In love again for the first time

[Leo Carrisalez]

#6326

I was staying with a good friend of mine while hunting on his property. We went outside to get some shots in with our bows before the morning hunt. I shoot Carbons with a 29% EFOC and he shoot Woody’s. He let me shoot some woody’s and it was love at full draw. I do like my carbons. But guys I’ll admit that I will be shooting nothing but woody’s with my next bow I should be receiving in Feb or March by none other than the Javaman himself…..(Helms Deep) with some Woody’s and Tuffheads. Hell Yes..Why did I wait so long to shoot woods.

[Stumpkiller]

#50131

Wood may not have a soul but it certainly has an attraction that warms the spirit. I shoot nothing but wood shafts.

[lyagooshka]

#50861

The prettiest set of arrows I have are the wood arrows I bought a while back. That being said, I am not a fan of their durability (or lack there of). I have read how a good wood shaft will stand up to a beating just like carbon or aluminum, but I must respectfully disagree, at least for how I shoot. I have taken some shots at the broadhead range (that I probably shouldn’t have) that ended with me trying to pull an arrow out of the 2X4 surrounding the target. It didn’t end well with the woodies. The set of aluminum arrows I made for myself, much better. I also have issue with shooting a broadhead arrow half way through a worn target. With my aluminums, I unscrew the broadhead, and pull out the arrow. With the wooden arrows, it’s a long process. Lastly, I am drawn to aluminum in particular due to the ease of field repair. No special power tools for cutting (like carbon), no stains, no waiting for things to dry (other than the fletch-tite). Still, if my corpse is found in Alaska ten thousand years from now with bow in hand, I would want the quiver to have nothing but wood. Be well.

Alex

😀

[tombow]

#51009

I am right there with you on the durability issue. Woods just won’t take the punishment that carbon will take. But a freshly blood stained Wood is more attractive to me than the same conditioned carbon shaft. I am pretty new to wood shafts so still learning (You probably thought I knew it all…..:shock:) Have gone through the issue of getting too “cutty” with the saw on my first dozen Sitka Spruce shafts and only ended up with 3 of the proper spine, the shorties are a bit too stiff. Have some new SS shafts due in a week or two from Neil Hildebrand and my mistake won’t happen again! New 225gr Tuffheads are on hand, nocks and feathers are waiting. Might even “fancy up” these shafts……..

[Leo Carrisalez]

#51237

It is spritual to me. I will walk a bit prouder with a quiver full of woodys. Durability? Well that means I’ll have to make more and fletch more. How sexy is that. I am a saltwater fly tier and I surely enjoy equal time behind a Jig and especially a crester. This is the beauty of our sport. I do like my Carbons but woods are special

[Terry Lightle]

#52018

Do they actually make arrows out of something other than wood?Not in our house.Love my woods!

[David Petersen]

#52186

S. Tex — I shoot both woods and carbons. The former for their soul and beauty (they were living things, just like us). I shoot carbons for their consistency, reliability, convenience of switching screw-in points, and potential for endless EFOC. On woods I would caution that there are woods and there are woods. If you want resiliance and weight, you have many choices. If you want light weight for high FOC, you have fewer choices, and that’s the pinch. I am now shooting Sitka spruce and with a 300 Tuffy glue-on I get in the low 20s FOC, which was good enough to kill an elk this year. I am not a fan of poc, other than the way it smells. My basic advice is to do your homework and buy the right wood from a good source and pay the extra for closely matched shafts, weight and spine. Basically, to get woods that shoot as well as carbons you have to pay more and do more work. But I believe it’s worth it. I also love four-fletch. Enjoy.

[Ripforce]

#52826

I am the same way I shoot woods and carbons depending on the situation and the bow I am shooting! My selfbow its woods all the way, I also shoot woods with my BamaHunter longbow! I do shoot carbons a lot more with my 2 Bama Expis and my GN Bushbow! I love building wood arrows and they do have a differant feel to them when shot versus carbon! As to durability certainly not as tough as carbon but I haven’t really had any issues with them, besides you get to build more of them! LOL

[lyagooshka]

#53254

Dave,

You make an interesting comment. Do you see and advantage to 4-fletch versus 3? How does it effect the flight? What type of fletchings (shield, eliptical, banana, Rayzor-type (2″))? Is this just for wood or for carbon (or aluminum, which is actually my favorite of the 3 right now to hunt with)? Be well.

