I got some Douglas Fir from Lowes or Home Depot about a week ago and thought that with its nearly perfect grain it would make good arrows. I decided to do an arrow build along for my web page, but of the six shafts I started with, four of them broke. Two broke while I was spin sanding them. One broke while I was straightening it. And the last one broke while I was using my pencil-sharpener tapering tool.

Now I'm wondering whether the problem is with me or with the wood. I did some googling about Douglas Fir this morning and read that some of the faster growing stuff is not as strong as the slower growing stuff and that tight rings are better than wide rings. But since I've never used Douglas Fir before, I don't know what's good and what isn't.

So please take a look at this piece of wood and tell me what you think. Are the rings too thick? This is a 4x4, by the way.

Do you think there's any reason these arrows might've broken so easily, or do you think I should just stop manhandling it?

Well, First, the wood is kiln dried..sorta..and cut from trees less than 50 years old and way too much early wood( the pithy stuff) compared to the latewood.(denser stuff)

It's hard to tell what is being sold these days at the big box lumber stores.. Is it Douglas fir?..or just fir?.. Hemfir( hemlock) piss fir, hybrid reprod stuff that works fine for structural lumber or treated wood for posts in this disposable age but not good arrow wood.

When you sawed it into squares, how much run off was there in the squarearrow stock? The coarse grained fir will not tolerate much if any runoff to make better than a kid's arrow..It'll shear..Jim

As a note( and I do shoot Doug fir arrows) decent Doug fir for arrows will be straight grained the entire length of the shafting and be from wood that was slower growth..20-30 years per inch..No runout.. This comes from wood selecters and cutters who know arrow wood..and after cut into logs the logs are split into bolts and from there worked down into squares and then made into arrow shafting.. This is NOT the wood used for the framing industry on tract holes in the suburbs..

Doug fir grows fast and coarse for the first 50-65 years..and THEN becomes arrow wood..The whole character of the tree, bark and wood.. changes as it matures.. The center cant of a 100 year old Doug fir will be coarse heartwood..the outer year's growth denser, heavier and suitable for good arrow shafting..Jim

There was pretty much no run off. Maybe one run off on a couple of shafts. This stuff was pretty straight.

The guy at Lowes told me it was Douglas Fir, and the label said it was Douglas Fir, but I read on this wikipedia article that "Most timber now comes from plantation forests in North America which are managed to produce faster growing timber with fewer knots. This timber is generally lighter but weaker."

Thanks for the response. That is helpful. I thought I was getting a pretty good deal because I figured I could get 96 shafts out of a $10 piece of wood, but it sounds like in spite of its straight grain, it's less than ideal. Bummer! Oh well. It's cheap, so no big loss. I was really bummed about it yesterday, though, because I had spent so much time on that build along.

Sam, The 'plantation' Doug fir is hybridized for faster growth to make framing lumber..Not what we use for good arrow wood except in a real pinch.. You had the fun of the build along and planning..that's something anyhow..and that's how we learn stuff..Jim

Thanks for your help, Jim. I did learn something.

That board is not good for arrow shafts, period. You getting 1-2 growth rings per shaft, that is not enough.

Try it. I mean I make arrows out of white pine, Sam. Jawge

Try it. I mean I make arrows out of white pine, Sam. Jawge

I did try it, and I broke four arrows. But I can use these to experiment, practice tillering my arrows, and maybe make some kid arrows. I have a short friend who shoots a bow that's 37# at my draw length, maybe closer to 30# at her's. She'd probably appreciate some free arrows.

BTW, Jawge, you got TWO shout outs on my build along with links to your pine arrows. :-)

Sorry. Missed that in your first post. I even missed the link. LOL. I was tired. I'll go there now. Jawge

Buy the clear doug fir, you can find straight grain with tight growth rings of at least 20 per inch. I also look for old building being torn down and always manage to find and salvage a couple of good old growth boards. I use a lot of doug fir, it makes great arrows but you have to know what you are looking for.

Yes, Sam, there is a reason why those arrows broke. After you ripped it out you ended up with some pieces that had pretty severe grain run off which is likely why you had some breaks. When you get grain lines running back to front that's a discard. Dangerous to use. Actually, good those broke before being shot. I follow the same principle when choosing arrow stock as I do for board bows. Straight grained tip to tip on the face and edge grain. I noticed that one of those pieces is 1/4 sawn. With 1/4 sawn the face does not reflect the edge. I can't see the edges on that piece to evaluate. Another thing I've found is the tighter the grain the stronger the potential spine that can be obtained from that shaft. Jawge

I have a better idea now. Thanks, Badger.

Jawge, I imagine you are referring to this picture:

That waviness is just at the ends of the arrows. I cut that part off. That's not what broke. They broke closer to the middle where the grain was perfectly straight. In most of these shafts, there was no run off at all once I cut off the wavy part at the ends.

If you're referring to this picture, that happened at the end where the grain was wavy. I cut those off. I didn't even count this break because I was going to cut that part off anyway once I had them all rounded.

Thanks for looking!

Yes, that is what I was referring to. jawge

I'd just buy a dozen matched shafts from Surewood and save the stress and get some great arrows out them....just me though.

I do that if I just wanted Arrows, but I like to make them.

Picking the right tree seems to be the answer, but sometimes you don't know untill you get into it. I got a a nice old doug fir spotted up the mountain about a mile at 9000', that went down 2 years ago. Must be 200 yrs old or so? It is off the ground and should be aged pretty good by now. Should yield a couple lifetimes of arrows with a little sweat on my behalf! No roads up there! Heck I don't need anymore shafts but the thought of some perfect straight grain wood will get me moving. Nothing like killing your game with arrows you cut from the same place you hunt! Keep at it you're learning! Doud fir or larch stained up make the prettiest arrows!

to contrast the growth rings, here is a pic of old-growth doug fir logged from about 8000 feet.

Jawge, when you make pine arrows, is there anything you look for besides straight grain? Does the thickness of the rings have any bearing with pine? Do you use lumber from hardware stores or lumber yards?

It would be great if somebody would post something explaining how to pick out good arrow wood. I've seen a lot of web pages that explain good arrows woods, but they don't explain how to tell the good stuff from the bad stuff within that species. I knew Douglas Fir was good arrow wood, but I didn't know how to distinguish good Douglas Fir from bad Douglas Fir until I got feedback here. I imagine it's different for different woods, though.

Thank you all for your feedback! This has been very helpful to me.

Yes, Sam, I've found the tighter the grain the higher the spine I can get. I have used lumberyard and big box pine. I also inherited some really old pine stock from my dad which I have used. Jawge

I spent 6 hours or so at the Surewood factory last Saturday with Bob Marshall one of the owners. Got the full tour and spent some time weighing and sorting shafts (for fun). They have a brand new molder (read big $) thats pretty impressive. The shafts are electronically spined into groups then each shaft is inspected, graded to premium or hunter or junk, hand spined then weighed and bundled into dozens. Making our own equipment is part of what draws us to this sport and I would never try to discourage anyone from that adventure and the satisfaction that comes with the learning process. When you take into account that there is a FET tax of 46 cents on every shaft a shaft maker sells, the cost of the machines etc. etc. and the labor involved on both ends of the process the price for quality wood shafting who ever makes it is a good deal.

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