Is there much of a difference between Purple Heart, Ebony, Wenge, Ipe, or Bacote. Weight, durability or is it mostly just the looks of the woods. Thinking about getting some made up with some D Fir Shafts. Thanks,,,,,,,,

Any hardwood will be stronger than the shaft wood. Lots of them look nice, but be aware that some, such as purple heart and Osage orange, will turn brown over time--they still look nice, but not purple or yellow.

I use black walnut or mesquite

With premium Surewood D Fir,, I was thinking Bacote or Wenge,, didn't think there was much difference but I thought I'd ask.. Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

It's the looks of the wood BMB

If you make them right you can put a twist in the mesquite. These are cherry, black walnut and mesquite.

I have a couple of dozen Wenge footed Douglas Fir shafts from BearFooted Shafts. They are beautifully crafted and Steve can give you advice on which of the woods he uses concerning weight and such.

I've always used either Actionwood or dymondwood, both strong but most important uniform in weight.

Bob

.... " Any hardwood will be stronger than the shaft wood" ....

.... Balsa is a hardwood .. just sayin'

Very nice, Jon!

Polar is a hardwood too.

Footed some with “Rosewood” once which were really beautiful but I found it to be brittle.

Very nice work Jon,,Thanks All,, appreciate it.

I have used walnut, osage, cherry, and curly maple. I killed an antelope with the curly maple one.

Beautiful work Jon!

Good Shooting->->->->Craig

Thanks for the photo Jon Stewart.

Like monkeyball said, beautiful work.

By your description of twisting the mesquite, does that identify the top most finished foot in your photo as mesquite? I'm a wood ignoramus and can't tell which is which by color alone. Thanks.

: Chairman "Polar is a hardwood too."

And poplar will work just fine.

As for balsa being a hardwood, Monopoly money is money too.

Snow Crow. Yes the top one is mesquite. The twist that I out in that one was done by mistake. The bottom arrow is black walnut. I drilled a hole in the shaft so I could shoot carp with it using a stone point. I did shoot a dogfish with that arrow and recovered the fish. I retired that arrow.

I got a set from Gray Wing Arrows. They are D. Fir with Cocobolo dymalux or similar product. He did a fantastic job. I don't miss as often these days, but I have still managed to put a couple of them into the rough without a breakage.

I like to use Ebony for my footings. The density and mass of ebony allows for a shorter total footing length (3 inch) as was the style of the great 19th century arrows maker ... and ...

...I wasn't being sarcastic when I said Balsa was a hardwood, it produces angiosperms so it's a hardwood.

Balsa has been used as lams on flight bows. bvd

Thanks for that info Mr. Stewart.

That twisted mesquite is quite a bedazzler. Can't stop ogling it...

I like purpleheart

Any hardwood makes a beautiful footing. I've used purple heart and walnut. The walnut is much easier to work down, if you're doing it by hand. Just be careful. Some hardwood dust is toxic.

Don't think I would foot with poplar, not as strong as Doug fir and pretty bland looking. If I am going to the trouble of footing I want more contrast and strength.

I use Jim's Reparrows; of course I have to break an arrow first, the things are great!

I put a lot of work in my arrows, all of them (100s) have wild turkey feather fletching. The Reparrows let me keep shooing these beauties even after a break.

I should add, the repaired arrows pictures above were my late wife's low spine 5/15" arrows. She loved to shoot at tournaments but never practiced so target misses were common for her. She broke a LOT of arrows, by being able to repair them with a hardwood footing save me a ton of work keeping her in arrows.

Eric,

Does it matter whee on the arrow the vreak is with the Reparpws? Thanks TLM

Eric,

Does it matter whee on the arrow the vreak is with the Reparpws? Thanks TLM

No, just cut the arrow off at the break, taper the shaft and add another Reparrow.

The third arrow down in the above picture has been repaired twice in such a manner and has two Reparrows in the end.

The female part of a Reparrow is cut very precisely. I use a 23/64 Reparrow on a 11/32 shaft and sand the joint for a seamless transition between the eshaft and the Reparrow.

I use bois d'arc footed doug fir arrows.

Eric, Thanks! TLM

Beauty and especially strength are the two qualities for footing in my mind. Osage Purple Heart Bocote Cocobola Are all good choices in my mind. Bocote and cocobola excelling in the good looks department.

I made footing from mesquite, some very dark wood for pen blank turning. Also walnut, white oak etc. I really liked Mesquite.

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