dowl rod arras?

[recurve shooter]

sup fellers? i got my futrue sour wood arras drying, but i got a question. can i use some regular home depot dowls to make some decent arras to shoot till my sourwood cures and turns into arras? if so, is there any special trick to it i need to know?

[david w.]

YES dowels work great.  Just make sure they are straight grained.  You wouldnt want it to send a splinter through your hand while shooting.

[recurve shooter]

yeah, no crap there. what size should i use?

[Kegan]

Get straight grained 99 cent oak dowels, 3/8" for bows 55# and larger, and 5/16" for under 50#. My brother uses them with a great deal of success. I've used true birch dowels for my longbowsand like them very much too.

[recurve shooter]

cool, thanx alot fellers!

[1/2primitive]

I use the poplar dowels from Lowe's, see if they have them at Home Depot. My finished poplar dowel arrows come out at about 450-500 grains. I've used the oak dowels like Kegan, but they are too heavy for me.
    Sean

[recurve shooter]

ok, cool. im gonna check it out thiss weekend. do i just use the size they come in or do i need to atempt to narrow it down?

[Kegan]

No need to narrow. And yes, Sean's right- the oak will be heavy. A full length arrow will be about 750 grains. Birch will be about 600.

[stiknstring]

3/8 poplar sanded down to spine (for my 60 pounder) or
5/16 birch will be close to 40-45 pounds for the rest of my selfbows

[scattershot]

American Woodcrafters has birch for around $25.00/100.  They make great arrows, but you have to watch out for grain runout and knots. Just be sure to visually inspect them and flex each one, and you should be good to go. Most of the 5/16" I have played with run in the mid - 40's, to a max of about 55# (only one or two) and a low of less than thirty pounds, again only one or two. There are a couple of threads on this subject, too. Good luck!

[recurve shooter]

thanx alot guys, yall really helped me out.

[scattershot]

Just wondering how you made out with your dowel arrows?

[recurve shooter]

aint started on em yet. i ment to get em last weekend, but i got to busy. gonna try again this weekend. i'll be sure to post the results.

[Kegan]

Here are some of the birch dowel arrows I'm using.

Best part of dowel rod arrows is that they're eaily replaceable. I've got six feltched up and sealed, all they need is points on hand if I break any. But I'm really lazy .

[attachment deleted by admin]

[recurve shooter]

cool. they shoot good im guessing? and i like the spin on the feathers.