wood arrows?

[Larry O. Fischer]

#3520

I wanted to liven this up a bit so I am going to state my opinion, and I want all of you to chime right in.
I believe using anything other than wood arrows out of a selfbow is sacrilegious, out of longbow should be a mortal sin, and out of a recurve, well…. I’ll grant you absolution if you’ve strayed.
However, with that being said, I do not understand why everyone has jumped over to the “plastic” arrows.
I love to make wood arrows dipping, cresting, fletching, tapering as well as straightening adds to the allure of traditional archery and helps to satisfy my goal of doing it the hard way. There is just something about a well-made, beautifully crested wood arrow, which speaks volumes about the archer. This has been going on for centuries, why have we strayed from the path? I know a few years ago all bows looked fairly generic black or green glass, and non-descript wood. What set us apart were our arrows, now the bows are the eye candy and the arrows? Not even a fancy vinyl wrap can put lipstick on those pigs.
Let me hear your opinion!

[Ed Zachary]

#20956

I love wood arrows but at the same time, I’m
glad we went from square to round wheels, they
do have advantages 😆

[purehunter]

#21090

2 cents….

My goal is to learn and improve upon my HUNTING skills. I have switched to wood bows and arrows for that purpose since it gives me great joy to do so. If I lived in a village/clan/tribe of yesteryear, I would be one of those guys who went to the best bowyer and arrow builder in the clan and offer to exchange my services for theirs. You build it, I’ll hunt it and we will both have meat and skins. Otherwise I would have starved.

I lack the genes necessary to produce the quality of equipment I now have. I believe huntsmen across the world and throughout time have continually improved upon their weapons and techniques, same as we do now. I, for one, just reached a limit to what equipment I will use. In short, I hunt to hunt, not so much to use the most primitive tools I can.

I have three recurves and two longbows, none are older than I am. Carbon-ok, laminated bows-ok, production broadheads-ok. Its a personal decision, same as what you do when out in the woods with no one looking.

I am not a true traditional archer/hunter, but I certainly do enjoy it. And yes, there is no contest to the beauty of a well crafted and painted wood arrow….:) If I made a selfbow…the animals would laugh me out of the woods.

Kudo’s to those that do!

[Patrick]

#21132

Baby steps! 😉

I came from shooting a compound and carbon arrows. I switched to a longbow and carbon arrows. My intention is to switch to wood arrows as soon as my carbon arrow stash becomes depleted enough to warrant spending the cash on new arrows. With that said, I’m concerned about how I’m going to fret over warpage, bending, etc., once I’ve made the switch (It’s a personality disorder 😆 ).

I don’t like that I’ll have to glue and “unglue” heads when switching between broadheads and fieldtips.

And last and probably most important, I don’t hang with a single perosn who shoots wood arrows.

But as I stated, I am switching. 😉

[SteveMcD]

#21190

I too enjoy making my own arrows. Understanding different woods, their qualities, and characteristics of good arrow flight. Just the beauty of wood stain and color.

When you put your heart and soul into making what you love, no amount of aluminum, carbon or plastic can even come close.

As Byron Ferguson says in Become the Arrow.. “Wood has SPIRIT.”!!! It’s got SOUL!!! 8)

[ButchMo]

#21830

I really enjoy wood arrows. They’re much quieter coming off the bow. I do enjoy making them. Staining, dipping them. That said, I do shoot metal & carbon from time to time.

Steve,
Old Byron said that but, he shoots alum. arrows.:oops:

[David Petersen]

