Doug Fir / Sitka Spruce

[moththerlode]

I've been shooting the Sherwoods for a while now and cant say enough about them. Man they are tough. Just looking em over yesterday and they are covered with battle scars that would have trashed other shafts.
I have been curious about the spruce though to try and drop the shaft wt. for a 3D /hunting shaft. For those that shoot these how do they shoot and hold up ?  Thanks
      Scott

[snag]

Hi Scott, what weight are you wanting shoot for the 3D shoots? DF comes in a wide range of weights.

[jonsimoneau]

I love Sitka spruce. Like it much more than cedar since it is so hard to get good cedar these days.

[moebow]

Sitka is roughly the same weight as comparable Port Orford Cedar but MUCH tougher.  I like both Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce.  As mentioned, DF can be had in many weights but will generally be heavier in comparable shafts than Sitka.

Good quality shafts of either wood will produce great arrows.

[moththerlode]

Snag, I would like to get into the 430-460 range at 29 in with 4 in fletches and 125 grns up front.
My firs are in around 526 finished. My last 2 doz averanged in at 415 raw shaft at full length, I'm in around 46-48 lbs at my draw depending on the bow.

[luvnlongbow]

I have shot Sitka Spruce and found that they are indeed tough. Got mine from Hildebrand. Just let them know what you are looking for as far as shaft/arrow weight and they will get as close as possible to your specs.

[moththerlode]

This is what I was hoping to hear ! Thanks

(Sitka is roughly the same weight as comparable Port Orford Cedar but MUCH tougher)

[Bjorn]

Surewood Doug Fir is absolutely the way to go; but having a big stash of 50 year old Cedar is good too!      

[R. Combs]

I have made arrows with both Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce. You can't go wrong with either, and both Surewood and the Hildebrands are great to deal with.

Rick

[jsweka]

I must be the odd ball here, but in my experience douglas fir doesn't seem much, if any, tougher compared to cedar.  Certainly nothing compared to ash.

Now having said that, I do love Surewood douglas fir for their straightness and consistency.  In fact, I just came in from the grarage where I was dipping two dozen shafts I recently purchased.

[Michigan Mark]

Just for our (and my) curiosity, how long are the  Surewoods full length?

[snag]

They are 32" full length Mark.  

Scott, are you looking for 45/50's, 50/55's?

[Michigan Mark]

Figures, it is getting harder and harder to find woodies at least 33" anymore.

[Ray Borbon]

A fair percent of the Doug Fir I get is somewhat crooked; in contrast with most of the Spruce I get which tends to be straighter. Both are good woods and I like the Spruce and Doug Fir arrows which I have.

For heavier weight or more weight options I recommend the Doug Fir. If I was going to aim for a more consistently straight arrow shaft because I don't care to fiddle with straightening them; then I would go with Spruce.

Most of the time I am shooting the Doug Fir because I like 500+ grain arrows.

[Flying Dutchman]

I started with Sitka Spruce two years ago. I never looked back. They are about 10% lighter then POC and much stronger indeed.
My last batches from Hildebrand were as follows:

Full lenght, 53 lbs:  10,1 GPI as average
Full lenght 59 lbs: 10,6 GPI as average

Most of the time they don't break when hitting trees. However, they can get hardly visible fractures. This means that the shaft is almost completely broken, but you can hardly see it. However such a shaft is mostly bent too and when you want to straighten it it will crack or bent in all directions like it is rubber. A close inspection will show you the fracture.

It is my experience that the raw shafts aren't very straight. But they are easy to straighten with the screw-driver method.

Alltogether I can recommend them.I you want a light shaft yet very durable, buy them!

[Stone Knife]

I made up a set of Sitka spruce and i am not impressed at all, I have a dozen surewood shafts on order from Braveheart.

[moththerlode]

Snag .. Been using 55-60 for my Hummingbird which tends to like a little stiffer shaft , but have a slightly lower Wt bow due here today and not sure where it will be, live and work out of a motel much of time these days so dragged along some bare shafts to see where it will be. I really want a lighter shaft for this lighter Wt bow which should be around 46 lbs or so at my draw.

[moththerlode]

Stone knife .. What didn't you like ?

[gringol]

I've used both and they both make good arrows.  IMO they are both as good as POC and also more durable.  You should definitely try the spruce.

[Austin Brown]

Sitka Spruce from Hildebrand is top notch arrow wood.  Don't know about other suppliers though.