# Wooden arrow shafts vs. dowels



## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

very big difference!....
good wooden arrows are made from " port orford cedar (POC)" a red cedar that grows exceptionally straight grained. that straight grain is what makes the difference. it means that the soft and hard growth rings run evenly along the entire length of the shaft, with very little "grain run-out" .....where the grain makes a slight turn or wave and the two growthring types run out of the diameter of the arrow. all this constitutes to the force of the bow, driving the arrow, being taken by the entire arrow evenly. the wood for an arrow is specifically inspected and chosen, with this feature at the forefront and the reason wood arrows are somewhat expensive. 
plain wooden dowels, even the very best grades, come no where near the integrity of the wood chosen for POC shafts. they are full of grain run-out and every run-out makes a weak spot in the shaft that effects how the shaft paradoxes on the shot. the worst examples will break quite easily.
for your own safety, it seriously does make sense to pay the price for good wooden "arrow shafts".


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## JDBrown (Jul 18, 2013)

Thanks for replying, Ron. I realize that POC is the most popular/common arrow wood, but I've also seen Ash, Poplar, Douglas Fir, Birch, Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, Oak, and probably a few others that escape me at the moment. I understand what you're saying about "grain run-out," and that has been my main concern about using dowels. On the other hand assuming I know what knots and grain run-out look like, I should be able to hand-select dowels without those problems--if the store or lumber yard has any.

The last time I used dowels was a couple of years ago (before I discovered my bamboo source), and I spent probably half an hour sorting through all of the 3/8" dowels in the store in search of a few that had straight grain and no knots. I think I ended up finding about 4. So I don't expect to run down to the lumber yard and pick up enough dowels to make 100 arrows or anything crazy like that. If all I'm looking to do is experiment with 2 or 3 wooden shafts, though, it sounds like using dowels from the hardware store isn't such a bad idea--as long as I remain very picky about the individual dowels I choose.

So, does anyone know of any other reasons I shouldn't use a dowel? Or does it just come down to carefully checking for knots and grain run-out, and bending them a few times to make sure they don't crack when flexed?


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## bbjavelina (Jan 30, 2005)

ron w knows whereof he speaks. 

Also to be considered it the wood density, which can relate to integrity. As an aside, last I checked most dowels are made from a S. American wood called Ramin --- you know, like the noodles?

Seriously though, good shafts could be made from pine if you used only the heartwood and it was cut true with the grain. Pine sapwood wood not be nearly so good. 

Woodies have been around for generations and a lot has been learned about what makes some superior to others. 1,000's of years of learning should be worth something. I played with woodies for years and made shafts from everything I could find including dowelling out some Brazilian Purple Heart and Bamboo. 

PO Cedar is pretty hard to beat. Let us know what you learn along the way.

Best of luck to you.


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## gofor (Feb 4, 2013)

you are on the right track with being very selective of the wood dowels you find. When I was a pre-teenager (over 5 decades ago), my dad made my brother and I a couple long bows, about 35 lb pull. One was from purple heart and one from lemon wood. He shot an aluminum recurve (45 lb). We hand-made all our arrows from wood dowels bought at the hardware store, and used turkey feathers for fletching. Broke a lot of them, but it was always at the target, not during the shot. Beings it was so long ago, I cannot be positive of what wood the dowels were made from, but suspect they may have been poplar. At that time, we did not know enough to select all straight grain without run-out. Finding straight ones was a hard enough challenge.

As for the section of the tree the wood should come from, it should not be the very center fast growth initial wood. Also should not be the soft outer sap wood. However, determining this will be impossible at the store, so flexing them to check is a must. You will probably have better luck with poplar or another cross-linked grain like maple than with an open grain wood like red oak. White oak would be excellent if the grain is straight, an almost impossible find at the big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes etc.
For wood working, I make my own by splitting/riving the green logs, splitting them down to dowel size, and then driving them through successively smaller holes drilled in a metal plate. This process pretty much eliminates any faulty/weak grain, but I have never tried it with a piece over 18 inches long.

