woddies, worth the trouble?

[onewhohasfun]

Fletcher is right, carbons have no life in them themselves. But they take the life out of my targets very well, and may do so without breaking.

[Rob DiStefano]

i love/hate threads about arrow shaft materials - drudges up all the personal, subjective opinions of what's best for archers and bowhunters, with some folks espousing, or at least hinting, that their way is the only way.

to think that wooden arrows are as consistent or accurate or durable as carbons, alums and even glass arrows is pure myth.  even the most consistent woodie - hex pines - can't hold a consistent candle to the cheapest of man made material arrow shafts.

wood is a living, cellular, unique material.  even shafts created from the same log will sport differences.  wood is enormously affected by the environment and by the pressures of exiting a bow and entering materials with great force from said bow.  

due to their inherent inconsistencies, woodies will mask your shooting form.  who missed the mark - you or your arrow?

you don't hafta accept them, but the above facts are irrefutable.

all that said, heck yeah - i'll rove and hunt with woodies on occasion, using my wood and glass laminated longbows.  wood arrows do get ya closer to the core of traditional bowhunting.

to each their own and ymmv!

[Don Stokes]

Rob, I respectfully refute your irrefutable facts.    

Properly constructed and matched wood arrows will perform as well as anything else. You DO have to know how to make them correctly, and how to match them to your bow. There are no "inherent inconsistencies" that can't be overcome by the skill of the arrow maker when he has good material to work with.

I have a picture that would help to prove my point, but it includes a compound bow so it can't be posted here. The picture is of a regulation indoor target with 5 x-rings, shot at twenty yards, by a fellow named Ryan that worked for Dan Quillian. Dan bare-shaft matched him and his high-end compound with some of the matched arrows they made using my shafts, and the target has 5 arrows in the x-rings. There are no other holes in the target. Dan did it to show how good wood arrows can be!

While in the Superceder business, we sold quite a few into Canada to compound shooters. Apparently they didn't know that you can't shoot wood from a compound!

Disclaimer: You REALLY have to know what you're doing, and the arrow shafts must be of the highest quality and straightness of grain.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Don Stokes:
... Disclaimer: You REALLY have to know what you're doing, and the arrow shafts must be of the highest quality and straightness of grain.

back atcha, don - i respectfully refute your refute of my irrefutable statement.        

re, your above disclaimer - therein lies the larger part of the problem, don.  this is why the approach to shooting woodies needs to be careful and well thought out, particularly when the target is game and the bowhunter is a relative newbie.  

woodies require, demand, extra care of building and use - carbons don't.  if you don't have the time patience and money to delve into woodies, don't go there for the sake of yer bowhunting.  

i've found that compressed wood shafts have a very high tolerance to dynamic shot compression, and have better 'memory' (consistency), than non-compressed shaft wood.  i'd like to see a compressed hex pine shaft, if that's even possible.

still, man made shaft material (i.e. - carbon) can take an enormous lickin' and still keep on tickin' perfectly.  in the long run, woods just don't.  but i sure do love my woodie arras!   :D

[Killdeer]

Oh my.
Trad Gang is becoming one long string of damaged refutations.

Some folks like to fiddle with and make their own bows, arrows, armguards, and tools. Some folks don't, and would rather just buy a finished product.

Some want the involvement in the process, and some want quick results. Some learn spelling and grammar, and proofread, and some jus slam da keebord and go two th nex tread, lookin fiur laffs r watevur.

Different strokes.
Killdeer

[pdk25]

Good morning, Kathy.

[Killdeer]

[George D. Stout]

I think the "newbies" get more confusion from bareshafting, and front-loading, then they ever would from building a simple wooden arrow 8^))))).

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by George D. Stout:
I think the "newbies" get more confusion from bareshafting, and front-loading, then they ever would from building a simple wooden arrow 8^))))).

i agree, george - for sure.  best to keep it simple.

also best to take arrow issues out of the newbie learning curve - MUCH easier to build and learn with alums ... carbons can be trickier when it comes to spine issues, but the easton alum chart's a great start.

imo & ymmv.

[reddogge]

Killdeer you crack me up.

[wtpops]

It's a personal choice. I love wood arrows, I love shooting woods but I have this little problem between my ears, I'm too picky, my wife calls it anal. Maybe it's a little OCD or something but all my arrows have to be the same weight, spine and straight. Don't get my wrong I am by no means good enough to see any difference in my shooting between wood, aluminum or carbon. So I shoot aluminum so the little man in my head wont bug me so much.

Give wood a try ya never know you may fall in love with them and never switch back.