Dowel Arrows?

[Jacob Parnell]

Though dowels are not primitive, I was wondering if I could make a good arrow from a dowel.  This is my first bow that I am making, and I'm not really ready for the primitive aspect of bow making yet 

Thanks!
Jacob

[Josh B]

As long as they are straight grained and of proper spine, they make great arrows.  All of my stumping arrows are just cheap raminwood dowels from the lumberyard.  They are a little tougher than POC and a lot cheaper.  Josh

[Pappy]

What Josh said,you can sand ,or I use a little thumb plane the sand to get the spine like you need.
   Pappy

[Jacob Parnell]

Thanks!  But I heard somewhere that they are unsafe

[bubby]

I use LOTS of them, poplar seems to work the best for me, no raminwood dowels around here, about a buck each and I have gravitated towards 3/8" dowels but 5/16" are great to, poplar it pretty damn tough, like already said check the grain and get the best and then check it again, bub

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Thanks!  But I heard somewhere that they are unsafe

Bend them a bit in the store- grain runouts can splinter or break. Make sure you DON'T buy 1/4" dowels of ramin, they are not big enough to self nock and they tend to break on hitting things.

[Joec123able]

I used oak dowels to make arrows once with duct tape fletchings they worked ok but broke very easy

[Josh B]

Thanks!  But I heard somewhere that they are unsafe

You will hear a lot of things like that.  Usually from folks with little to no experience trying them.  I'll say it again,  straight grain (no feathering out) and properly spined make good shooting, reasonably durable shafts.  I haven't used oak dowels for my arrows, but I've used 1/4" oak dowels for all my nephew's arrows and they are tough!  Those boys shoot every chance they get at anything in the woods they think needs shot.  They still have most of the original dozen arrows apiece.  I love the poplar and ramin wood both.  But poplar dowels aren't sold locally.  So I have to order them.  I end up with a lot of culls that way, so i stick to raminwood.  Again, straight grained and proper spine.  You won't be disappointed.  Josh

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Thanks!  But I heard somewhere that they are unsafe

You will hear a lot of things like that.  Usually from folks with little to no experience trying them.  I'll say it again,  straight grain (no feathering out) and properly spined make good shooting, reasonably durable shafts.  I haven't used oak dowels for my arrows, but I've used 1/4" oak dowels for all my nephew's arrows and they are tough!  Those boys shoot every chance they get at anything in the woods they think needs shot.  They still have most of the original dozen arrows apiece.  I love the poplar and ramin wood both.  But poplar dowels aren't sold locally.  So I have to order them.  I end up with a lot of culls that way, so i stick to raminwood.  Again, straight grained and proper spine.  You won't be disappointed.  Josh

I meant 1/4 ramin with self nocks

anyway... what poundage?

[lesken2011]

The last batch I made were from 5/16 poplar dowels from Lowes. At $0.88 each, they are a bargain. The lady at the front desk was nice enough to let me bring in my spine tester. I sat on the floor in the dowel section and went through about 200 dowels before I got enough for a good dozen. I used to make all my boy's arrows from oak dowels in the '90's. I would get em 4' long, cut em in half and presto 2 arrows per dowel.

[scattershot]

Been a while, but I used to make a bunch of 'em. You can get 5/16" birch or poplar for about $25.00/100 from American Woodcrafters. The trick is to inspect them carefully for grain runout and knots, and flex them before you start to work with them. Don't be afraid to toss any that don't measure up, they're cheap.

Good luck!

[Jacob Parnell]

Thanks!  But I heard somewhere that they are unsafe

You will hear a lot of things like that.  Usually from folks with little to no experience trying them.  I'll say it again,  straight grain (no feathering out) and properly spined make good shooting, reasonably durable shafts.  I haven't used oak dowels for my arrows, but I've used 1/4" oak dowels for all my nephew's arrows and they are tough!  Those boys shoot every chance they get at anything in the woods they think needs shot.  They still have most of the original dozen arrows apiece.  I love the poplar and ramin wood both.  But poplar dowels aren't sold locally.  So I have to order them.  I end up with a lot of culls that way, so i stick to raminwood.  Again, straight grained and proper spine.  You won't be disappointed.  Josh

Thanks, Josh.  Luckily, Poplar dowels are VERY common in Ontario, so I will buy some from my hardware store and make... maybe 6 arrows.  I don't exactly understand how to check what spine I should use in my bow, but I will get on that.

Can there be a little feathering?

Jacob

[Josh B]

If you have an arrow that you know the spine of, you can flex it by hand in comparison with the shaft in question being flexed.  Not precise by any means, but it will get you in the ball park.  Otherwise just make sure the shafts are somewhat stiff and try them out until you find the one that shoots best and match up to it.  You generally do this without fletching(bare shaft tuning)  as far as the feathering goes, that's entirely up to you.  My standard is that I only tolerate as much grain run out as I would want shoved through my flesh upon release.  In other words,  I don't risk it.  Straight grain, or it don't make the cut.  Josh

[bow101]

Funny thing I rarely find any dowels in the lumber stores that are straight for more than 24"       It seems that 8 out of ten that I make from scratch are very straight.  And I make them from a flat board, rip to size, square them up to about 3/8 then I use a jig and round them out to 11/32 with the drill.

[scattershot]

Another way to get a pretty close spine on your shafts is to drive two nails into the wall at about 12" or so. Take an arrow that flies well from your bow, and put the end under one nail and hang the shaft over the other. Then take a weigh, any weight, from the other end of the arrow. mark the wall at the point where it bends. Then, do a bareshaft of the same length the same way. If it doesn't bend to the mark, it's stiff, and if it bends beyond the mark, it's weak.