My grandsons are 14 and 16. I got them #30 Black Hunter recurves for Christmas, for target shooting. Hunting weight here in CO is #35 minimum. Hickories don't break but I quit making hickories many years ago. I was thinking doug fir. 'arrow splitting' is on my mind because my doug fir and cedar do split on occasion. I'm wondering if I outta just get aluminums or carbons for safety for now. What's your opinion on this? Thanks

If you want wood arrows go with Surewood douglas fir. Tougher than cedar and will hold up well. Hickory would be awful heavy for that weight bow. Carbons and aluminum would either be good but get expensive if they lose many. Glad to see them shooting.

At that age the Aluminum or carbon would be safer.

At that age the Aluminum or carbon would be safer.

Red Oak dowels well selected are another option.

Surewood is an excellent choice.

These boys shoot cbows and carbons with their dad. I doubt they ever check them before shooting. So I don't know if shooting woods is too wise at that age. Just thought I'd ask if others have teens that shoot wood.

Alot of us started and still use wood. I would go with wood and let them help you build them and understand the how to. You will be making memories that will last them a life time.

My kids were shooting wood arrows as pre-teens. What Bigdog said.

+1 for BigDog

I just hope to have that opportunity someday. Enjoy your boys.

If they’re mature enough to handle lethal weapons….

And I gotta say…. In all of his years in the ER, my dad saw just about every possible way for a kid to be badly hurt and there was a very long list of things we had to steer clear of; wooden arrows never came up.

But I have to ask…. Do you need to do anything more than flex-testing as with carbons? Maybe a little twist?

Good points. thanks

Choose shafts with few run outs. The really dangerous shafts are those with run outs that go top to bottom.

Here we go...LOL.

When fletching the >>>>>>>go towards the bow hand.If there is a break it goes up and away.

There I said it

Jawge

Bob, be sure to orient the nock at right angles to the end grain. There will be disagreement which I will ignore but hope that you do not. LOL. Jawge

Thanks George. I do that when I make mine.

By chance-not checking-I found a huge split as I was nocking a cedar a couple days ago. That took me completely by surprise. I was just about to shoot and that shaft WOULD have split on that shot. I stopped shooting and immediately flexed the rest, and sure as heck there were a couple others that had grain lifts well underway. I've gifted arrows to my adult son, but never teens. Considering I'm gifting his boys a cuple boys, I thought I'd make some arrows. Then I got to thinking... That's why this thread.

Like this

Aluminum shafts are very similar to cedar ones in weight, spine, tunability and performance.

But, for light draw bows and just general use I suggest carbon arrows wit feather fletching. With light draws there is less risk of hazardous splitting and ceap youth arrows serve the purpose well.

If the lads get serious ad move up to middle weight or higher, aluminum for wooden shafts are my preference for my pupils. They are much easier to trim and tune with home hand tools. - lbg

boys will be boys and things will happen. I have the youngest kids using river cane arrows but then move up to old aluminum arrows after they learn to pull them out correctly. Then they get the wood arrows

Considering the low draw weight, I would go with cheap carbons. Also I expect more durable in the application

Aluminum is the safest,kids probably won't check carbons for splinters after missing a target very often , and if you ever see a picture of a carbon shaft stuck in someones hand, you'll cringe.

Aluminum is the safest,kids probably won't check carbons for splinters after missing a target very often , and if you ever see a picture of a carbon shaft stuck in someones hand, you'll cringe.

Yes absolutely carbons

I think that we try to make things to safe for our kids. If we teach them the way to check their arrows and stick to it while shooting they will learn to be safe in a short period of time.

+1 Mr.Griz.

The mentality today is that every activity has to be such that no undesirable result is possible.

That leaves humans with no idea how to cope when something does go wrong. The streets are full of that type of inadequate humans. And they vote.

Have any of you had a bad accident with wood arrows. Not me 52 years of shooting them ?

Aluminum shafts would be safest, then carbon.

Thanks for responses guys.

I know zip about carbon from experience. That's all my son and grandsons shoot with their cbows.

I shot 2117s for many years. It's obvious if they are unshootable.

That said, I've been shooting wood exclusively since 2004. Splits in wood are usually obvious, but not always. Hickories don't break. Doug fir and cedar do, typically it's because they flew sideways into the target due to crosswind, hit a rock or glanced off the target. They rarely break with normal target shooting backstop. It's easy to be complacent about checking them over.

I would recommend aluminum until they show a real interest in archery and then ease them into making wood arrows. If they bend at few in pulling them from targets when that would be a lesson learned for future in dealing with wood arrows.

I've decided aluminums are the way to go for now. If something wicked happened and one of the boys got a wood shard in his arm from an arrow I gifted him, regardless of the circumstances, I'd never get over it.

aluminum is safest by far. no ? carbon the most dangerus imo. I like carbons best.

I just finished building 2 light bows for my grandkids to shoot, 20 and 25 pounds. I picked up the kids carbon arrows for them for 2 reasons...first, kids aren't good at reliably hitting the mark, second, the carbons hold up better to missed shots. When they turn 16 I build them a bow they can hunt with and a set of good wood arrows.

I guess the 3rd reason is they love to roam the woods around our house and play like their hunting...lots of opportunity to bounce an arrow off trees and rocks.

LOL. They are not his kids. They are Bob's grandkids. You better believe it's safety first. LOL. So when I get serious about archery I can shoot AL? Jawge

LOL Jawge, they look good with your bows.... not.

Get wood.

We all learned on wood arrows, drank from hoses, rode in the bed of pickup trucks and survived.

I think wood is fine,, aluminum would be my second choice,,

What Nomad said! Ha. I didn't know arrows were made out of anything but wood when I was first shooting them.

You’re not supposed to drink from a hose??

So long as you teach them to carefully check them over after each shot wood arrows are fine.Even so aluminum will always be the safest and cheapest in the long run choice.

Just for kicks yesterday I checked the doug fir, cedar, and hickory bins at my hardwood supplier. Nothing remotely good enough for arrows right now. In the past 18 years I've bought 8/4 stock there and successfully made many hundreds of shafts. On a side note wood has fully doubled in price since I was last there a few years ago.

On to Depot. I bought a densely ringed, straight grained hem fir stud 'just because'. This morning I tried doweling it. Total fail. And my Veritas dowler planes are mirror sharp like my pocketknife. Aluminum it is.

I also looked in the 3/8ths mystery wood dowel bin for kicks. haha take a guess.

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