3/8" dowels for shafts?

[mainehunt]

I am new to trad bows/arrows. So please bear with me.

I bought some 3/8" diameter POPLAR and OAK dowels to make some arrows. I was very careful when choosing and made sure that the ones I chose have the grain running the complete length of the shaft.

My bow is a 45# @ 28", (I draw to 29")

I just fletched up one of the poplar shafts, I cut a self nock which I reinforced with thread wrap and glue. I made a blunt out of a 44 mag brass.

My question is; Is 3/8" strong enough/stiff enough for around 48 pound long bow?

Anybody use this diameter?

Kev
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[Pat B]

Kev, 3/8" should be stiff enough for 48# spined arrows. Most commercial wood shafts are 11/32" or 5/16" for arrows of most spine weights.

[mainehunt]

Kev, 3/8" should be stiff enough for 48# spined arrows. Most commercial wood shafts are 11/32" or 5/16" for arrows of most spine weights.

Pat,
My fear is that they aren't stiff enough and the split when firing and drive through my bow hand........

Kev
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[Pat B]

Test the spine weight.    Any arrow can break and go into your arm. I've been shooting bows for almost 30 years and have broke a few arrows, some during a shot but never had one go in my arm. I know folks that have but they are pretty rare. The arrows that broke when I shot them had unknown cracks in them from hard use.
  I guess you will have to trust your own craftmanship and quality control of the dowels.

[bowtarist]

I'm w/ PatB.  Trust your instincts.  I know all the old books, and maybe some of the newer say that dowels are ok, but they arn't "cut" to be launched.  I'm not so concerned about weight or spine, ...uhhh...I still shoot a recurve(center shot)...production style. :(sorry:(  I make my own arrows and tips, though.  Keep the wood grain feathering out the top of the arrow pointing towards the point.  I think this is more important than usually noted.  shoot a couple of arrows @ half draw and go w/ your insticts.   Mult-foral rose or wild rose of the same width can be cut and bundled to dry.  cheap and reliable, no grain feathering either.

[Jay]

Ive made a few arrows from big box store dowels. 3/8" oak, and have found them to be too inconsistent. Yes they are cheep and easy to get but when compared to my ceder shafts they just don't fly very good. They  flex all over and are heavy. I'm shooting a 55# ,hickory longbow. I'm not writing this to discourage the use, in fact i do keep some around in case i need to "fling" one at an invader(coyote) in my chicken coupe.
Have fun
Jay

[Kegan]

Poplar would be a good choice for your draw weight, and 3/8" shoudl defiantely provide you with enough spine. I personally like ash, birch, maple, hickory, and the like for arrows, as they can take more abuse than softer woods. Red oak is very inconsistent, and white oak is too expensive for me.

So long as the grain is straight and the wood isn't decayed it won't fail, but the reason dowels aren't very popular is because: A) if the grain ISN'T good they WILL break and B) you still have lots of sorting, spining, weighing, and straightenning to do to get a good set of hunting arrows. Cheaper than store bought, and the hardwoods are stronger, but certainly not as easy as you'd think!

Give it a go, just keep the grain straight

[Lombard]

Kev, I hand plane my own. This link is a brief pictorial of a half dozen oak arrows being made. http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,23991.0.html

In the how to section, is a link to Jawge's site, and he has detailed instructions on arrow building there. A bunch of other good info also.

If you have an arrow that you already know shoots well out of your bow, you can do an expedient spine tester.
Simply poke two nails twenty six inches apart on a horizontal plane, place your know arrow on the nails, hang a two
pound weight, the arrow will flex, make your pencil mark to indicate where the arrow deflected to. Now you place
your arrows to be on the nails, and hang the two pound weight on them. If they deflect further than your pencil mark
then the spine will be weak. If it doesn't deflect to the pencil mark it is stiff, which is okay because you can slowly sand
away the extra mass until in spines to your pencil mark. Crude and not exact, but you will be able to match your
arrows closer, and have better shooting arrows.

[Stickboy]

Hey, Kev:  I'm new to this also, but I've made 6 arrows from 3/8" oak dowels (from Lowes) and fletched them with goose feathers.  So far, I've hit a rock or two, a few fences, and every now and then the target, and have had no issues with breakage.  Granted, I'm still using an old fiberglass recurve of unknown weight while I finish my selfbow, so it might not have enough power to do actual damage to an oak stick...

[bowtarist]

Lombard, I like the hillbilly spine tester!  Gonna set one of those up.  You think a 1 Kilo weight would work?   To stay w/ the link,... New time I'm in town I'll give the dowels a look see. 

[mainehunt]

I was just thinking......would it really matter how much weight you hang on it? I know, I know....to "officially" spine an arrow you use exactly 2 pounds, but if you are comparing the new shafts to a "known" arrow, as long as you use the same amount of weight, you are getting the same deflection.

Kev
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[Pat B]

Spining checks shaft deflrction. The standard(AMO) is as discribed by Lombard. You can check deflection using other weights and other distances between supports and get the same results. but i f you go by the standard you can use a known commercially spined arrow for a guide. Consistancy is the secret to good arrow flight.

[George Tsoukalas]

Most of my hand planed poplar has a smaller diameter than 3/8" for a 50# spine. Watch the quality of the stuff you are buying.  The more the run out the less the spine ad the greater the chance it will cause problems. Jawge

[johnston]

Can someone post pic's of correct grain ?

Lane

[bow-toxo]

I think 3/8" is way too thick for a 28" arrow and a 45# bow. I have 3/8"x30" birch arrows. tapered in the shaftment, for a 55# bow and I think they are a little too heavy. I strongly suggest you will have better performance with thinner arrows.