What woods should I try?

[Mafort]

So I recently got a table saw and I really wanna try ripping some 3/8” square dowels out of a board. My question to all you guys here is what wood should I use? The menards by my house has hickory (obvious choice), mahogany, Aspen, alder, poplar, hard maple, soft maple, and yellow birch. I was thinking yellow birch and hard maple but I’m not sure let me know what you all think

[Pat B]

Hickory is very heavy but makes good arrows. Poplar or aspen are good arrow woods as would be hard maple.

[Mafort]

Hickory is very heavy but makes good arrows. Poplar or aspen are good arrow woods as would be hard maple.

What about the birch?

[Digital Caveman]

Pine can be great for medium weight arrows, it planes down like butter.

[Pat B]

Birch should be pretty stable so that should make a good arrow. A lot will depend on what you want to use the arrows for, whether it be hunting(heavier) or target shooting(lighter). Spine values can be different for each shaft even in similar woods.
 Like good bow wood good seasoning makes the best arrows. I have some poplar shafts a friend made for me. He cut the billets into 2"x8"x3', stacked and stickered then and let them air dry for 2 years before sawing out the blanks. These make very tough but slightly lightweight arrows.
 If you buy lumber let it rest in your environment for a few weeks so it can come into equilibrium with your local R/H or they can warp.

[BowEd]

Spot on advice from Pat.
Mafort....Hickory will be your heaviest/toughest and narrowest shaft.The others will all make shafts but in a thicker final spined finish.Birch and hard maple would be my second choice.Not familiar with mahohany although I see it for sale.
It's the best to have as straight a grain on them as possible.No knots a weak point etc.I personally like as narrow of a shaft as possible but that's just me.
Shooting with the edge grain against the bows and it's stiffest side.
The tools I use are a spiner,grain scale,sand paper,drill,and a sizer.Sizer is just a pieces of moose antler with holes drilled of sizes.I'm sure you have your own method though.
It might be you'll need to heat correct some which is fine.I use a mantle lamp for that.
You can full length parallel.full length taper,or barrel tapered type shafts.
Lots of fun.

[willie]

spruce? pine? doug fir?   look for fine grained boards

I find confir tends to stay straighter and theres a lot better chance to find a good board as theres is a lot more to pick from when shopping at the lumberyard

[Don W]

You should "try" them all. That's part of the fun. I use poplar a lot because I have a lot of it. I've used oak, Maple, and ash. I'm working on a set of maple shafts with wenge footing now. Experimenting and testing is half the enjoyment .

[bownarra]

Wenge is a bit brittle for footings. But yes try it all out for yourself
You have to try hard to beat osage for footings

[Don W]

Wenge is a bit brittle for footings. But yes try it all out for yourself
You have to try hard to beat osage for footings

except when osage isn't easily obtainable.

[boomhowzer]

I've also made arrows from the racks at Menards. I've had pretty good luck with their hickory.

Then one time I got fancy and I footed some arrows with mahogany from Menards. Not a good choice. Don't touch their mahogany. I don't even think its mahogany. It's brittle, extremely light weight, even its color is lackluster compared to the mahogany I've worked with in the past. I think its cottonwood they soak in red food coloring. Either that or particle board.

My hickory arrows, on the other hand, I've shot hundreds of times into stumps, targets, mother earth, my front porch, my wife's flower garden, red squirrels, things that look like red squirrels but turn out to be beer cans, you name it, and they're still shooting! The mahogany footed arrows, not so much. Other than that, heck yeah! Menards and a table saw! Yahoo!

[Don W]

I've also made arrows from the racks at Menards. I've had pretty good luck with their hickory.

Then one time I got fancy and I footed some arrows with mahogany from Menards. Not a good choice. Don't touch their mahogany. I don't even think its mahogany. It's brittle, extremely light weight, even its color is lackluster compared to the mahogany I've worked with in the past. I think its cottonwood they soak in red food coloring. Either that or particle board.

You'll find "mahogany" has become a catch all term for a whole slew of different kinds of wood. If it just says "mahogany", it could be just about anything!

[BowEd]

At least it's wood fellas.There's nothing sounding so unnatural as to hearing a foul shot aluminum shaft clang through the woods into the dirt.
For toughness of wood arrow shafts try dogwoods sometime.Bamboo is tougher than them yet IMO.

[Don W]

I just made a set of maple arrows. They won't be as tough as the hickory, but so much easier to straighten. I have made a lot of popular (because I have it and my t works fairly well). They do break once in a while but are easily fixed. I've have a few that I've fixed 2 and 3 times. I don't enjoy making arrows as much as the bows, but I'm to cheap to buy them, so I make them.

[PaSteve]

Their mahogany is probably Spanish cedar. Used quite often as a mahogany "substitute"....at least that's what our suppliers tried to sell us as an "affordable" mahogany when I worked in a woodshop. It also makes good arrow shafts as long as you're selective. I prefer bamboo over any wooden shafts but that's just me.