For the life of me I cannot get these Douglas fir shafts straight!!!!! I would think if I bought “premium” I’d have more than two that were straight! I always burnish with a thick glass bottle. Well, that ain’t working. Sometimes I think it’s kinking them even more. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ken.

Have you had a chance to try dry heat?

Quit burnishing them, your crushing the wood cells, straighten them with heat over the heal of your hand.

Bob

Keep in mind, too, that it's unlikely you'll ever get them as straight as aluminums. Luckily, you don't have to for them to shoot straight.

Just so you know this you always have to straighten wood arrows even after you start shooting them periodically. Watch how you pull them out also. Your not going to be able to get them perfect either. They don't need to be perfect to shoot well where you look.

I don't think it matters if in fact you crush their cells. I never had any issues using a ring or a screw driver either that I recall. If you buy 12 at a time its harder to choose the straighter ones like as if you got in a bundle of 50 or 100 then you could pick out the best and use the others for stumping or flu flus. I understand the cost factor as well too.

Like aromakr stated use heat, I use a heat gun then rub them with the palm of my hand, I do get them perfectly straight, takes time. I figure if I am going to straighten them I want them straight.

Those are premium shafts. You won't get them straight with anything but a champagne bottle.

Tea kettle,,run them thru the steam and flex by hand If i cant get them perfect,and theres alittle bend left i shoot them and see how they fly Sometimes and loose off a heavyer bow will take a kink out

Thanks! This is my first time with Doug fir. I love the weight but they are more difficult to straighten than POC to me. Don’t smell as good either!

Kenneth, I don't know what part of Texas you're in, but I found out years ago that Douglas Fir has to be handled in a certain way here just west of Austin.

First, do as aromakr stated and use heat to straighten them. After you get them straight keep them in the house where the humidity it relatively low. Check them after a day, and restraighten if neccessary.

Then get them sealed up so they don't take on any more moisture (or as little as possible) from the humidity.

Even if you aren't going to fletch them right away, seal them. If not, it's likely you will have to straighten them again just due to the fluctaution in our humidity levels.

fdp, I’m in Llano, west of Austin. It is humid for sure. Thank you I will keep that in mind.

Any premium shaft should be straight when you buy it. it's straight as soon as it comes off the saw as square stock before its turned into a round shaft.

I see him the underdog here. I run a lot Douglas fir shafts out on my table saw and just throw away the ones That have any grain run out or that don't come out straight before I turn them round. I never have any problem with them after that. maybe that's the wrong way to go about it but it sure works for me. If it comes off the saw straight when it's Square, it stays straight when it's round.

I don't make or shoot wood arrows anymore, but when I did I have a heat gun that belonged to my Dad who was a R/C model airplane builder and used it to shrink the coating on wings. They are not expensive and are great for a number of archery related tasks including heating wood shafts.

I straighten Hickory dowels that I turn into arrows with a heatgun. Out of 4 dozen 3/8” hickory dowels, I separate out the really naturally straight shafts from the ones that need straightening. The first group I heat slightly and palm them. The second group I find the bend, mark it with a pencil, and pour on the heat on the opposite side of the bend. As the moisture is driven out, it mostly straightens by itself, and I’ll finish it with my hand. I’ve never had much luck crushing the shaft by rubbing it with a heavy glass bottle or smooth chrome sharpening steel.

I have some old cedar shafts that have been getting banged around for about 50 or 60 years and they're still dead straight. Whoever built those shafts really knew how to pick wood.

I've never used heat on any shafting. I use the heel of my hand and have never had a turned shaft that couldn't be made straight. Its all about technique and feel. It took me years to master it.

The steps I take are as follows.

First I hand straighten.

Second, If that doesn't work I use the rounded handle on a screwdriver. I bend it in the proper direction and compress it with the screwdriver. I work right of the bench.

Third, then I heat and straighten.

Jawge

sounds like a pain,that being said I just started playing around with wood shafts to see how they fly from some of my lighter hill styles carbons sure don't fly well without a ton a weight up front enjoy these wood arrow posts

Shaft quality wood type and shaft design make a big difference Ive found quality ceders tend to be straighter over other wood types The only wood types I personally have had to do alot of straightening on are,poplar and Chundoo And ive found tappered or breasted shafts tend to stay straighter then parallel shafts after alot of shooting if all else is equal Just what ive found,and i only shoot wood,everything else is souless ; )

I have great success using the Shaft Tamer to straighten arrows as needed. It gets my arrows very straight. I roll the shafts on a very flat surface, find the high spots and rub them with the groove that runs around the Tamer. Yes, it does crush the wood fibers somewhat but I find they seem to stay straight better by doing that. You don't roll it over the high spot, you rub it with the grooved part of the tool.

I had that same problem with them. I won't be using fir again.

I hand straighten all my wood shafts.

a brass hook works for me.

If the point end lines up with the nock end the stuff in between won't affect the flight as much as you would think!

I just figured out the other day...push harder to compress with your rod than you would with cedar. (Then later I went to straighten a cedar and darn near crushed it.)

I use the compression method, but only on the outer 1/3 or 1/4 of the shaft, not in the middle. As SB said, if the 2 ends are spinning with the center of the axis, they fly good.

Out of curiosity, I just roll checked four dozen new shafts. I needed a slight tweak on two fur and three cedars. Just passed them over the electric stove a little for a heat source. My flat surface shows new aluminum shafts perfect, so I am pretty sure the wood shafts were true as well. Are they getting bent in storage some how?

I did end up getting them straight. Just a little more effort than cedar. I used the heal of my palm. It worked. They are now drying with their second coat of poly. Thanks to Hookman, they will have some beautiful eastern turkey primary’s. Thanks for y’alls help.

Part of the allure of wood arrows.

Got em straight and done. I’m not a painter and my crester has a bit of a wobble. Thanks for the advice wallers!

I like that color combination very nice

Yep, they look good. Great job. Jim

Very nice! Jawge

Yee Haa!

look great

Guy's you have to realize Doug Fir's moisture is water, unlike POC in which the moisture is oil. When shafts are stable in one environment and shipped to a different environment that stability changes which causes the shaft to change shape, unless you finish them as soon as received, and even then some will change. You can't treat non-POC shafts like you can POC. It don't work. Don't bad mouth Fir because you don't know how to handle them.

When you heat straighten them, stand them up in a box or PVC tube until cool. If you lay them of a surface that is cooler than the shaft it will pull the heat out of one side of the shaft faster causing it to warp again.

Bob

Aromaker I didn't know about laying them on a cool surface they would warp again . You learn something everyday ! I straighten mine with my hands and I do it over about a 2 week period.I go over them numerous times then they seem to stay straight .I've shot Doug fir since 93. I think they are the best of the wood arrow shafts.

Thanks, Aromakr. I was going to relay my first experience with Doug fir several years ago when I ordered 50 and they came in at Christmas and most were bent as heck. Thinking they may be "water filled" coming in from the West Coast's high humidity and shipping delays over Christmas, I bundled them up tight with rubber bands and placed them in a more climate controlled room in the basement. Come early summer when I got around to making them up, they were just as straight as any other shafts I've ordered. Also, I have never had that problem since on a couple of hundred more Doug fir. I'm glad Bob explained it in much better terms.

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