WOOD arrows

[huntertrapper]

What wood is good for arrows. i have some hazel shafts. Some hard wood dowel rods. Soft woods arent good are they? i just want to experiment with some woods. any info. would be awesome thanks

[DanaM]

Hazel will work, I think just about any hardwood will, ash, maple, hickory, birch etc.
Pines, spruce, cedars, douglas fir all work. As long as you have stright grain and
knotfree, if your talking shoots anything straight and that spines high enough can work.

[huntertrapper]

so soft wood pine will work?

[DanaM]

White pine, red pine should but ya need clear striaght grained boards.

[Hillbilly]

For shoot shafts, I prefer hardwoods (sourwood, viburnum, hazel, dogwood, buffalo nut, etc.) Softwoods like pine or poplar make good split-timber shafts. I've made good shafts from pine, poplar, and ash by splitting sections of log into "boards", then sawing/splitting them into 3/8" x 3/8" squares and planing them down to 11/32" or so. The pine shafts will be lighter and break easier than the hardwoods, much like commercial cedar shafts.

[huntertrapper]

ok ill use pine as a last resort, need be.

[George Tsoukalas]

Pine and poplar both plane well. Jawge
http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni/shafts.html

[Hillbilly]

Don't hesitate to use the pine, it makes good arrows. Like George said, it's enjoyable to plane, plus it smells good.  I like pine arrows for shooting 3D with lighter weight bows. If you can find some old southern yellow pine heartwood boards with good grain, it makes fairly heavy shafts.

[huntertrapper]

i dont know what southeren yellow pine is

[carpenter374]

you can find southern yellow pine at the lumberyards. just ask for yellow pine. very cheap in 3/4 in thick by 3 1/2 in wide sticks.

[costicaldad]

i got a mate whos a chippy and i get of cuts from building sites 2 by 4 and 4by 4 are the best just plane 1 side square and cut into 10 mill squares