Arrow making

[BrokenArrow]

I am looking into making arrows for my 52 to 60 inch short bows. I average a draw weight of between 45 to 60 pounds.
I am looking to shoot off the hand.
What is the best wood to make these and what are the best natural feathers?
I am looking at field points for the tips.

[Pat B]

There are lots of store bought dowel type shafts on the market and lots of shoot shaft materials out there for the collecting and don't forget about cane. Lots of different cane that will work.
 Where do you live? that will help giving you shoot shaft materials.
 You can go to the hardware store and buy 3/8" or 5/16" dowels. They will make good shafting if you hand choose them.

[BrokenArrow]

I live in Alberta Canada right next to the province with all the cedar trees

[Pat B]

You can split out cedar, spruce, doug fir and maybe others then reduce them to 3/8"x3/8"x36" long. Remove the 4 corners with a small plane then remove the 8 corners and it's almost round.
 I don't know the vegetation there well enough to suggest shoot shafting. Maybe someone near by will chime in.
 You can go to your local gardening store and get bamboo plant stakes. They are usually Tonkin bamboo and they make damn good shafts.

[JackCrafty]

This is just my opinion, but here is my list of the "best" wood for arrows depending on the source:

Dowels:  Birch
Self-Harvested Shoots:  Rivercane (Arundinaria), Phragmites Reed, or invasive species bamboo.
Hand-Split wood:  Hickory, Ash
Sawn Wood (table saw, for example): Douglas Fir

[bow101]

Cypress otherwise known as yeller cedar. it smells but the shafts are really true