Wood Arrow Shaft Material
A number of years ago there was very little choice in shaft materials for
constructing wood arrows - Port Orford Cedar
was king. It was a good choice for consistent, straight arrows and, of course,
the best part of the arrow was the aroma. You didn't seem to mind as much when
you broke one because you got the added benefit of enjoying the aromatic cedar.
These days, Port Orford is still around, but in addition there are numerous
other woods that are successfully being used to construct good quality arrow
shafting. The old saying that necessity is the mother of invention applies here.
In the last 5 years there has been a marked decrease in the availability of
quality Port Orford cedar shafts. Some may argue that that has not been the
case, but even the perception of a shortage has sent inventive people out
looking at different shaft options. If you look at the most current issue of
Traditional Bowhunter magazine you will find no fewer than a
couple of dozen arrow shaft suppliers and fletchers offering numerous
alternative shaft materials including, but not limited to: Ramin, Douglas Fir,
Maple, Ash, Hickory, Pine, Sitka Spruce, Southeastern Alaskan (yellow) Cedar,
Chundoo, laminated Cedar and Pine, Birch and Poplar. I am sure that I probably
even left out a few materials. Whatever supplier you use, make sure that you get
shafts that are hand selected for straitness, weight and spine. This will cost a
little extra, but it is well worth the price.
Each material has its own
advantages and disadvantages. Shaft sizes can now be obtained in
5/16",
11/32" and 23/64".
Some of the smaller diameter shafts have been compressed from a larger diameter
to make a denser material. These are reminiscent of the old "Forgewood"
shafts made by Bill Sweetland. I will try to concentrate on some of the more
popular shaft materials and discuss some of the characteristics. |
Port Orford Cedar - These shafts are
probably the standard by which all others are measured. There used to be two
major manufacturers of Port Orford Cedar, Rose City and Acme. Acme hasn't made
these shafts for several years, presumably because of difficult getting quality
raw material. Rose City is still making these shafts and supplying them to
various suppliers including, but not limited, to Kustom King, Cedarsmith and
Sagittarius. Port Orford Cedar is best know for its wonderful aroma. The shafts
are light to moderate in physical weight and are generally pretty straight
grained. Cedarsmith from Montrose, Colorado is compressing cedars from 23/64"
to 11/32" and thus you can get pretty high spine weights in an 11/32"
shaft. A number of shaft suppliers are offering Port Orford Cedars that are
tapered for about 9" on the nock end from 11/32" to 5/16". Kustom
King from Merrillville, Indiana is noted for their tapered shafts. These tapered
shafts are said to clear the bow riser for better arrow flight. You can also get
barreled shafts that are tapered at both the nock and point ends.
Port Orford Cedar -
Summary
- Light to moderate in weight
- Not very durable
- Fairly Straight Grained
- Takes a stain well
- Fairly easy to straighten
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Douglas Fir - Douglas Fir
has a lot more grain that PO Cedar and the shafts are heavier. Some of the first
Douglas Fir shafts that came out several years ago had problems with consistency
of weight and straitness and some were out of round. But if you can get some
good, straight arrows, Douglas Fir makes very nice looking arrows given the "showy"
grain.
Douglas Fir -Summary
- Heavy weight
- Moderately Durable
- Lots of grain, less straight
- Takes a stain well
- Hard to straighten
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Ramin - Ramin is a hardwood
from Malaysia. If you go to a hardware store and buy some wood dowels, chances
are that they will be made from Ramin. Ramin is moderately heavier than PO
Cedar, but has a much different grain to it. I have heard complaints about the
inability to keep Ramin shafts straight. I have made arrows from 5/16"
compressed Ramin and these were very nice arrows that shot extremely well.
Ramin -Summary
- Heavy weight
- Moderately Durable
- Problems with staying straight
- Hard to stain
- Hard to straighten
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Maple - Some of the American
hardwoods are starting to show up as arrow shafting material. Maple shafts are
very smooth and uniform. They are also very heavy. If you are looking for good,
smooth, heavy, durable shafts, then give maple a look.
Maple -Summary
- Heavy weight
- Very Durable
- Straight
- Hard to stain
- Hard to straighten
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Ash - I will admit that I
have not had the opportunity to work with ash shafts. (hey, maybe somebody will
send me one) What I am hearing is that their greatest strength is just that -
strength. Remember, this is the stuff that baseball bats are made from. There
are a couple of eastern suppliers including Silent Pond from Whitefield, NH and
Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods from Loudersport, PA that are promoting ash
shafting. There was a recent article in Traditional Bowhunter (Feb/Mar
'96) describing ash shafts in more detail.
Ash -Summary
- Heavy weight
- Very Durable
- Not very straight
- Hard to stain
- Hard to straighten
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Hickory - I have only seen a
couple of hickory shafts and did build an arrow out of one of them. Again, these
shafts are very heavy with an open grain. The ones that I had were not that
straight, although I understand that there are some good Hickory shafts being
made by Bowyer and Fletcher out of Berthoud, Colorado.
Hickory -Summary
- Heavy weight
- Very Durable
- Not very straight
- Hard to stain
- Hard to straighten
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Southeastern Alaska (yellow) Cedar -
These shafts aren't yellow at all, they're white. I have made several sets of
arrows from this material and was very surprised at its quality and consistency.
It does have one drawback, it gives off a peculiar odor when you are grinding
the point or nock tapers.
Yellow Cedar -Summary
- Moderate to Heavy weight
- Very Durable
- Straight
- Takes Stain well
- Relatively easy to straighten
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Chundoo - I'll admit that I
don't know much about Chundoo (I've also heard it called Sitka Pine) other than
what I have read on some of the threads on some of the bulletin boards. The
people that have used it seem to be sold on it. I understand that it is a little
bit heavier than PO Cedar, but is straight and consistent. I am going to get
some to try out. I hear that Kelly Peterson of Arrow by Kelly in Rupert, Idaho
has very nice Chundoo shafts.
Chundoo -Summary
- Moderate to Heavy weight
- Moderate Durability
- Straight
- Takes Stain well
- Relatively easy to straighten
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Laminated Cedar or Pine - Shafts
made from pieces of pine or cedar that have been laminated together to form a
more homogeneous material are said to be made so that weight, spine and
straitness can be controlled in the manufacturing process. I would be interested
to know what people who have used these shafts think about their quality.
Laminated Cedar or Pine -
Summary
- Heavy weight
- Very Durable
- Straight
- Takes Stain well
- Difficult to straighten
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A Note about Hardwood footings -
Just a note about hardwood footings as we will cover them more in depth as a
topic later. They can be added to just about any of the soft woods to increase
the strength behind the point where most of the impact stress is concentrated.
Some of the more popular woods for footing include Purpleheart and Bubinga. They
are also very attractive. When I went to Missouri this fall to hunt whitetails,
I took a practice shot at what I thought was a leaf, with a Port Orford Cedar
arrow that had a 4 point purpleheart footing. The leaf turned out to be a rock.
As luck would have it, I hit the rock. The impact split the ferrule of a 140
grain broadhead but did not damage the shaft at all. |