Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer Bow Talk New "Homemade" Arrows for the Season

If anybody is interested in precut feathers, I've been ordering mine from Sagittaruis Archery here lately, get 100 count of 5 inch for $30.
They're goid quality feathers.

Thanks man. Things have been hectic lately with getting married in May, working on the house, and getting ready for the season. But, when the dust settles I'm going to work on a new bow myself.

The best raw wood for arrows is Douglas Fir...of course that's just my opinion but, it's heavier and sturdier than cedar. I've ran plenty of them through deer. The only one I've really broken was a few years back when a tree jumped in front of the deer I shot at. I get mine from various places but time constraints this time had me ordering from Surewood Shafts. I get the premium grade for $40 some odd and have yet to have one needing straightened. I usually buy the wood and then use a planer to round them out. Those always need a good bit of TLC though.

Surewood is good shafts. I've tried Poplar, Ramin, fir and cedar.
I think fir is my favorite too as far as wood shafts.
Seems pretty durable. I've shot wood, aluminum thru the years, shooting GT here lately.
Hard to beat a good tapered wood shaft though.

I have used carbons in the past but to be honest, I can fiddle with a wood arrow enough to where it flies perfect. I have never been able to do that to a carbon/aluminum arrow. There is only so much you can do with those. For example my chechen wood recurve shoots best at my draw length and weight with 580 grain arrows (including tip/broadhead). I have these at exactly 579.6. I tend to get a higher spine (75-80). That weight is with stain, cresting paint, 3 dips of finish, fletching, knocks, and heads. I've gotten it down to a well oiled machine at this point...plus its fun to create something like that and be able to actually kill an animal.

But yeah, Surewood shafts are some of the best I've seen. I'm anal about all this stuff with grain weight and you can order within 20 grains every time and they'll usually get it within 10.

I'm fairly new to carbon myself. My son gave me some 600 GT traditionals..I lucked up with gettin the arrows to tune for my 45lb bow.
50 grain inserts with 125 grain head, 29 1/4 inch arrow.
You're right..I can get wood or aluminum to tune pretty easy.
Carbon is a good shaft if you hit it just right and get the right setup.
When I started in 75 all there was available was wood and aluminum.
Bear use to make some decent wood shafts.
Tapered wood is the most forgiving setup IMO.

You did a great job on those. I have a couple dozen old Acme shafts from the 40's. It's surprising how straight and spine and weight matched they are from that era. I only use them to be legal with selfbow competition.

I actually prefer Carbons.The carbon Express Heritage is my favorite shaft. You can tune carbons really well,you just have to do it by length and tip weight,and possibly adding rear weight via a wrap.

I bareshaft tune my carbons out to 40 yards and they will impact right with my fletched shafts if I don't flub the release.Feathers correct mistakes. When tuning my carbons,I might trim 1/4" at a time until I get them where I want. I never cut a carbon to a specific length and then try to tune.

Thanks man! I never did have that kind of luck with carbons, although I probably would with the right set up. I had used Easton's arrows sold by 3 Rivers for my carbons and they shot ok. I haven't used the kind you mentioned. My cousin Matt can't shoot woods at all. He just can't get them to fly right. He's shooting a Black Widow PSA. It's funny how unique each of those bows are from bow to bow and also the person shooting it.

I even tried the 5 grain inserts on the Easton shafts I have with a heavier head. It helped but didn't correct the wobbly flight. I like to have them for practice though. I basically glue heads on all the wood arrows I make to test a few shots with each one and then I store them for hunting and practice with my carbons.

Do you bare shaft test your carbons? Personally,I wouldn't shoot a carbon without bare shaft tuning,otherwise they are just a shot in the dark. However when tuned well,they will recover paradox faster,and are just as tough as any wood shaft if not more. They penetrate a little better because of shaft diameter and they always stay straighter than any wood shaft. Not saying at all that wood won't get it done.

I've never bare shadfed any of my shafts.
When I started in the 70s there were wood and aluminum available, a few fiberglass shafts around.
I'm more practicle than I use to be.
I've used a lot of wood and aluminum arrows thru the years but about a year ago I started foolin around with carbon.
For all around economical and durabilitu carbon is hard to beat.
I'm one of those that dont care what the material is as long as it works..lol

Im shooting Gold Tip 600s, 29 1/4 shaft, total of 175 grain up front.
Im using three 5 inch feathers.
45 lb @ 28 inches, takedown longbow, at 28 inch draw.
They fly like a bullet.