Alex

❓

[Wexbow]

#54350

As I got deeper and deeper into trad shooting I switched from alu shafts to wood. Just feels more natural. I’ll never forget walking into the room the day after getting a dozen fir arrows and smelling the pine in the air – magic! Next step will be putting together my own arrows. It’s just part of the journey I suppose. I’ve never shot carbon arrows so can’t comment on them.

[David Petersen]

#54422

Alex — The only problem I’ve found with 3″ four-fletch is finding the feathers. It seems you have to go straight to True-Flight and even then ask for them. So far as I know they’re available only in eliptical. I can hardly count all the ways they strike me as superior to larger feathers and three-fletch, including better arrow flight, quieter in flight, lower profile so less apt to brush one against your hand or face when drawing (and the noise that makes), sturdier since they’re smaller, and take a lot longer to collapse when wet. As soon as I can score a good supply of feathers I plan to scrape the 5″ off all my arrows, wood and carbon, and replace them all with four-fletch 3″ feathers. Last week I was with a friend who had never made his own arrows and I showed him how to use his new Blitzenberger. He four-fletched a dozen CE carbon shafts and loves the way they shoot. He was using 3.5″ feathers which are the smallest TrueFlight shows in their online catalog, but could do fine with 3″. Hope that helps. It’s one of those things that few of us old-timers have ever tried, else we’d have switched ages ago. I’m surprised four-fletch isn’t the standard. There is no down-side I can see, except a bit more in feather cost.

[lyagooshka]

#54576

Dave, thanks for the info. I believe my jig comes with a 4 fletch option. I think i will give iy a try. One last question, do the feathers sit in an “X” or “+” when the arrow is on the string? Thanks again. Be well.

Alex

😀

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#54599

You can get 3-1/2″ parabolic TrueFlights from 3Rivers now. Although they come with the subtle disclaimer that they are for youth and target shooting. Ha. 8)

http://www.3riversarchery.com/product.asp?i=29L1X

[David Coulter]

#54623

I see that Lancaster has parabolic feathers down to 1 7/8. Interesting.

[Leo Carrisalez]

#56222

David Petersen wrote: Alex — It seems you have to go straight to True-Flight and even then ask for them.

That is what I shoot and yes I am having to call Truflight to get them. Im guessing there is not much of a demand for them. I am a big fan of the 3 inch shields.

[Ben M.]

#56761

I’ve been shooting a few 4×3″ fletched arrows after reading about the woodies Fletcher made for Dave. Silent!– Absolutely silent is what I can say about them. I chopped the fletchings from full length feathers using a 3″ Little Chopper. I normally use this chopper when making kids’ arrows. A single full length feather usually yields 3 3″ fletches.

I know I made massive grammatical errors in this post…I hope you all can still decipher it.

[David Petersen]

#57395

Ben — Our resident editor can’t find any grammatical errors at all. 😀

Your post brings up a strong point: rising feather cost. While visiting last week at my friend Jody’s “whitetail camp” in Arkansas, he fletched a dozen arrows with 3.5″x4, which he got by the dozen from TrueFlight at a cost of more than 75 cents per feather! Since I intend to refletch every last arrow I own to 3″x4, it occurs to me that maybe now is the time to invest in a feather burner and start “making” my own.

So, the question is, which commercial burner is good for making small feathers and gives the best bang for the buck? For example, while Blitzenberger is THE fletching jig of choice, I’ve been absolutely pleased for many years with a Bohning that cost half as much or less. I don’t need the best, but rather the least expensive that will get the job done. Recommendations?

Once again, a thread is bending away from its original theme … rather like life itself. Thanks …

[Ben M.]

#58223

I like the Little Choppers. I have three that produce different shapes, all in left wing. You can find the 3″ shield cut for around $22 just about anywhere. Mine has chopped at least 500 fletches (mostly for kids’ arrows) and it’s still wicked sharp. Individual fletches cost ~$.17 to ~$.25 apiece, depending on yield per feather. Or if you get lucky like rwbowman and find a year’s worth of wild turkey feathers in a single weekend, your fletches are free. I’ve considered raising a few turkeys for the feathers–and, of course, the meat.

