How Forgewood shafts were made

[Timbow]

#3144

Came across this video of Bill Sweetland explaining how he made the compressed cedar shafts he called Forgewood shafts.

[Stephen Graf]

#17312

Very nice, thanks!

[tigertrad]

#19802

Fascinating! Thanks for posting. Be interesting to know the specs on total weight and FOC of some of the those shafts. Since he built them to be much denser at the point end in order to prevent breaking and to avoid the expense of footing, it seems he was an accidental pioneer in high FOC to improve penetration.

[Timbow]

#20969

If I recall correctly, these were Dr. Ashby’s “go to” shafts before he started using internally footed carbon arrows. I believe he was getting about 19% FOC with a 190gr. Grizzly broadhead, which was the lower threshold of EFOC. Some of the penetration he attributed to other factors he was testing for was likely due to the EFOC these shafts gave him. Maybe Dr. Ed can tell us more. Sadly, forgewoods were before my time.

[Ed Ashby]

#21137

Spot on Timbow. There’s no doubt that I’ve killed more game with Forgewood shafts than any other shaft material, and I never damaged a Forgewood shaft on impact with any animal tissue(s). In retrospect a measure of their effectiveness was that they combined two of the top three ‘performance factors’; structural integrity and EFOC. The Forgewood shafts also had small diameter and weight well above the heavy bone threshold. I still rate it as the best and most effective wood shaft I’ve ever used. I’d rate the tapered hickory shafts I use to get from Troy as the second best; and not far behind the Forgewood shafts in performance.

Ed

[Stephen Graf]

#22003

Just finished watching the video. I knew most of the history and manufacturing methods used for these arrows. But I was surprised that you could drive a piece of forge wood arrow through plywood with a hammer. His story of the kid driving a piece into a telephone pole was impressive.

I wish I had some of those shafts! When asked if anyone would make them again, he said he doubted it because of the effort/knowledge required. Seems to me the real reason is because carbon is so economical.

Anybody know when this was filmed? by the hair styles and cloths, it looks like the ’70’s to me.

[James Harvey]

#39466

Thanks for posting that Timbow, a really interesting video.

Steve, I did a little internet searching. At the end of the video is an advertisement for Wilderness Sound Productions. They were a manufacturer of elk calls that started up around 1983. I suppose that ad could have been added well after the video was actually recorded, but it’d have to be somewhere around there.

Plus, I’ve found people with our shared interest aren’t really that fashion focussed. You could find folks wearing those clothes and sporting the Farrah Fawcet hair styles today 😉

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