Anyone have experience w/ Ash arrow shafting?

[OkKeith]

He Guys,

A year or so ago a Buddy and I split a dozen raw Ash arrow shafts. I'm just now getting a chance to mess with them. The shafts were stored bundled and laying horizontaly. They don't seem to have any more kinks or bows than my POC or other wood shafts, but I sure am having a harder time getting them straight. I have used my normal methods as well as rubbing them with a cloth to warm and then straighten them. I even used a commercial type arrow straightner (hook style). They are still a little wobbely on a glass table top.

My Buddy put his in the kitchen oven at 150 for an hour or so and had some success, but after they cooled he was still unhappy with them.

These are quality shafts from a good dealer. Granted, we are both pretty meticulous about how straight our shafts need to be. We figure a straight arrow shoots better than a crooked one and we need all the advantage we can build into our equipment.

We sorted these from the pile and the dealer even let us sort by weight and spine, so they are well matched.

Anyone have any tips or tricks for getting these good looking, heavy weight Ash shafts suitably straight?

OkKeith

[Ron Vought]

Use a hair dryer on low heat and only heat the bend. Don't over stress the shaft when you are trying to staighten. Also do not over heat an ash shaft otherwise it may return to its orginal state of being crooked.

Ron

[Bjorn]

I just use fingers and rub them in my hand for heat. Likely you are being too fussy........but the ends have to be straight. Ash will need a little more spine than POC; it recovers more slowly and weighs more JMHO.

[OkKeith]

Thanks for the help Guys!

Any of ya'll have any photos of Ash shafts? How do these take a stain? seems like i read that these need to be sealed really well or they draw moisture and can get out of straight again. True or false?

OkKeith

[J. Oles]

A hair dryer, that's  a neat idea.

Ash and hickory are both on my "to try" list.

[Bjorn]

Pale yellow stain and some Turkey feathers



Dipped in poly.

[ber643]

Killdeer is a long time Ash arrow/shaft proponent. Perhaps she'll see this or you could PM her.

[Art B]

Sounds like you're just not getting your shafts hot enough. Hardwood shafts just takes more heat to straighten. Heat gun work great for straightening shafts. Placing your shaft in a piece of angle iron as you heat really speeds up the process. Won't hurt to heat your shafts up to the point of just before they start to discolor. Then over-bend and bring back to straight. Wear some cotton gloves for hand protection.

If, after that, they don't stay straight or crook again after they cool, just put the shafts back and repeat the process for another time. All this means is that the wood isn't seasoned enough to hold any corrections.

After you find your shafts will stay straight then work harden them to help keep them straight afield. Leave unfinished, store vertically and repeat the straightening process every couple days until you shafts stay straight for several days. Then seal.

Folks get in to big a hurry making up their arrows only discover a quiver full of crooked arrows later on........Art

[smilinicon]

Hope pic helps. Arrow has no stain and only the water based 3R clearcoat. It has aged and turned yellow. I love the ash arrows for my 53lb Wesley Special. They weight 730 grain nominal and 55 average spine.

I use an antler for straightening arrows and these are much more work than POC to keep straight.

   

hit refresh if no pic. Oh, they did not take stain well.

[COOCH]

Listen to Art B slow and steady wins the race with ash.They make a very heavy and durable arrow.

[Mike Schlegel]

used an ash arrow, no stain or crown dip/cresting -full length clear dip, to down a Shiras moose with a selfbow. The arrow weighted 700 gr. The shot was 10 yds and I got complete penetration. The selfbow was 64lbs but had to go to 45-50 spine for good arrow flight. I found the ash very durable.

[wooddamon1]

Ash is a little harder to straighten at first,but I've always had good luck after staining with Min-wax dark colors under Bohning clear blue finish.Most of the 4 dozen or so I've made so far were a little hard to taper for points/nocks,at least with the Tru-taper or pencil sharpener type tools.

[KHALVERSON]

Originally posted by OkKeith:


An seems like i read that these need to be sealed really well or they draw moisture and can get out of straight again. True or false?

OkKeith [/QB]

true in my experience
seemed like every time the humidity changed so did the arrows
i really liked the heavy weight tho
kevin

[OkKeith]

Thanks again everyone!

The photos that were posted all look great. I have made several canoe seats from Ash lumber and had a little trouble with it taking stain and clear coat.

I will follow Art's suggestion and stay at it. Going slow for me is no problem. I have no reason to hurry.

I thought I might try a gray shaft stain (so I can still see the grain) and of course my white cap dip and Racing Orange/Dark Green cresting. I have never tried Banana fletch but thought I would try it on these. Most likeky a 5".

Thanks once more for the help.

OkKeith

[Killdeer]

The arrows on the left are ash, stained with Minwax at the back, with an alcohol-based aniline dye used on the shaft. I have always loved how ash picks up a stain and lets the lovely grain show through.



I check their straightness each time out, as I have never been able to keep them from wandering when I am not looking.

Last time I tried Bohning over Minwax, I decided that I would never do that again. The Bohning peeled off in sheets.
Killdeer

When I went for heavier shafts i bought ash, chundo, and laminated birch.  Laminated birch kills with commanding pass throughs, while the chundo was used on small game and the ash, I broke my test shafts, never got them to fly and cooked burgers with the rest.

I tried some ash shafts a while back. They looked really good, had good weight, took stain well but were the devil to get or keep straight and didn't hold up to stumps. The best heavy wooden shafts I ever had were Sitka Spruce, but the best compromise for price/performance remains POC IMHO.

[smoke1953]

I'm with Killy, nothing like a good ash. However they are tempermental, but love the weight and how you can burn to accent the grain.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I am an ASH Man, I have found (This is Me and only Me)that the shafts from Raptor Archery seem to get and stay straight for Me. I started out with POC and every time I go shooting or hunting I touch up the shafts to make sure they are straight, Just like I do with ASH.

I don't find them hard to straighten and keep straight, But I just might not be as picky as others. The last dozen I got, I painted. They look good but I like plain old poly wipe-on better.

[Doc Nock]

I started with Ash. MIght be why I now shoot carbon!   :eek:  

Also how I got my handle... there was so much run-out on the grain, after GRINDING nock points, I couldn't tell which way to orient the nock perpendicular to the grain!

I heated them in the oven...repeatedly and used every straigtening process I could find...then when strait, immediately dipped them in Gasket Laquer and they pretty much stayed straight...

Oh...oops. Forgot. I bought Dean Torges v-block and plane to taper shafts. I tried to barrel taper. They'd plain well in ONE direction and then chatter something awful in the reverse direction for the other end. BBL taper might have helped them stay straight...dunno.

Hell for stoudt they were. Ricochetted offa trees regularly and just gave them a hand bend and they flew fine...

But the front-end investment was a time-consuming chore.