#21850

The reason I’ve switched to carbon arrows for elk the last couple of years can be summed up in a single acroynm: EFoC. I have seen the amazing influences on accuracy and penetration that EFoC provides and just can’t deny it. At this point, you can’t even come close with wood. And believe me I’ve tried — WoodyWeights, footed shafts, internal weights (heavy metal wire), external sleeves (3″ sections of aluminum shafting that also allows for the use of screw-in points). In one way and another, none of these options has been satisfactory. So for me it’s not a choice of convenience or uniformity, etc. I’ve shot woodies for more than half a century and built my own for the past several years and nothing else comes close to offering the visceral satisfaction that Larry alludes to. So for now I’ll keep hunting with carbons while searching for an EFoC solution for wood arrows. The best compromise right now is that new El Grande 200-grain broadhead. I wish other broadhead makers would come out with even heavier glue-ons. But then shaft breakage behind the head predictably will increase. Meanwhile, Larry you don’t mention where aluminum shafts fit into your aesthetical views. In my mind, other than using sections of shaft to foot wood (or as Kingwouldbe does, carbon) arrows, I can’t understand why they haven’t become obsolete and disappeared. To each his own and believe me, I will not be satisfied until I can get it all worked out with woodies. At least I’m experimenting and working at it. “Convenience” carries no weight in my approach to archery and hunting, as I enjoy every aspect. dp

[Voodoo]

#22229

Well I guess I’m a sinner, but I’m not a quitter…I just had a dozen laminated birch arrows made up, shot them at Cloverdale, it was rainy, high humidity and muddy….I started out with just 6 though as the others hadn’t arrived yet, but I quickly found they were accurate for about one shot only, then they’d bend a bit, I’d straighten them for a second shot, it was worse, so straighten again, shoot, after the third shot it was anyone’s guess as to where they would go….I ended up with 80 points out of 50 targets with 5-0 scoring..I wasn’t happy, but it sure wasn’t dull ..and this is my third dozen of these and all did the same, I guess my bow is too powerful for these arrows…. but I’ve tried others too… been trying to find some that fly well, stay straight and are reasonably durable, getting some spruce shafts soon, hope they fair better….but if they don’t, I’ll just keep the same beman mfx 340’s I’ve been using for the last 3 years……maybe if I can find a drill bit long enough I can put the Beman’s inside the woody’s,lol,lol……

[Jason Wesbrock]

#22452

Larry,

One of my favorite hobbies is woodworking, especially antique furniture restoration. As such, I love making wood arrows. Unfortunately, my 32” draw length pretty much kills any idea of me shooting broadhead-tipped wood arrows for hunting. Even if I could find them long enough to make 32+” BOP arrows that spine around 90#, they’d end up weighing a ton.

I still use wood arrows for small game hunting, mostly for cost savings reasons, and I shoot nice ones out of my selfbows when I get that itch. But for everything else, carbon really is the only material that suits my needs.

[George D. Stout]

#25415

I dig the selfbow philosophy, but I also know that aluminum arrows are older then Larry Fisher, and me too. Papa Bear enjoyed using both aluminum and fiberglass, and settled on aluminum through most of his hunting life. Many of our pioneers used synthetic material, so I don’t find it the least bit offensive 8^). Glenn St. Charles used fiberglass arrows in the early 1950’s for hunting Roosevelt Elk in the Olympic Mountains.

I shoot cedar and aluminum and have been using those beer can shafts since 1965….took my first buck with one in 1972. And I of course realize that opinions are like rear-ends, so I take them with a grain of salt. My own included, by the way. The bottom line is to have confidence in what you use, regardless of what it is made from. They all can work admirably if matched to your bow.

[Bigbearclaw]

#26579

Only cedars for me,PERIOD.

[MontanaFord]

#26607

I’ve been shooting aluminums since I started, gave some carbons a shot that I got cheap, they weren’t spined right or something…I don’t know…I sold them…I have some blanks to work up that Chad Sivertsen sent me, so I’m hoping to get something worked out in the wood department, eventually. I’d like to make my own, which is why I have the blanks. I don’t know if the time it will take would make it cheaper for me in the long run, versus just ordering pre-finished shafts, but it seems like a good idea.

Michael.

