Whats out there for wood shafts these days?

Is there a best?

Worst?

Haven't bought any since the early 90's

I got some from Wapiti and was very pleased.

It looks like there's 3 basic sizes/diameters.

Does my poundage (45# long bow) make a difference in which diameter to get?

Or just personal preference?

Cedar is still probably king but there are douglas fir shafts made by Surewood Shafts that are close to perfection.

Wapiti has good shafts and good service

I've been using Surewood Shafts doug fir for years. Never been disappointed with a single bundle from them.

for staying straight its hard to beat cedar

but Douglas Fir not much different and little heavier and definately stronger

I do Sherwod Douglas fir and totally happy-because I do a lot of stumping that tends to be rough on cedar

I like 11/32" diameter

I like Surewood Doug fir in 5/16 because I also shoot carbons so the diameter is close in both. I shoot both their premium and hunter grades and have nothing bad to say about either. You can go to their website and sign up for their email and you will get emails of sales they run fairly regularly and save a few bucks.

Shaft diameter affects your dynamic spine number… Just a bit. And I should probably say just a WEE bit. It should be the same as building out your side plate by 1/2 of the difference in diameter, so the difference between 5/16 and 11/32 is what, 1/64th?? I honestly don’t believe that I am good enough for that to make any difference… Maybe someday I will do more testing and surprise myself, but If I ever do… I’m going to do it using aluminum… not that you can get the exact same deflection from two different diameter aluminum shafts (not that I am aware of, anyway… they are all slightly different, pretty much) but then again, no two wood shafts are truly identical dynamically… Wood is just too full of variables. (I’m sure someone who has painstakingly sanded a bunch of shafts to extremely tight tolerances will be quick to tell me that I am all wrong about that, and that it CAN be done…so I will concede that point… But I just can’t imagine that I would ever be willing to pay someone for the amount of time that it would take to get there.

So I’m going to say that it’s really a matter of personal preference, but I would be willing to bet that at #45, 5/16 is probably the most popular and you could save a few dollars if you are happy enough shooting slightly fatter arrows.

I have some limited experience with Wapiti Cedars, and (for this wood arrow newbie), they are excellent. I have been leaning more towards experimenting with Doug Fir because I tend to be hard on arrows, and the Wapitis are not cheap… at the moment, I am still counting my blessings, because I was about to pull the trigger on about 50 wooden shafts for a bow which I’m pretty sure just blew up on me…

One thing I am sure of, and that is that if wood is what sings a song to your soul, nothing else will do. I’m a bit more catholic in my preferences (some might correct me and substitute the word “mercenary“, but yeah, I will shoot anything that I can get to tune. Until I guess the great news is that no matter what you choose to get started, you’re going to break plenty of arrows and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to experiment with all of the options that are out there for you… so don’t stress out over it. It’s not a big deal.

Surewood DF

A strong source of top quality lightweight shafts are the offerings from Trushaft Archery, in Canada. He offers both Sitka spruce, and hemlock. Very consistent shafts also! I believe there are dealers in the US as well for them. Wayne does ship around the world tho also.

Another vote for Trueshaft. The spruce arrows I've ordered are second to none. I think they are close to Douglas fir in strength but runs bit lighter. Theres a reason spruce is used in aircraft building, the strength to weight is far above others.

Anybody in th US buy Trueshaft? If so, how? Can't buy from their website

Just follow instruction of his site and either contact by email or arrange a phone call. I have personally seen the process and inventory, and you will be impressed with the shafts. Thanks

CStyles - Addictive Archery is a dealer for TrueShafts. Andy usually has a good selection of different spines.

As others have noted, lots of good wood out there -- POC, spruce, Doug Fir, etc. The biggest difference you will notice is the price. More than tripled since the '90s.

I make my shafts from hickory, doug fir, and cedar. Gonna be making another production run of <50# spine hickories soon.

I have used Surewood Doug Fir shafts for the past 10 years - both the premiums and hunter grades. Very nice.

Steve Burns of Bearfooted Shafts does great exotic footing on premium Surewood Douglas Fir shafts. Can't beat them for durability, high FOC and beauty.

Thom thanks for the name of the distributor. I am interested in trying Sitka spruce shafts. I have had great wood shafts from both Surewood and Wapiti. Also make my own from "Select Pine" boards I buy at Menards. It is a fair amount of work. Just finished 34 shafts from a $10 board. All spine 50-54, 29 are within 10 grains. The dozen shown are within 3 grains, weighing from 532 to 535 grains. It is another option, good activity when the weather sucks.

I'm drawn to the Sitka spruce but all others I have tried have been just as good. I'm not that good to tell the difference in any wood arrow that was well made. Parallels or tapered. Just like I can't tell if bow is tillered 3 under or split. Nocks get broken sometimes on all if I do my part.

All

I prefer tapered cedar 70-75 # spine, for my Fedora 560. Not easy to find. I had to bite the bullet and ordered some from 3R, as I am down to my last half dozen.

I used tapered Douglass fir in the past from Raven (?) but I'm really dating myself. They were excellent. I believe the fellows name who made them then was Dave Doran.

TLM

Surewood makes nice tapered shafts. Got a dozen 65-70 spine for my brother. After 2 years they are holding up very well

Surewood, Trueshaft, Wapiti are all good makers

to note, tip to tip - as in full length, for these are

Surewood 32"

Wapiti 33"

TrueShaft 34"

useful info I hope for those trying to reduce their gaps.

Yep on the tapered Surewoods,, consistant tapers w/o the "edge" that you feel on some others. Did 6 doz. last winter, 3 different spines, I have some of the nicest stumpin' arrows you could use, in fact most are nice enough to put a BH on and hunt with.

I know there not wood., but bamboo shafts/ arrows when properly setup fly as good as any wood arrow. There not for everyone and take a while to set them up. There tough and very durable.

Surewood Douglas fir. Been great.

I also have had great luck with Surewood Shafts - excellent quality and customer service.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here