Hickory shafting

[Kegan]

Cut some hickory into 1/2" hickory squares, 30" long. They are still kinda green, but all are slightly bowed. I'm using a power drill to run them through a metla plate with holes drill in, but should I wait for the wood to season? Out of trying 7 or 8, only two came out perfectly, and one came out close but still with a nasty gouge- and I'm not using the ones with knots or problems in grain. Should I let them dry befroe I continue, or continue as they are easier to straighten?

[Pat B]

You will get your most stable shafts from well seasoned wood. It will probably twist and turn  as it cures in shaft form if it is too green.    Pat

[Hillbilly]

Green wood tends to fuzz up and gouge instead of cutting cleanly, too. I've had the best luck with timber shafts by splitting the wood into "boards", then letting it season and dry before taking it down into squares. Like Pat said, they can warp up like pretzels if you cut them into skinny pieces too quickly.

[Kegan]

So I should just bundle them and let 'em season, eh? Okay then , time to work on broadheads .

[Pat B]

Kegan I hike around my property on a daily basis. After hunting season until spring I collect shoots. I bring home what I have collected, bind it up in bundles with the shoots laid straight in the bundles. I date each bundle and Identify the specie on each shoot. Before you know it, you have a utility room full of shoot bundles.   
   By the first of the year your bundle should be ready to work. After a few weeks, take a shoot out, scrape the bark off and begin to straighten it over heat and see what it does. Next month do the same and so on. You will learn a lot about how different woods act under different situations.   Pat

[Kegan]

Kegan I hike around my property on a daily basis. After hunting season until spring I collect shoots. I bring home what I have collected, bind it up in bundles with the shoots laid straight in the bundles. I date each bundle and Identify the specie on each shoot. Before you know it, you have a utility room full of shoot bundles.   
   By the first of the year your bundle should be ready to work. After a few weeks, take a shoot out, scrape the bark off and begin to straighten it over heat and see what it does. Next month do the same and so on. You will learn a lot about how different woods act under different situations.   Pat

For shoots I use Ken Wee's "straighten everyday" method, gathering them trhoughout the summer. We only have sourwood shoots, the few others are too weak in spine or too light to make good arrows . I'll have to give the patches 'round here another year to grow back though. So, hickory . So far, the two that worked out are looking really good.

[welch2]

Kegan , Ken Wee makes some very nice arrows  ,nice guy too.

Ralph

[Pat B]

I am just about to revisited Ken Wee's Arrow Making articles in the early PA magazines. Been scanning back issues for ideas.   I never got into the "straighten everyday" routine but I'm sure it is a viable method. My attention span ain't that long!         Sourwood is the best, as far as I'm concerned. I have and will experiment with others like viburnum, shrub dogwoods and even some of the weeds(horseweed, dog fennel, golden rod). I have played a little with split out shafts. Hickory makes about the toughest and heaviest of shafts. Try different methods of curing and see what works best. Primitive is all about experimentation!    Pat