-Ben

[tombow]

#58379

I have been testing various feather configs. with the last set of High FOC, unfortunately a bit overspined since I was “Mr. Cut-y” with first S Spruce shafts I bought. I can’t say that I noticed a difference while shooting high FOC (18+) woods. I have a bunch of 4″ Parabolics that I just cut to 3″ Shields by cutting off the tail end. Flight is good with 3″ 4-fletch, 4″ 3 and 4 fletch. If the spine is right, I think that the feathers begin to be an almost non-issue and becomes more of a personal choice than a critical aspect of arrow flight. If you have extra feathers laying around, try some different configurations. If you use wraps, even better, for changing feathers out if you have a preference.

[David Petersen]

#58446

Thanks, Ben. I’ll look into ordering one today.

[jstamlin]

#58490

David: Did you use the 90 degree when doing the 4 fletch? THanks.

[David Petersen]

#58759

Yes, I use the 90 degree setting and love the way they shoot.

I just ordered a cutter and four dozen full-length feathers, which should give me well over a hundred 3″

feathers, and all at a cost less than I’d pay for a single 100-pack of precut 3″ feathers. Darned if I know why it took a guy who has made dozens of bows and almost always fletches his own arrows, etc., more than 50 years of archery to get myself a cutter. A little slow on the uptake I guess. 😆

[lyagooshka]

#61871

Dave,

Still have a question about fletching the arrows. If you have the bow verticle, arrow nocked, do the feathers make an “X” or a “+”? Also, are they RW/LW or stright? I think I would like to try the Rayzr 2″, but I want to make sure I am doing it correct-ish. Be well.

Alex

😀

[David Petersen]

#61964

Alex — You want them as an X for max bow clearance. I use left wing but can’t see it makes a diff. A friend I showed how to fletch is using RW and his arrows fly as well as mine do. With all fletching arrangements it’s a good idea to cut a narrow notch in the arrow pad material at the L where arrow shelf and riser meet. This little gutter allows further clearance for the feather that passes through there. Many bowyers are doing this now.

[lyagooshka]

#61973

Thanks Dave. I will get some Rayzr feathers and see what I can do. With a weighted tip, they should fly like a dart, so long as I get the corret spine. Be well.

Alex

😛

[Leo Carrisalez]

#62078

lyagooshka wrote: Thanks Dave. I will get some Rayzr feathers and see what I can do. With a weighted tip, they should fly like a dart, so long as I get the corret spine. Be well.

Alex

😛

Now this brings me to my question. Dave or Lyagooshka, what spine would you recomend if i shoot 55#@28″ and want to tip my arrows with 225 Tuffheads. Douglas fir or POC..I dont know where to start

[lyagooshka]

#62253

Gonna have to deffer to Dave on this one. I really have no idea. The only thing I know is what I get from the 3-Rivers spine chart:

http://www.3riversarchery.com/pdf/ArrowCharts.pdf

Dave…?

Be well,

Alex

❓

[Ben M.]

#8266

South Texas wrote:

Now this brings me to my question. Dave or Lyagooshka, what spine would you recomend if i shoot 55#@28″ and want to tip my arrows with 225 Tuffheads. Douglas fir or POC..I dont know where to start

The first thing to consider is your draw length. Estimate your spine weight needs based on that, then factor in the weight of your point. This will set the limitations on which species of wood your arrow shafts can be made of. It is nearly impossible to get shafts spined over 60-65lbs in POC, so right off the bat I’d recommend considering a harder wood than that. Douglas Fir could work, but in general it won’t spine out over 70lbs @ 11/32″ diameter or over 85lbs @ 23/64″.

This is the general “problem” with wood shafts when trying to make heavy-headed arrows…you wind up chasing spine weight, which inevitably leads you to harder (thus heavier) wood shafts, decreasing your overall FOC. At some point you just accept the limitations of the (admittedly fine) material you are working with and do the best you can.

Me? I draw 31″ on a 60# recurve and shoot 32″ hickory arrows (nock end tapered) with a 145grn point, spined 75-80lbs (total wt ~880grains). Won’t win me any FOC awards but, as you said, I’m in love with ’em.

Let us know what you come up with!

-Ben

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