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in reply to: Ontario Moose advise? #38235
Mike — I just wrote a longist post that didn’t add anything positive to your quest … so deleted it. I simply wish you good weather, honest and competent outfitters, and an enjoyble, memorably hunting. 😀
in reply to: Have You Gotten Lost? #38227Not really, but it’s always been a dream of mine. 😛
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #38048For those of you experienced with Smooth-On epoxy adhesive — I’m wondering about dipping shafts to a depth of 4″ behind the head. It would add a bit of weight but not much, but I’m wondering if it would be strong enough to keep the shaft from breaking at this stress point? One way to find out, I guess, about weight, looks, etc. A lot harder to design meaningful tests.
The problem with steel collars, like you see on some spears and original bodkins, etc.–aside from the cost of having them welded up–is weight. YOu’d have to drop back on head weight to compensate, and then you lose blade thickness which equates to strength and on single-bevels to shelf width thus torque. Nothing is simple in this “simple” sport.
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #37805Giggle — what spine at what length for these shafts? What weight head for that FOC?
in reply to: E. Donnall Thomas #37801NPR (National Public Radio) just ran a very nice rememberance of Dr. Thomas, Sr. His medical research has prolonged a great many lives, including a couple of friends of mine, and will continue to do so — that is a uniquely proud legacy.
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #37116Rogue — if you’re talking about the steel tube that you slip down over the shaft and use to guide the bit down the center of the shaft — I don’t recall where I bought mine, brand or whatever, but it was a disappointing failure. Just not enough length of steel on top to hold a bit perfectly aligned as you drill. Of several attempts, I didn’t get a single perfectly center-aligned hole. All wandered this way or that and some broke out of the shaft side. I understand there are commercial jigs used with a drill press that do it right, but this little hand tool just doesn’t get it done, not once in a dozen tries in my experience. But then maybe I just don’t have “the technique.”
in reply to: Nothing is wasted … #37017Wex — No, I don’t hunt predators, including bears. Having a healthy population of big predators around is a flagship of still-wild land, I don’t see them as competitors, and I feel no need to kill everything that passes in front of me. To each his own, within reason. Grizzlies would be nice too, but I got here 14 months after the last confirmed griz was killed in CO, just a few dozen miles from here. But then, I don’t mind at all that we have zero poisonous snakes at this altitude. 😆
in reply to: Nothing is wasted … #36768Makes a guy think twice about sneaking around in the near-dark chirping on a cow call.
in reply to: My Spot This Evening #35769That shirt does a far better blend-in with the leaves than any commerical camo could.
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #34423Guys — I need to amend my above suggestion that I’m about to give up on wood shafts as elk arrows. Since this break involved just one arrow, the first of this set-up I’ve shot an elk with, I owe it another try since it’s entirely possible that the arrow was somehow predisposed to breaking via compression rings, maybe a tiny nick I hadn’t noticed. I shot all nine of them with field points several times before selecting what seemed the best shooters and installing broadheads for the hunt. I could have nicked the one that broke or otherwise somehow damaged it. At the least I’ll shoot the same set-up for Coues this winter for another, if comparatively modest, test. “Overkill” some might say at 700 grains, yes, but the shoot SO sweet and look just as sweet (thanks to Fletcher at The Feathered Shaft) that I just can’t give up on them based on a single “live testing.” Meanwhile I’ll continue playing with possible ways to strengthen the wood behind the head.
in reply to: Your Dream Hunt #34417My dream hunt would be if 9 months every year were Sept. The other 4 would be October, April, and May. 😀
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #32910Rogue — I tried footed shafts early in my quest for an EFOC wood arrow, and you’re right that the heavier footings added very little weight up front. To the contrary, the shafts were so heavy that even normal FOC was nearly impossible. So, for a strong, heavy shaft that resists breaking behind the point, footing works great. For high FOC it’s counterproductive. I would be OK with that if I shot 70 pound bows that could move really heavy arrows at a decent speed, but I don’t. So my quest continues for the lightest possible arrow over 650 grains with max FOC. The Sitka spruce shafts offered graat hope with 85# spine and just 400 grains bare shafts, providing total arrow weight just over 700, good speed and trajectory, fantastic accuracy and 23%+ FOC. But the head weight and length (lever arm) apparently is too much for the shafts. So while I feel forced to return to carbons for my elk arrows, I’ll keep playing with woods, sleeves, etc. with unending hope.
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #32112Roger, I’m afraid so, and if I understand Ed Ashby correctly, he feels the same. You can sure find heavy hardwood shafts, Forgewood, etc., but you won’t get good FOC with them. And the lighter wood shafts, alas, don’t seem to have what it takes to handle the tremendous impact force of a heavy head against bone, without breaking behind the head. So the choices seem to be: heavy hardwood with low FOC, lighter wood (on this hunt I used 23/64 Sitka spruce spined at 85# for a 53# longbow) with sleeves behind the head (Ed says as much as 7″ could be required, depending), or carbons. I’ve tried aluminum shafting for sleeves in the past and didn’t like the way they shoot or look. But I’m going to try it again since the Sitka’s are so lovely and shoot as if I were a good shot. I’ve also ordered two test shafts of Gold Tip Ultra Lites, .300 and .400, on Ed’s advice that it’s a great shaft for maxing EFOC. My intellect and ethics keep pushing me to carbons, but my heart will always be wood. If I were hunting deer sized animals only, I’d downsize the head weight so that a wood shaft could handle it, and let it go at that. I also need to do some more angled-impact testing to disprove that this was a flawed shaft. If I hadn’t hit bone I’d likely be thinking the setup was flawless. Good luck on your own search.
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #31835Roger — The problem with hardwoods is their weight, prohibiting meaningful FOC. Dr. Ashby, pre-carbon, was a fan of Foregewood, hickory, and laminated birch in that order. I began my adventures with arrow weight experiments after reading a summary of Ashby’s original Natal STudy in TBM many years ago. The result was that instantly I quit losing elk to poor penetration when I went from alum shafts and 125-grain multi-blade heads, total arrow weight about 550, to 750-grain compressed hickory shafts and two-blade heads. I shot completely through two elk with the same arrow and skimpy little 125-grain Wolverine two years in a row, then broke the head in half the following year when it hit a shoulder blade on a bull. I was still learning. These days, once I have 650 total arrow weight I shift focus to increasing FOC by increasing head weight. So today’s quest is for the lightest possible shaft with the stength to handle a very heavy head. Couple of days ago I killed a yearling cow with Sitka spruce shafts and a Tuffhead 300, total weight about 700 with FOC in the low 20s, not bad for a wood arrow. The shaft broke an inch behind the head but miraculously the heavy head traveled on like a bullet into the heart for a very quick kill. In sum, hardwood shafts are too heavy to give EFOC and for lighter bows just plain too heavy. So as much as I love these wood shafts, and man do they shoot beautifully, at least for elk I’m forced back to the carbon world where I can easily build 650+ arrows with EFOC. That’s not what you wanted to hear, I fear, but it is the honest experience of a fellow woody fan.
in reply to: Brand new bow. Is there a problem? #31027John, returning the bow to the bowyer is the right thing to do. If he’s reputable, as you say, his pride in his work will make things right. You didn’t mention how she shoots? A new bow is such a rare and special thrill for most of us, that we should be fully satisfied with no lingering doubts. I’m betting he will either make it right, or explain why it is how it is. I’ve never heard of r/d on one limb and not the other, but can’t imagine that any establish bowyer would sell a bow that was that obviously “off.” Best luck.
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