I always bareshaft test my carbon arrows, I start full length with something slightly weak and trim till it is slightly stiff. Then the weight of feathers make it just right. Length make a huge difference in spine on a carbon shaft. Sometimes I trim as little as 1/4" but I can always tell a big difference every 1/2". A full inch may mean the difference of a bareshaft hitting in the group or nearly slapping the target sideways way out of the group.

For a right handed shooter,nock right is stiff,nock left is weak. It is also possible to have a shaft bounce off the riser and give you a false reading. Because of this always confirm weak or stiff by changing tip weight before cutting a shaft. If it is shooting weak and adding weight makes it even more weak you know you are reading true. If however it is shooting weak and adding weight seems to help,you know you are bouncing off the shelf from a way too stiff shaft and getting a false reading.

The same thing applies to nocking point. If nock high lower the knocking point,but you can bounce and get a false reading here too,so if lowering the nocking point makes your arrow shoot nock higher,go even higher than before.

I have many times tuned my carbons so that in a game we played shooting clay pigeons, my arrows would only punch a hole in the clay pigeon-skeet without breaking it.

One other piece of advice. You really need a soft foam target so you can exactly see what angle your arrows enter the target. Start close and move as far as 40 yards. At 40 yards you can really see any curve in the arrow from a weak or stiff shaft but you need to start close or you may miss the 40 yard target by yards. I've seen guys that had erratic arrow flight and when we bareshafted the shafts,they would slap a target sideways at 10 yards,they were so far out of spine.

Also when you tune you need to shoot 5-10 arrows before you cut a shaft and take the average of your shooting. You can only bareshaft tune as good as you can shoot. Any flub on the release or form will show up drastically with a bareshaft. Make sure you shoot enough to eliminate any mistakes you made in shooting so you don't cut an arrow when it was just you plucking the string that caused the bareshaft to fly wrong.

That would be close to what I would recommend for that weight bow. You might shoot less weight up front but you would need a longer shaft. Cut the feathers off and see how well a bareshaft shoots with the fletched shafts. If the arrow is correctly spined and you shoot it well,it will hit in the group with the fletched shafts.

Aluminum is a lot more forgiving about length VS spine and the manufacturers have it pretty much figured out for specific spine for a specific weight bow. You wouldn't expect to shoot the exact same arrow in aluminum from a 55 lb bow as from a 75 lb bow, yet many carbons are spined just so. You can do it but you are going to have to tune by length and tip weight with a carbon since they are for such a wide range,if you want them to shoot as precisely as aluminum.

You're right about that. Aluminum is the most precise shaft to shaft.
I really like carbon once I got the right setup.
Sure aint as easy as wood or aluminum though.

I don't. The reason I don't is buy them ready to shoot because I usually just use them for practice only. I understand you. All the work I put into arrows goes to wood. I may take off the fletching on my carbons and bareshaft tune them at some point though. If nothing else just to get a reliable practice set.

Definitely take the time to tune carbons. I wouldn't shoot them at all if I didn't.

I wish I had the equipment to paint and crest some Carbon Express Heritage shafts like you did those woodies.I love the look and nostalgia of those beautiful arrows.

Sorry I've ran on about bareshafting so much.I tend to go longer than necessary sometimes. Just FYI I'm not nearly as much of a know it all in person as I sometimes sound like on here.

You're not a know it all..you just know what works for you.
Lot of seasoned archers that bare shaft their arrows and some that dont.
One thing I cant stand is an arrow that doesnt fly true.
I admire folks that build bows and are good arrowsmiths.
I've never had the nack other than staining and fletching.

Clark, what TG said. You do what works for you. I actually built the cresting jig I use. I use to freehand it all and it didn't look as good. Who wants to put all that work into a good arrow only to have messy paint lines? I wanted to buy the cresting jig from 3 Rivers but man that thing is like $200 so in order to keep from getting stabbed by my wife, I just made the cresting jig. Took me awhile to get it working properly but I did.

Dang recurve,I do good to put stain on raw shafts..lol
Years ago I use to order my arrows ready to go from different arrowsmiths like mohawk and Jim Curlee.
Then I started ordering raw shafts sometimes and I'd stain them and fletch them.
Back in the mid 70s when I first started bowhunting with a recurve, Bear Archery had some pretty decent wood arrows on the market.
I didnt have a jig back then so I'd take em to the shop to get refletched.
Wood arrows made up ready to go and decked out like your arrows are expensive.
Yours look as good as any I've ordered.