Wood arrows

[Peter Athens]

#120646

So I am currently shooting carbon arrows but want to make the switch to wood arrows. Anyone have any recommendations? Also I would need to shoot a heavier spine, correct?

[David Coulter]

#121105

Hi Peter, I’m also shooting carbons and want to open up the wood can of worms myself sometime, perhaps over the summer. The best thing I can think of is to pick the broadhead you want to use, buy some target points of the same weight then buy a test shaft kit from whomever you want to buy your arrows/shafts from. Do some testing a see what works for you. It’s fun figuring it out, even if you pull some hair out in the meantime. Have fun, dwc

[Ralph]

#121327

The old thing still works, for 28″ arrows, add +5# spine arrows for your bow weight and go from there. For each inch draw more than 28″ add 5# more, less than 28″ decrease arrow spine weight by 5#.

What’s cool is nowadays there’s a bigger variety of glue on point weights to play with.  Heavier point to weaken spine, lighter to increase it.

Back in the day we had 125 gr or 160 grain.  That’s a lot of difference when it comes to woodies. I now seem to be partial to 145 gr. But that was handy. I can use the arrows I had set up for my 50# and 52# bows with my 45# and 47# bows just by changing from 125 gr to 145 gr.  Cheap and easy.

I already had some 145 gr. broadheads that I was fortunate to win by telling a tale on this website once upon a time.

I think wood arrows are easier to tune than carbon but I’ve been shooting them a way lot longer than carbons so maybe that just be me….

An example if one wants 28″ arrows for a, say, 45# bow, order 50-55#.  Then you can use 125 gr points or possibly 145 gr if the arrows are a tad stiff.

I’m talking longbow.  Recurves are generally more center cut than longbows and more center cut can shoot stiffer spines usually.

Wood arrows are not really a game of EFOC.  Wood reacts differently than carbon when it wiggles.  If one is wanting weight, one needs to go for the heavier woods. Some people mess with it (EFOC) but contrary to a lot of thinking………………….. 🙃

I like to shoot 10-11 grains arrow weight per poundage of bow.  Has worked for a way long time..

They, wood arrows, are fun, they work and when you figure it all out you’ll love’em.

My thinkin,

R2

 

 

 

 

[rgrist]

#122224

I use 55/60 spine ash shafts with 150 gr broad heads. around 600 gr total wt. perfect for elk. this is out of a 50# r/d longbow. doug fir, larch or cedar might give flatter trajectory for deer. also been messing with 3 under which seems to make the gaps easier to manage, and reading about the fixed crawl to further complicate things.

[rgrist]

#122225

I get around 12 gpp and 15% FOC with the arrows described. I use 2 blade single bevels which seems to me to be about optimum for elk.

[grumpy]

#123444

I’m shooting a center cut recurve, so spine isn’t so critical.

After I make a dozen arrows, I go out and shoot at a target.
Each time I hit the bulls eye, I make a dot with a sharpie on one of the fletches.
Pretty soon I find about 3 arrows that have no dots, and 3 with half a dozen dots. The other six are someplace between. I’ve made a lot of arrows, and I can’t find any flaws in the three without dots. I think it is somewhere in the shafts, not all trees are perfect. Maybe it bends one way fine, but not the other way??? Some slight variation in the point? Some fletches are stiffer than others? Or maybe it is just God letting you know how smart you aren’t.

Tried to pawn the three without dots on my Lady, but she is too smart for me.

Think you can get thru the day without hurting yourself?

Grumpy

[Donald Hoffman]

#129872

You could put the dots on the ones you miss with and try to pawn them on her. On second thought she would probably outsmart you somehow. Lol!

[Author]

Posts