Damaging arrow wood.

[DC]

I harvested some Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia amailbilis) a member of the honeysuckle family. It needed very little straighting except toward the bottom where it curved to the sun. Fresh from cutting it didn't respond to straightening so I was really bending it hard. You know, where it gets to the stage where you think you might be be damaging the wood. Are you? Can you overbend  wood when it's green? How would it manifest itself, poor spine or? Next time I'll cut above the curve and solve the problem that way but I was just wondering. I think it will make stellar arrows. I think there are a lot of landscape plants that will work.

[George Tsoukalas]

it's possible. I usually cut shafts several inches longer than i need.
Will you be using the end towards the ground as the point end?
Jawge

[DC]

Will you be using the end towards the ground as the point end?
Jawge

Yes, does the other way work at all? I've heard mention of it  once or twice but it always seems wrong to me.

[loon]

Yup, I wonder if having it taper so it's thinner towards the point makes it act stiffer. Will experiment later...

[Pat B]

Some Native Americans used the butt end for the nock but they tapered that end and made a bulbous nock with the bigger end. I prefer the weight forward advantage of the butt end forward.

[George Tsoukalas]

I think it is personal preference. I've make the butt end the nock and point end. These days I prefer the butt end to be the point.
When I cut shafts I make sure the nock end is 3/8".
Jawge

[DC]

Do you reduce the dia some? 3/8" seems big to me. With the woods that I've tried 3/8 on the thin end would probably result in 80-90#(guesstimation)  spine. You use rose, is it limper than most?

[Dakota Kid]

Drying and debarking will cut that 3/8 down quite a bit right out of the gate.

[Pat B]

Sometimes I'll use a thumb plane and reduce the butt end but I've also just tapered that end for glue on points or cut a slot in the taper for trade points or stone. If the arrow is a bit bigger than the field point doesn't matter and the blade points will cut a big enough hole to receive the arrow without much drag.

[TimBo]

I read somewhere (I think Jim Hamm's book, Bows of the Native Americans) that you use the larger/ground end for the nock.  The rationale was that if you have one of those pesky bends that keeps coming back after straightening, it tends to happen higher on the shoot, and you don't want one of those under the fletching.  I have a bunch of shoot shafts I am going to try hard to turn into arrows this summer, and I am using the larger end for the point since I like the weight forward aspect.  I guess you could use larger shoots and plane them down with a reverse taper...that seems like an awful lot of work though.

Sorry to continue to wander off topic from the original post...I have wondered that about bending green wood too, and don't have a good answer.