'Bout bloody time giveaway!- and the winner is!

[TSA]

For those of you that like to make your own arrow shafts from scratch- this one is for you!

I  found a chunk of high-grade Sitka Spruce in a mates workshop, here on-island, close to home!
Its a great piece of wood, he cut this chunk 20 odd years ago, and it has been seasoning in his shop all that time.

Its 45" long by about 5.5" by 5". Its straight and tight.
When I trimmed the end to get a closer look at the rings, it felt hard and tough
But like all Sitka, there may be a few small defects around in the block, pitch pockets etc. just work around them!!
There has to be at least 50 to 80 shafts in it.

It just seemed too unique a piece to put into production, being that my mate hand built his own shafts as well, so we thought we had better keep the mojo on this block alive, and pass it on!!

To enter in the draw, go to the home page on our website, look for the giant yellow button in the bottom right corner, click on that, go to the Promo page, and fill out the entry form( quick and easy) use the promo code  PA002.

Heres a link to the home page.
http://www.trueshaftarchery.com/home.html

Please, the only thing we ask, is that you build some shafts from this block- please dont just put it in the corner!!

Good Luck!!

[Hawkdancer]

Looks good!  What would be the best way to get shafts out of a chunk like that?  Without a fancy mill saw?

[TSA]

if one had a bandsaw, to cut the boards, and then the square blanks, then a small block plane and a home made shaft shooter board- it would make great shafts!

with spruce i would be reluctant to recommend one of the tennon cutters, unless you kept it razor sharp- and fed it slowly at as high an rpm as possible, and guides in and out.

the Veritas dowel cutter is a great tool- but expensive.
its how i started many years ago- i think it was $400 years ago!!
http://www.leevalley.com/en/Hardware/page.aspx?p=42331&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1

[bjrogg]

Wayne that looks like a beautiful piece of wood. Let me see if I understand this right. Is the raffle for the block of wood? Or is it for shafts from it?
I'll be entering either way.
Thanks for the giveaway and love your shafts
Bjrogg

[TSA]

This raffle is for the block!

its a kind of a " pay the mojo forward" giveaway

we know that so many folk on here love to build their own shafts from scratch, its catering to those folk- would hate to give them smooth and finished shafts- and steal their thunder

i have considered maybe helping a wee bit, but really would like folk to have the pleasure of doing it themselves.
 Was thinking  i could  cut 2 square faces on the board, but then the board will be trimmed down to 37"( our resaw dimensions), but that would take away some of the latitude in being able to select the best piece of the shaft for ones arrow!

[BowEd]

Nice promo!!!Thanks.Got my entry in.

[bjrogg]

That's what I thought Wayne. That's a cool idea. I went to your site and entered. Couldn't be any easier. Thanks for the raffle and for sponsoring this arrow section.
Bjrogg

[PEARL DRUMS]

Good on you, Wayne. I don't need my name in on the drawing. But, I think its great you are willing to share that old chunk of wood.

[Hawkdancer]

Wayne, thanks for the info on cutting!  Btw, I'm in! 
Hawkdancer

[TSA]

yer all most welcome.
its a nice piece of well-seasoned wood, and shouldn't break the bank posting it, and has some good "mojo"
would like to see someone do with it as was originally intended.
might keep them in arras for a few weeks at least

might be tough trying to mail one of our commercial sized blocks- 12" square by 40" and probably weigh 100 to 150#.
our little gal in the post office might have a hernia!

[ksnow]

More than a few arrows in that piece. I'm in.

Kyle

[TSA]

should be easily between 50 and 80 first grade, premium shafts in that block!

[Morgan]

Thank you for offering up this give-away! I’m in!

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Sounds like an awesome project for someone. I went ahead and threw my name in the hat. How does this kind of wood do with split shafting?

Kyle

[TSA]

yes and no 

if it were a survival situation- it can be done- but the yield will be a lot lower than if you saw it.

reason being, the wood is straight and clean, but SITKA  spruce (as opposed to other spruce species) has an incredibly high percentage of intergrain connective fibers.
these are the fibers that are transverse to the grain- they are like super fine hairs, sometimes visible after splitting.
They are what make the spruce such a tough wood, and difficult to split.

so yes- it will split, but not as easily as Port Orford Cedar, or Fir.

its those interconnective fibers are what has made spruce the most desirable wood for airplane frames, and masts and spars on sailing vessels.

here is a video of splitting a spruce block- have to run the wedges side by side, then double them up, then triple them up, and finally use  bars to pry them apart- she doesnt split easily, thats for sure.
https://www.facebook.com/woodenarrows/videos/366160637154227/

is it possible to attach videos on here