Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: recurve shooter on May 28, 2008, 06:09:05 pm
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sup fellers? i got my futrue sour wood arras drying, but i got a question. can i use some regular home depot dowls to make some decent arras to shoot till my sourwood cures and turns into arras? if so, is there any special trick to it i need to know?
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YES dowels work great. Just make sure they are straight grained. You wouldnt want it to send a splinter through your hand while shooting.
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yeah, no crap there. what size should i use?
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Get straight grained 99 cent oak dowels, 3/8" for bows 55# and larger, and 5/16" for under 50#. My brother uses them with a great deal of success. I've used true birch dowels for my longbowsand like them very much too.
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cool, thanx alot fellers!
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I use the poplar dowels from Lowe's, see if they have them at Home Depot. My finished poplar dowel arrows come out at about 450-500 grains. I've used the oak dowels like Kegan, but they are too heavy for me.
Sean
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ok, cool. im gonna check it out thiss weekend. do i just use the size they come in or do i need to atempt to narrow it down?
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No need to narrow. And yes, Sean's right- the oak will be heavy. A full length arrow will be about 750 grains. Birch will be about 600.
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3/8 poplar sanded down to spine (for my 60 pounder) or
5/16 birch will be close to 40-45 pounds for the rest of my selfbows
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American Woodcrafters has birch for around $25.00/100. They make great arrows, but you have to watch out for grain runout and knots. Just be sure to visually inspect them and flex each one, and you should be good to go. Most of the 5/16" I have played with run in the mid - 40's, to a max of about 55# (only one or two) and a low of less than thirty pounds, again only one or two. There are a couple of threads on this subject, too. Good luck!
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thanx alot guys, yall really helped me out.
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Just wondering how you made out with your dowel arrows?
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aint started on em yet. i ment to get em last weekend, but i got to busy. gonna try again this weekend. i'll be sure to post the results.
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Here are some of the birch dowel arrows I'm using.
Best part of dowel rod arrows is that they're eaily replaceable. I've got six feltched up and sealed, all they need is points on hand if I break any. But I'm really lazy ;D.
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cool. they shoot good im guessing? and i like the spin on the feathers.
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yeah nice arrows there kegan... most of my arrows are red oak dowels, they do work well and the spine does seem okay, i shootem out of a 25 pound bow and a 50 pound bow and there doesnt really seem to be difference, also i shoot ash dowel arrows i bought from a company in northern penn., but dowel are easier ;D just maybe some straightening put on your points cut out nocks and fletch and maybe spine...
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great. i THINK im finally gonna get to try it this weekend.
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Thanks. These birch dowels shoot fine from my 80# longbow, and only break when I abuse them on trees and large rocks. I really like them.
As for spining- just make it easy on yourself. Step back 50-100 yards and shoot at the target. Those that land in line with the target, around it, or hit it will work. Those that skew to the left are too stiff, those that skew to the right are too light. Farther out and the pickier you get will help tune them better,but if they can hit the target or come pretty darn close at 70 yards, you should be able to peg a deer/turkey/rabbit/hog at 20. More fun anyhow ;D.
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i want to try that spine testing way you described but do you shoot the bare shafts or fletch them first?
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I fletch them. I check for bad grain and give it a bend by hand to cull the weak ones. The rest I make up and shoot it. Actually, out to 50-60 yards I've found I can shoot with some variance and spine and weight fine. Well, the arrows shoot fine. I need some work ;D!
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Well......I use dowels for all of my small game arrows......
I am also that weirdo that brings in his homemoade spine tester into Lowes, HD or WoodCraft and sits there for an hour to get 20 correctly spined shafts!
But in the end......it's worth it and the arrows are as about as cheap as I can make them......I use dowels, .30 or .38 brass, banding material for the blade......about the only thing that I have to buy thats expensive...are the feathers. I buy them 100 at a time and only one color....usually white.....and mark the cock feather with a black dot with a sharpie!
Will flat knock the stuffing out of a skrill or cotton tail!
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Birch dowels (3/8" and 5/16") are my favorite if I can't get natural wood shoots. ;D