Hildebrand

[SUSAN]

#4061

I’ve bought their bulk shafts a few times,always good quality.

[David Petersen]

#27962

Susan — What is the context of this thread? It sounds as if you’re answering a question. Did I miss something? 😕

[SUSAN]

#28590

David Petersen wrote: Susan — What is the context of this thread? It sounds as if you’re answering a question. Did I miss something? 😕

Oops I am the local technofool–thought I was in the Sitka Spruce Shafts thread. Sorry

[David Petersen]

#28794

As it happens I just got a dozen Sitka spruce from Hildebrand. Service was excellent–Neal went out of his way to chase down what I needed–but several of the shafts have small flaws from milling, which apparently is a problem due to the grain structure of this wood. I am currently finishing them and applying four-fletch and have fingers crossed they will shoot the same as my first dozen SSs. It’s darn hard to find wood shafts weighing under 400 raw and with a spine of 85.

[Dan Sweeney]

#31308

I really like the SS I get from Hildebrand. And yes, the nature of the wood makes it tough to cut/mill I believe. You’ll notice the same thing if you use a taper tool like the Bearpaw or similar. But, it doesn’t effect the final product quality. Or at least, I haven’t noticed that it does. Very good shaft material.

[David Petersen]

#31384

Dan, you raise a good point about taper tools. I have found it almost impossible to taper SS shafts with a hand tool using a blade, without really goughing out the wood, making it hard to mount glue-on heads straight. Just today I resorted to turning my belt sander upside-down and eyeballing the taper as I sanded it down. It worked but is very imprecise. Short of investing in a professional sander tapering rig, which I can’t afford (I’d rather spend my tiny personal budget on hunting trips and tags rather than equipment I don’t use often), it sure would be nice to have some sort of inexpensive tapering guide that you could use in combo with a belt or drill sander. But I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’ve also not been able to find a hand bevel (blade) tool for 23/64, which the wood shafts I shoot usually are, since I’m fronting with 300 grain heads. In any event, unless someone invents a new arrow wood, it appears I’m stuck, good and bad, with SS forever, as I’ll never back away from heavy heads, having many times now experienced their superiority in making fast clean kills. I keep thinking that someone will figure a way to compress other woods, maybe even poc, to raise the spine, but I’m not seeing it. If I were younger and had the wherewithall, I’d devote myself to “inventing” a wood shaft that is very light and very stiff, as I believe there’s a big and growing market among shooters like me who prefer woods but, for the prey’s sake, are locked into EFOC. Fingers crossed.

[Dan Sweeney]

#31466

Concur. I use the Bearpaw taper tool, and was becoming pretty agitated at the amount of gouging that was happening. Then I realized I had been using the thing for five years or so without sharpening it. So I took the blades out and gave them a good work over the stone. It helped a lot. The tapers are much smoother. Not flawless, but they are much smoother and my heads mount fine. I wonder if maybe the bit of gouging that remains doesn’t help to provide more surface area for hotmelt or other adhesive to adhere to? Just a thought.

Anyway, I like the SS and will probably keep using it. It has a lot going for it. I’d LOVE to get some full length 23/64 to 5/16 taper, but I’m not aware of that availability.

[Stephen Graf]

#31961

3Rivers sells a jig that is basically a flat plate with a notch in it at the proper angle for both the front and back taper. You place this jig in front of your belt sander, lay the arrow in the notch, and rotate. I expect it produces the best taper possible.

You could probably make the same thing with a piece of 2X6 and clamp it in front of your belt sander…

[David Petersen]

#32185

Steve — I just looked and can’t find this jig in the online catalog. Does it have a name or number? Thanks, Dave

[Forresterwoods]

#32520

I don’t have any problem at all turning sitka spruce. Maybe because I pressure turn them…but they come out shiny smooth.

Kevin Forrester:wink:

[Stephen Graf]

#33084

David Petersen wrote: Steve — I just looked and can’t find this jig in the online catalog. Does it have a name or number? Thanks, Dave

It’s called an arrow taper sanding block:

http://www.3riversarchery.com/Arrow+Taper+Guide+Block_i8044_baseitem.html

[David Petersen]

#34414

Thanks Steve. They had that one well hidden. I’ll get one coming with my next order. At that price it’s worth a try.

[Stephen Graf]

#35495

I sure am interested in your final report on how the arrows work, and whether you add the string serving behind the head. How straight the arrows are, and if they stay straight. Etc…

I noticed on my last trip to your fine state that my equipment performed better than it does here. Can’t figure if it was the altitude, humidity, adrenalin or what.

I was consistently, day after day, beating up the 2 inch dot on my camp target out to 40 yards, which never happens. I guess I am wondering if your environment is kinder to wooden bows and arrows than it is down here in humid NC.

I like my tried and true carbons. I’d hate to have to go back to playing with woods again… But damn, they sure are singing in my ear like a siren.

[David Petersen]

#35686

Steve — I’ve been building arrows like a Mongol armorer these past couple of weeks, mostly enjoying my new feather chopper and replacing the old 3×5″ fletch on every arrow I own with 4×3″ feathers, and experimenting with old shafts–poc and footed hex (pine) shafts–to see how much front weight they will handle. I’ve already reported that the SmoothOn “external footing” on Sitka spruce shafts seems unbreakable … though your concern that it will eventually harden and crack may provde valid in time. Meanwhile, I have determined that I can use a standard string-serving “jig” to wrap serving string on arrows, fast and tight, and will be trying that as soon as I sort out my arrows and find a few expendable shafts to test with (mostly, shooting with blunts at different angles into fire-hardened trees). Meanwhile, even though I killed an elk with a wood arrow this year, carbons remain my “proven” go-to big-big game shaft. All this experimenting and playing around is to me like life itself: Why concentrate on only the end goal, to the exclusion of ongoing fun and self-education? I long ago figured out a basically bulletproof “elk load” arrow design. So what? Why let that rob me of the fun of searching for something even better, or just as good and made of wood?

[Stephen Graf]

#36809

You need to write another book and quit fiddle-fartin’ around… where is your puritanical american need to slave away, regardless? 😀

Wrapping the shaft with a string serving jig is not the way to go… It will produce a tight wrap, but that tight wrap will actually inhibit the bond with epoxy when you apply the epoxy.

In order to really do the trick, you will need to take the loose serving and soak it in the epoxy until the fibers are totally wetted. Then wrap it by hand (or otherwise) as tightly as possible. This will squeeze the extra epoxy out of the serving as it wraps around the shaft – And result in a super tough footing.

[David Petersen]

#38660

Kevin — When you say you “pressure turn” SS shafts, does this mean you are compressing the shafts? Why aren’t compressed shafts as available as they used to be? Too much labor, thus cost, involved?

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