dowels

[jdwilltx]

I bought some 3/8 dowels from Home Depot and made my first arrow.  It flies pretty good.  I have no idea what the spine is.  So heres the question: what wood is it.  I keep hearing about ramin.  How do you know if its ramin or not?  It looks kinda like pine.  Sorry no pictures yet.

Jeremy

[wolfsire]

When I bought dowels as Lowes, they were labled.   But then there were only two kinds, aside from size.  Pine and Oak.  If it feels like pine, it probably is.

[jdwilltx]

I am trying to remember what the label said.  They were not from the U.S.  They were foreign but didnt say "ramin" on them.  The oak ones are clearly marked oak.  I will check out that label.

[1/2primitive]

If it said 'hardwood', it might very well be Ramin. With Ramin, at least from my experience, you can't see any growth rings.
    Sean

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

the ones they sell here say they are from china. and they feel like a poplar shaft to me, and i'll tell ya what they are some of the best shafts i have found. they are as straight and even and well grained as any spruce or cedar shaft i've seen and there only 80 cents a piece. i buy a bunch at a time.... but who knows maybe i'm just lucky with the ones i choose.- Ryan

[Hillbilly]

Lowe's here sells poplar, oak, and Unknown Foreign Hardwood. Haven't tried Home Depot, but they're probably about the same. Like Twistedlimbs said, the poplar dowels make good arrows if you pick through 'em, but 3/8" is pretty big diameter. The 5/16" ones usually spine out pretty low, but you can find some that are good for hunting weight bows, or plane the 3/8" down to 23/64" or 11/32".

[jdwilltx]

Yeah the label just says hardwood and manufactured in China.  I made an arrow straightener and went to work straightening all the shafts.  I made a field tip from some 3/8 round steel and tied it in and epoxied it.  The arrow is really heavy but at about 10 yards it is crazy accurate.  After that its not so good.  (It might be my lack of shootin skills.)  But its still better than any store bought ones I have.  I will make the other 5 a little nicer (and lighter) and post pictures.

[scattershot]

My understanding is that true ramin is not imported into the US anymore, due to some environmental regulation or other. FWIW, you can buy birch dowels from American Woodcrafters for about $25.00/100. The 3/8" ones I played with a while back spined pretty heavy, around 80#, and I had one brute that went 108!

Anyway, they make fine arrows, and if you leave them long it will offset the heavy spine.

Good luck!

[wolfsire]

BTW, IMO, it is a lot more fun wandering around and looking for suitable shaft material in the wild.  You never know what you will find and it does not have to be something that you might have seen named on these boards.  I recently made an arrow out of some unIDed weed. 

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

i agree that finding natural shafts is a lot of fun, all my snote point shafts are natural shafts and my trade points and store boughts are on the home depot shafts.

also i agree that the 3\8 are a bit stout, most would benifit from the 5\16 shafts, i use the 3\8 because i shoot mostly  60-75 lbs   and i dont officially spine the shafts, i bend them by hand, i have gotten a feel for what i require.  only every now and then will i make one that whips a bit then i break it right then and there so i dont shoot it again.  - Ryan