sourwood

[Loope]

I have a couple of small, ~5 inch diameter, sourwood trees in the backyard that I have been thinking about chopping down.  They aren't healthy, have several holes in them, and are kind of in the way.

I know sourwood shoots make great arrows... would small branches from these trees make similar arrows as shoots?  Could the trunk sections be split down to make decent shafts or is that too much work?

[Pat B]

The nice thing about sourwood shoots is they grow straight and tall. If you can find branches that fit the criterion for arrows then they should make good arrows. The branches will probably have asymmetrical diameter due to tension/compression wood. With shoots the pith it centered. 
 Sourwood doesn't split well and around here it grows spiraled and I don't know how well it would work for shafting. If you can saw out good, straight square stock they might make good shafting just using a hand plane.
  If you do cut the trees dig the stumps and replant them on the edge of the yard and collect the shoots that will sprout from the stumps. It takes 2 years before a shoot is ready to harvest. The winter of the second year is a good time to cut sourwood shoots.   

[Loope]

Thanks Pat, I learned more than I hoped just from your reply.  I also never thought about replanting a stump, I may have to give that a try.