[DAbersold]

#26751

Larry – I really can’t disagree with your initial post. It would seem a bit odd to go to all the trouble of building a self bow then shoot a carbon arrow, but if the arrow is tuned well to the bow, who cares what it’s made of? The whole beauty of our sport is the enjoyment we each get in shooting a simple hand eye coordinated weapon and have it hit where we are looking. I’m willing to bet that if the armies of old had the materials of today to make their weapons, arrows included, they would have used it. Wood was the first, but what if it wasn’t? If carbon was first, would we think that wood isn’t traditional? Just food for thought.
I build my own arrows so I can put my individual touch on them. I’ve made wood, aluminum, and carbons. I’ve dipped them, crested them, and wrapped them. IMO, I wouldn’t classify any of them as traditional or not. I’ve simply shot them out of a traditional bow. (Made of glass, wood, tip overlays of different materials, etc.) Right now I’m shooting aluminum and carbons much for the same reason D. Petersen is.
These kinds of posts are fun to join in on as long as we don’t take them too seriously.

[Cottonwood]

#27025

This last week, my buddy had just one wooden arrow left over from when he had a 45# recurve, so I shot it from the Selfbow. I liked the way it flew, and well he also had some Arrow Dynamic Nitro Stingers (green) “The Tappered Shaft” feathered that were 31.5″ long that I put my 160 gr FP on. I had to try them from my 55# longbow, and let me tell you they flew like darts. Which reminds me, I have some Nitro Stinger Gold, that are unfletched or uncut 🙄

But then again, I got plenty of aluminums that are feathered and work real good, so why bother with the carbons. I would be interested in woods or bamboo arrows.

[Holten101]

#27137

Using carbon/alu arows with modern laminatted glass/carbon bows is only “natural”. Using anything but wood arrows with an all wood selfbow is much closer to sacrilegious (imo ofc.;-).

I do like the toughness of carbon when stumpshooting or any other risky shots. But my taste dictates that modern materials go together and natural materials goes together.

Cheers…and safe shooting

[Patrick]

#27358

Here’s another, and probably the most important reason to me FOR switching to wood arrows: Id rather fork the cash over to Fletcher, and those like him, than to some big faceless company.

[Cottonwood]

#27371

Patrick wrote: Here’s another, and probably the most important reason to me FOR switching to wood arrows: Id rather fork the cash over to Fletcher, and those like him, than to some big faceless company.

Patrick your right, I realized that my post above got cut off, and I had failed to finish the last sentence.

[Treetopflier]

#27465

Lots of good thoughts here for various points of view. The two that resonate loudest with me are “Let’s not get overly serious about our personal preferences in arrows,” and “Let’s give our money to the custom artists among us, bows as well as arrows, rather than the big companies.” I shoot both wood and carbon but if you ask what I’d rather shoot, all else equal, it’s definitely wood. Doesn’t have to be poc, just wood. Alas, all else is rarely equal. m2c

[George D. Stout]

#27634

Well now, big companies aren’t always faceless. Doug Easton was a pioneer in the archery field and his sons and grandsons carry on the tradition. Even cedar shafts generally come from fairly large companies….Rose City, etc.,….but it doesn’t degrade the product. Most fletchers buy their products in bulk from large companies…..a fact of life.

What we get from the sport is generally proportional to what we put into it. To me, fletching a dozen aluminum shafts, or woods shafts, take the same committment to the glue and feathers, as well as the time; very few folks select, cut and dowel their own arrows.
8)

That said, I am slowly going back to the natural arrows…particularly cedar out of my old ’59 Shakespeare RH 400 semi-recurve. They shoot great and the points don’t unscrew in flight 8^)))))))), and the warmth of the wood is a sure plus in colder weather. I will always have a variety of shafting around the house, since I always have.
I’m getting too old to change my ways altogether. 😉

[Patrick]

#27739

George D. Stout wrote: Well now, big companies aren’t always faceless. Doug Easton was a pioneer in the archery field and his sons and grandsons carry on the tradition.

Faceless to me since I’ve never met him or his sons. Noone’s saying “big” companies are bad, good, or otherwise. By the way, I was referring to Rick Stillman, aka “Fletcher”. I’ve met him, so he is no longer faceless. No matter what though, I wouldn’t buy from him if he didn’t have a good product…and he definitely does!

[Author]

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