Anyone want a dogwood arrow build-along?

[BowEd]

Great idea John.I'll watch.

[iowabow]

It is C. Racemosa see photos "gray" see photo and field guide. Fruit, white pith, leaf vein patterns & bark match.

[iowabow]

Great idea John.I'll watch.

I learned from beadman to weigh wood to determine when it was dry.

[iowabow]

The last time I arrows I dried them using the steps. The concrete gets hot and the air flows all around them.

[Pat B]

John, you will notice after a while that dry shoots make good arrows but seasoned shoots make great arrows. After they have a year or more their stability really goes up. They will stiffen some too as they season.

[iowabow]

John, you will notice after a while that dry shoots make good arrows but seasoned shoots make great arrows. After they have a year or more their stability really goes up. They will stiffen some too as they season.

Pat this is what I love about this site...it is information just like that. So I will adopt that idea now to cut a second set that will season for next years hunting season. Wow thanks for that info.

[JW_Halverson]

Well that point supports what a lot of people have said about curing out bow wood!  Sure can make a bow when it dries, but it makes better bows when cured. 

For that matter, I was a pretty good 'un for the ladies when I was younger, I gotta be something mighty awesome by now!   

[AJMag]

For that matter, I was a pretty good 'un for the ladies when I was younger, I gotta be something mighty awesome by now!   

You can't argue with logic like that! 


If the wood makes a good arrow dried, but better cured, then will they still cure alright after they've been finished into an arrow, or does that depend on the finish itself and whether it can "breathe"?

[iowabow]

  ;)jw...the shaft is now at 702. That is about 42 grains in one day.

[Pat B]

AJ, yes it will. You will notice the spine will get stiffer until the shaft is well seasoned wheather it is a raw shaft or a finished arrow.
  John, another tid bit or two about shoot shafts is the natural taper of the shaft will reduce the effective spine weight by up to 10#, so if your arrow spines out at 50# it should shoot well from a 40# bow also. And with arrow length for each inch over 28" you can subtract 5# per inch. I draw 26" but cut my sourwood shoot arrows to 29" to 30" reducing the effective spine weight from say 50# to as low as 30#. Most shoot arrows I have made will spine quite heavy so the natural taper and additional length will put the effective spine weight right where I want it.

[iowabow]

Pat I cut shafts for the following year today after  reading your post on seasoning.

[Pat B]

John, if you have access to plenty of the dogwood cut plenty. They make great trade items.          I usually bundle in groups of 15 similar shoots to a bundle. It is also nice to have extra seasoned shafts for future use.
  I hope to get a good supply of sourwood this year. The last few years the NCDOT bushhog have beat me to them. I collect most from a road bank. I do get a few from here on my property.

[BowEd]

That could be why after a year or so bows can gain draw weight a bit after curing.Not much but a bit.Those young fellas John had over to learn about bow making heard from me that your bow will gain a few pounds over the winter.Nice shafts John you got me looking going down the road for potential shaft wood.LOL.I planted 400 red twig dogwood this spring and things were starting fine then this summers' heat came in.Won't really know how much will survive until next spring.

[iowabow]

Over night the shaft dropped 4 more grains.

[iowabow]

That could be why after a year or so bows can gain draw weight a bit after curing.Not much but a bit.Those young fellas John had over to learn about bow making heard from me that your bow will gain a few pounds over the winter.Nice shafts John you got me looking going down the road for potential shaft wood.LOL.I planted 400 red twig dogwood this spring and things were starting fine then this summers' heat came in.Won't really know how much will survive until next spring.

Where did you get 400 dogwoods from?