Read oak shafts

[kurogane_84]

Hello all, im wondering if anyone has tried to use Red oak boards to make arrow shafts before, there are some boards avalible for sale at a local hardware store and a thought came into my head would they make good shafts, if left to season cut into shaft lengths and left to cure

[iowabow]

I took a deer with a red oak shaft.

[kurogane_84]

I took a deer with a red oak shaft.

How did the shafts hold up?? is it a tough shaft, hard to straighten?? im new to shafts other than spruce, and carbon lol

[iowabow]

There are better materials but they worked fine

[RBLusthaus]

They are heavy and are hard to get smooth as the exposed crunchy late wood from any run out is hard to burnish or sand.  For the effort involved in making shafts from boards, I would use a different wood such as poplar, maple, fir or cedar.  If you want a real heavy arrow - go for hickory.  Ash can be thrown into the mix as well. 

I prefer cedar and poplar.  Mostly poplar.

Russ

[JW_Halverson]

If you are looking for bombproof shafting, look into picking out some hickory boards that have crazy straight grain.  You can always use a froe or a hatchet to split the board into square stock, insuring that there is just no grain run out at all.  Then square 'em up a bit more with a thumb plane and heat straighten the square stock.  Square stock is much easier to get really straight and it makes it easier to plane down to round when they are straight.

But I imagine oak would respond well, too.  I've seen a few sets of arrows made from oak dowels from the hardware store (1 dowel in 50 had decent grain, expect to go thru a lot of dowels when picking and choosing)

[kurogane_84]

If you are looking for bombproof shafting, look into picking out some hickory boards that have crazy straight grain.  You can always use a froe or a hatchet to split the board into square stock, insuring that there is just no grain run out at all.  Then square 'em up a bit more with a thumb plane and heat straighten the square stock.  Square stock is much easier to get really straight and it makes it easier to plane down to round when they are straight.

But I imagine oak would respond well, too.  I've seen a few sets of arrows made from oak dowels from the hardware store (1 dowel in 50 had decent grain, expect to go thru a lot of dowels when picking and choosing)

I have bought some hardwood dowels, they are birch, oak, and or hickory, i found a red ccedar one once but was too bent to straighten lol, they are great for practice

[kevinnator11]

The first arrows I made I used red oak boards.  They were too heavy for my tastes.  I use poplar now.  Easier to work with too as someone said.  The red oak shafts were durable and easy to straighten though so they'll work if you don't mind the weight.

[H Rhodes]

I like my red oak 3/8 dowel arrows that I made for my 70lb bow.  For the rest of my bows, I think they are a tad heavy and slow.   Other than being heavy, they make good arrows.

[kurogane_84]

I like my red oak 3/8 dowel arrows that I made for my 70lb bow.  For the rest of my bows, I think they are a tad heavy and slow.   Other than being heavy, they make good arrows.

ive noticed ppl were saying it was a heavy wood, and i have a 60 LBS long bow, tad heavy but i just need to build my strength lol

[okie64]

I built some a few years ago from 3/8" dowel rods. They shoot good but like others have said they are a bit heavy. By the time I got em finished with a broadhead on they weighed about 750 grains or so. I've made some hickory arrows and they ended up pretty heavy too. I use poplar now for the lighter weight and they are surprisingly tough.

[crooketarrow]

  I've never made or shot red oak but there's no way their heavyer than HICKORY. Hickorys a really good tuff shafts But WAY WAY TO HEAVY IN MY BOOK. But these were shot out of a 67 # OSAGE BOW.
 LOGSSSSSSSSSSSSSS