Birch arrow shafts

[JamesV]

Who uses brich arrow shafts and how do they compare to other arrow woods.

Thanks

James

[Jack Skinner]

I have made birch shafts from boards. I like birch for weight and spine. Meaning most of the shafts I get out of a board come in at a good spine around 60-65 and gr weight around 400-450. Which works great out of my selfbows. Now the bad like most hardwood arrow shafts they take constant attention to keep straight. I dont mind this so much but other's do. I am going to try more heat with my next batch to see if it helps keep them straight. They take stain great as well. I will also add that they are a good tuff shaft material and take a beating.
Hope this helps.

[Bill Carlsen]

White birch is best, IMO. In spines of 55+ they stay straight if you use the Hook Method, (described by Guru in the HOW TO forum). The grain in birch can be hard to find and follow but once you are getting good straight grained shafts they are hard to beat. Good weight, easy to work with with hand tools, very tough, can usually get good spines in small diameters. It is what Pope and Young used more than anything else.

[akbowbender]

I looked at the laminated birch shafts that Bill Bonczar (Alleghney Mountain) had at Kazoo. Looked real nice. They were heavier than the ash shafts I ended up buying. Should have picked up a dozen.

[Bill Carlsen]

I've tried laminated birch. They were fine until I had a glance off of a 3D target. The shaft delaminated in several places and it wasn't a hard enough hit to have broken the arrow.

I have had a few laminated birch arrows for about six years now.  I was told they weigh in around 800 grains.

It is fun to shoot them - and you know they sink deep into the target but beyond 25 yards I have to make considerable adjustment to my shooting.  They have a spongy and unpredictable spine - really fussy to form errors.  

Needless to say I don't shoot them too much...lol!

[Bjorn]

I have used both-much prefer the non-laminated variety.