Shaft diameter

[RyanR]

I went out and gathered some witchhazel of various diameters for arrow shafting. Roughly what diameter should I have collected and can I just plane them down and expect the spine to be similar to the thinner ones? Obviously every piece will be a little different. This is my first attempt at anything other than cedar shafts. Also has anyone tried to make autumn olive shafts?

[George Tsoukalas]

When I collect shafts I like the base to be at least the size of my little finger and probably a little
larger. There is info on shoot shafts on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/shoots.html

[RyanR]

Thanks, luckily most of them are about that size. I was thinking I needed them smaller but couldn't find many that were small and straight.

[Pat B]

I use a 3/8" open end wrench to measure the bottom of the shoots to be cut.

[NorthernArcher]

I have been making Red Osier (Dogwood) shoot shafts for years.  I typically collect shafts that are slightly larger than what I will need. After initial drying and hand-straightening, I run them through a 3/8" dowling jig and put them aside to finish seasoning.  When they are dry I plane/scrape/sand them down to size, checking them on my home-made spine tester as I go, and stop when the desired spine is reached.