Wood Shaft ???

[Weekend Warrior]

How does spruce and Douglas Fir compare?

I'm shooting spruce now 50-55 spine.

[Pack]

The fir is going to be heavier and somewhat tougher.  Both make great shafts.  The fir from Surewood Shafts is very good quality.

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Douglas fir is a little heavier, probably runs a little stiffer and is a tiny bit more likely to break from a glancing shot than is spruce.

At least in my experience.

Reparrow man

[Benny Nganabbarru]

I can't help with a comparison.

But I sure love my Douglas fir arrows!

[Boneyard Bowhunter]

Yep! I agree, Doug fir makes a great shaft.

[SuperK]

Never tried either but poplar and ramin are my favorites.

[Fletcher]

As stated above, Fir will generally be heavier, just be sure to get matched shafts as fir weights can vary quite a bit.  Sitka Spruce is a bit lighter than the average cedar, but is pretty consistent in weight.  Both make very good arrows, altho IMO fir is probably the best shooting wood arrow species.  It seems to recover quicker than the others.  It also tends to be more brittle than cedar or spruce, so check your shafts carefully and often.  Both the Surewood Fir and Hildebrand Spruce are very nice.

[suttoman]

I had always thought this too (what boneyard said), but the last lot of Douglas shafts I got fly really terrible.  They were very high quality selected ones off Tim (hand selected for my bow weight etc) - but I don't know what I did wrong or what is wrong with the shafts but they fly like rubbish.

My old cheap Port Orfords that I got from one of the local archery shops in Sydney, fly like a dream.  They are not hand selected like the Douglas ones and are a bit bendy - but they work well.

I was disappointed because these were expensive shafts getting them over here.  Not sure if it was just a bad bunch or are the old tried and proven Ports still the best.

Sutto

[STEVE R.]

Those spruce arrows are hard to beat. I am really happy with the ones that I now shoot.

[Weekend Warrior]

Thanks
I guess.
I'll stick with the spruce, mine shoots great also.  
I just thought about trying some douglas fir.
I guess if something works don't fix it.
Thanks Again

[Paul/KS]

I'm going to give some tapered ash shafts a try. I just finished staining them and need to get them nocked and fletched. Mike had them at the Nocking Point...

[snag]

Suttoman, sounds like they aren't tuned to your bow. I doubt it is the woods fault.

Quality douglas fir shafts are just that quality! I have shot POC, sitka spruce, and fir. The Surewood Shafts are great! I like a little heavier shaft in a high spine weight around 80#-85#. Surewood sorts out weight and spine very accurately.

[SlowBowinMO]

It's sad to see some of what is passed off as good wood shafting these days, the Surewoods are the real deal.  Hildebrand's Sitka Spruce is also good stuff.  

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Yep, Sutto, I must agree with Tim and Snag, and think there might've been something else that was the culprit rather than the shafts themselves. I'm no expert with wooden arrows, but can't sing the praises of Douglas fir highly-enough.