I found a company that sells excellent wooden dowels. I've been looking for straight grained hickory. They sell 10 dowels to a pack, 36", various diameters.

http://www.atlasdowel.com/

Thanks Mike.

They have been around forever. Good outfit. Used to get Ramin dowels from them back in the day (80'-90's) until it was banned. Even just buying a hundred the price was about .35 cents apiece.

Thanks Mike ... excellent link, much appreciated

A little follow-up; out of 20 dowels, (I only bought that many because I wasn't sure of the quality) 7 would require a lot of fiddling to get reasonably straight, of the remaining 13, 9 needed some straightening with a heat gun, and the other 4 were dead straight. Not one punky or throw-away in the 20. These are 3/8" x 36. They were far better than hickory shafts I've bought from arrow supply places. Using 150, then 220, spin sanding them down to 23/64, sticking them in my drill with a piece of nylon gas line in the chuck to keep from chewing up the dowel, and have my wife put on one coat of ultra thin superglue for a finish prior to final "assembly".

I have been making my product using Atlas dowels for more than a decade. Good people, good wood, but every once in a while I get a dowel with bad grain. I buy by the 100 and probably have two or three with bad grain in each batch. In my case I can still use most of the dowel, since my product is only four inches long.

Yes sir. I expect to get a couple (hickory) duds per 10. By duds, I mean not straight, with swirly grain, a tiny knot, or? But since I cut mine 28.5"off of 36", many times the bad spot is at one end and get's cut off anyway. Grain run-off isn't a concern because of hickory's interlocking grain. It's tough stuff. My 23/ 64, 28.5" shafts with the point, etc. Ends up in the 825-900gr range, depending on whether they're sapwood or heartwood. I have one 11/32" arrow I made in 2009, that's 50% sapwood,50% heartwood. Shot at 45 yards, it struck an angle iron target frame dead on, and shot backwards about 20 - 25 yards. The stainless point was blunted, the nock shattered and the fletching looked like it had been rubbed backwards, But the shaft was unharmed. I really like how tough hickory is.

Maybe not relevant, considering hikory shaft weight, but what sort of spine/deflection do you get ?

I'm not sure, but they fly well out of my 60 - 70# bows.

Rocky spent a half hour trying to climb into the box the dowels came in. What a nutball cat!

What?

No matter what I did, the pic wouldn't come out right, sorry for the multible posts.

Mstyles, I like your cat! And I am so not a cat person.

That cat is funny.

I've been using Oak dowels lately. They make a dang tough arrow shaft also. Same process as you. I chuck 'em in a drill and turn them down to 23/64. I have some I've turned down smaller to get the spine the way I want it.

Oak is good, just lighter than hickory. I used oak for the first time in 2016, and it is decent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USS4nqgqIJo

This is good - Uncle Rob shows how to clean your cat box.

Bowmania

5/16 oak dowels from Lowes make great stumpers for my 45# bows. I hand flex in the store and pick the stiffest that aren't corkscrewed. Bends are straightened with a hook. They are very tough and actually hard to break.

I have made hundreds of absolutely superb hickory shafts from 8/4 s2s boards I selected at my hardwood supplier. IME straight grained hickory is a VERY rare commodity. Out of three dozen boards maybe one will have a three to six foot long section that is truly straight grained, where doug fir is naturally straight grained.

I've used dowels for arrows, but I prefer poplar. I'm pretty good at selecting dowels, those with excellent grain go with me, the others go back into the bin.

darn that cat has a long neck.

" 5/16 oak dowels from Lowes make great stumpers for my 45# bows. I hand flex in the store and pick the stiffest that aren't corkscrewed. Bends are straightened with a hook. They are very tough and actually hard to break. "

^^^^This, except I go for the poplar ones.

I'm a carpenter. Just for kicks I looked at bin dowels prior to making my own arrows. I found maybe 1 in three dozen were even remotely close to looking like they could handle 55 pounds of bow force. 1 in 50 is closer to it. These are gonna be arrows guys, not doweled casework.

You really need to look very closely at the grain in bin dowels. Also, flex the dowel, and look carefully for any lifts. Listen to the dowel when you flex it. Run out is not OK on an arrow.

A bin dowel arrow that split and entered your hand because you were looking to save a buck will end up costing you thousands in doctor bills. Straight grain with no runouts is extremely important, especially with the cheap jack wood that those dowels are made from. Be careful and think about what you are doing.

Been doing it for years, Bob. For my <45# bows. All are inspected, hand selected, reinspected, spined, and shot from an appropriately weighted bow. I might get 6 out of a hundred dowels. They are for stumping and losing ans for plain old fun. Not simply because it is cheap. Cheap is just a bonus. Making arrows is just one thing to pass the time of retirement. Most of the poplar ones spine in the 30s. Some get into the mid 40s.

OK, listen to this. I made a replacement ramrod to fit my new Green Montain muzzleloader ball barrel out of a 3/8ths bin dowel a couple decades ago. Definitely wasn't oak, I don't know the species. Crapwood maybe. This was way before I started making hickory arrows in 2004. I literally checked every shaft in that bin, there were probably sixty, and selected the best grained one.

Well guess what that sucker broke ramming home a ball. FORTUNATELY I drill a hole in my short starter and smack it to drive the ball down the pipe, instead of wham wham wham thumb over the end like everyone else does. Incredibly that sucker didn't go into my hand, but lesson learned.

Ramrods need to be straight grained hickory. I replaced it with a hickory shaft and a decade later it still is in good shape. That's why I say, be careful. The force on that ramrod driving down a ball is WAY less than any arrow. You may have had good luck so far, and I hope it stays the same. But don't say you weren't warned.

Fwiw Bob, I have found birch dowels to be about THE worst for arrows, except for kids' bows and very light weights. Poplar works. I can't see the grain in oak, so I avoid it.

It's a nice idea but I just don't see the advantage other than being able to just go and grab a bunch of shafts at the store. Then you have the time and effort of picking and sorting and hoping you get good ones. Yes it's more expensive to buy arrow shafts but at least the dog work is done and you can just make arrows. I guess, if you are bored and want a project it's ok. I just dont trust them. They are made fast on production machines. No one there is thinking about them being arrows, nor do they give dang. Please be very careful guys.

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