seemed to be more difficult to straighten as they don't seem to have the body of the cedar and it's easy to over bend them ending up with a "wavey" shaft.  I had to learn to finese the spruce. I also found the POC to be superior in initial straightness. Fir was mentioned in the post and I can recommend the Surewood firs. They are working very well, take stain much better than the SS and POC are significantly tougher, straighten well and it's much easier to get arrows in the 550-600 grain range if thats important to you.  They are different woods and each has it's strengths and weakness. I've had nothing but good experience with each of the suppliers.  Hildebrand, Wapiti and Surewood. Try each and make your own decisions.

Hildebrants are great folks, no doubt about it and nothing wrong with spruce either. If I can choose between really good POC or equally good Spruce; I'll pick POC; but it is tough to get really good POC these days unless you have a private stash of course.

Between Sitka Spruce and POC, I've used both and prefer Sitka Spruce.  I now use Douglas Fir, I found I like it better than both Sitka Spruce and POC.  Surewood Shafts is my source for Doug Fir.  As far as why, I found the Doug Fir heavier and tougher, they take stain better and look "better" when stained, IMHO.

RonP

I use Sitka Spruce these days when building woods.

I bought a dozen custom arrows from Spruce and had 2 shear diagonally on the first shot into the bag. A third sheared the same way after some 20 shots. I'm sure mine probably came from inferior cross grained shaft material. However, with the cost of custom arrows, I think I'll stick with carbons and Fir as I really like the weight of the fir and they are tough.
Fene

What's POC? Sorry, newbie

Port Orford Cedar.  Everyone was a newbie once:-)

RonP

I shot sitka spruce from Neil and Roxanne for yrs. When they got too big to answer my emails I switched to tapered POC from Lost Nation Larry...PR

I have always been able to talk with Roxanne or Neil by phone. Very helpful and enjoyable to talk with.

Does Hildebrand's have a web site? Can find any contact info. Thanks

If POC and Tamarack became unavailable or I wanted to shoot something light weight I would most likely start shooting sitka more often.  But until then those two cover everything that I need. dino

dino:
 where does one get Tamarack shafts?

stump