JMTCW

GO


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

PO cedar has been selected as the standard because of the aforementioned caharacteristics and because it has a very good strength to weight ratio and being cedar, it is naturally resistant to decay from moisture and insect infestation. 
Ramin, a fast growing species of Luan, and a sub-species of mohagany. it also has a fairly high strength to weight and grows straight with slightly less growth ring frequency than good PO cedar. it is slightly heavier than cedar, but considerably lighter than other woods that might qualify as an arrow shaft
the main issue here, as far as an arrow shaft wood is concerned, is that straight growing trunk that keeps grain run-out to a minimum and paradox consistent.
it is true that with careful picking, any wood will work. many have much higher strength than POC, but few have as high a strength to weight ratio. most others woods will proportionately get considerably heavier as strength goes up and won't be as decay resistant. 
POC is over all,.... the best.


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## bbjavelina (Jan 30, 2005)

ron w said:


> PO cedar has been selected as the standard because of the aforementioned caharacteristics and because it has a very good strength to weight ratio and being cedar, it is naturally resistant to decay from moisture and insect infestation.
> Ramin, a fast growing species of Luan, and a sub-species of mohagany. it also has a fairly high strength to weight and grows straight with slightly less growth ring frequency than good PO cedar. it is slightly heavier than cedar, but considerably lighter than other woods that might qualify as an arrow shaft
> the main issue here, as far as an arrow shaft wood is concerned, is that straight growing trunk that keeps grain run-out to a minimum and paradox consistent.
> it is true that with careful picking, any wood will work. many have much higher strength than POC, but few have as high a strength to weight ratio. most others woods will proportionately get considerably heavier as strength goes up and won't be as decay resistant. POC is over all,.... the best.


That's a fact! The ones I dowelled out of Purple Heart flew like they were made from Lead. Really didn't look nearly as good as I thought they might.

After all the years I tried so many different things, PO Cedar was clearly my favorite.


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

purple heart pretty dense stuff, it's commonly used as the keel and back bone for wooden sailing vessels.....right where you want the most weight! yea, I would imagine as an arrow, it would fly like a lead pipe!! Eastern White Pine (EWP), if you can find some good close grained straight stuff, and Sitka Spruce, would be my next two choices after POC. both would take a bit more sealing than POC. their weights would be fairly close to POC, but they will be way more prone to warp with humidity changes, hence the need for sealing. sitka can be found from boat lumber suppliers, but it's pricey. EWP, is cheap and easy to find all over, but pretty rare in good straight and tight grained examples....if you do find some, you will also find that it will be considerably heavier and somewhat brittle.
as you can see, there's a good reason POC and it's price, has been assigned the standard for wooden arrow shafts!


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## JDBrown (Jul 18, 2013)

Thank you for all the good information. To be quite honest, I don't know if I'm ever going to mess around with dowels again or not. The ones I've used in the past were poplar, and they seemed to do okay. As has been noted, it's just really hard to find cheap-o dowels with straight grain. If/when my friend with the bamboo moves I may take another look at dowels, but I'm looking more and more seriously at building a doweling jig so i can make my own shafts from square stock--it seems much easier to find good grain that way.

Anyway, thanks for all the input. I hadn't considered wood density as a factor, other than just checking the early vs. late growth rings -- that's a good one to keep in mind. If anybody else has some input or experience to offer, I would appreciate hearing from you.


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## bbjavelina (Jan 30, 2005)

One more thing. For me, at least, I preferred hand planing shafts to dowelling them. 

All you need is a good straight board with a V groove down the middle and a VERY sharp small plane. Saw out a square piece of good wood, lay it in the groove, run the plane over it, turn, repeat 15 times, sand lightly. 

Best of luck to you.


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

yup, the fixture and a planing is a much better way to get the blank down to the point that the doweling jig is simply knoching off the high spots and planning ridges....the way it's supposed to be done. in other words,the shaft should be pretty close to finished size when you put it through the doweling jig. think of the doweling jig as a "scraper' designed to put the finished round shape on a shaft. just small, paper-thin, light curls is all that should be coming off the shaft at that point. the finer the curls are, the less the shaft will follow the path of least resistance as it goes through and the straighter your shafts will turn out.


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## pfbows (Jun 12, 2013)

I have had good results with poplar dowels, they work well with a 45-55 lb homemade long bow. Shaft size at 3/8 is a bit big for some people, but you can sand them down fast with some 60 grit. They are great for coloring with dyes or stains because they are very light in natural color. Price is very good & if they were bundled well, their relatively straight . I like the bamboo shafts from China for 50 lb. + bows, they are not the best for straightness , but the price is right. I like Privet or wax wood shrub shafts if I have the time, arrow wood shrubs are great too. Both of those require a lot of patience and time to make straight shafts from , but "patience " is the most valuable tool in your life long tool box.


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