surewood shafts
Equipment
Contributors to this thread:
Anybody using the surewood douglas fir shafts? Are the tapered worth the extra $? They are supposed to be heavier than cedar and stay straighter. Need to roll up some arrows for new to me recurve (old grizzly). Thinking about trying these.
I have built a few dozen with them (untapered, hunter grade) and they are really nice. Just don't smell as good as POC when you break one. I have used tapered woodies and never really saw enough difference but I think the idea is sound. I just need them to fly good and hit where I point at 30 yards and untapered shafts only seem to be limited by my pointing.
The guys at Surewood Shafts are friends of mine. They do everything from sourcing quality arrow wood, to splitting and seasoning the wood, to processing it into shafts without cutting any corners. They know what’s needed in order to make an excellent arrow shaft. I’ve built 1000’s of arrows for guys. I’d say at least 80% want them tail tapered. Must be a reason.
Thanks. Here we go, tapered it is, never had any before. Glunt im with you on the smell of POC. When I point taper shafts my wife loves to smell them lol.
I bought a dozen of the tapered Surewoods. Probably the best quality shaft I've ever used and these weren't even the premium ones. Groups are about half the size of parallel ash, cedar or laminated birch. Don't know if it is the taper or if the Surewoods are just better quality. Rose City sells bottled cedar oil for those of you who like the smell, and skeeters supposedly hate it.
Firewood shafts are what everyone should be measured to. They ARE the best. And POC doesn’t even belong in the same paragraph as Douglas Fir when it come to shafting material.
Surewood!!!!!!! Not Firewood.
Well WV, I do keep the broken ones and the ends I cut off when making arrows for kindling.??
I have one dz and love them. The finished arrow wt among the arrows were about 2-3 grains. I had mine tapered on the nock end to 5/16, spine 55/60#. I also tried kevin forrester's Mahogany hardwoods. Love them too...matched in weight to a few grains and a bit tougher than Surewoods. You can't go wrong with the Surewoods if you decide to use them.
That must be the reason I can't hit a barn with a trad bow. I ain't using them arras ! :-)
I shoot surewood shafts, they are super nice!! I have shot both but I prefer the tapered. You will be pleased with their shafts!!
Why are Douglas Fir better than POC? I’m just getting into wood arrows and I’m asking out of ignorance and curiosity.
Much more resilient and strong. Surewoods are extremely straight too.
Doug fir is so strong that if you stump shoot with blunts, expect to loose them befire you break them.
Use blunts too.
Sounds good WV. I ordered the hunter grade with taper. Let yall know how they turn out.
I'll check out these for sure. What are the pros/cons to shooting a wood shaft? I am getting a recurve and will obviously need some arrows. Why do you choose wood over carbon?
Pro's. Easy to tune. Very forgiving of form errors. Good mass weight. Will shoot crooked or straight to the same point of impact.
Cons: Expensive to make. Aggravating to make. Timely to make, Work intensive to make. Will bend easily. Even though they still shoot fine while bent, within reason, nobody like's bent arrows. With any point but a blunt, they tend to break at the back of the point, upon impact with anything solid. Makes shot selection paramount with their inherent nature to break when hitting something solid. Expensive to make.
I’ve found the cedar arrows I’m using are pretty easy to hand straighten with a bit of practice. I’ll have to give these Doug Fir a shot for the next dozen.
I’ve also found wood arrows to be quieter at the shot than carbon and especially aluminum shafts.
It is not legal to cut POC in the US, and most of the good close grained stock is long gone. Douglas fir is very common, although I believe Surewood uses only blow downs and city/road crew cut material, killing no live trees. SUrewood is the only wood arrow shaft I will use, and I have switched all of my modern glass lam bows over to surewood, no more carbon or AL shafting for me as long as surewood is around and this quality. I always get the premium #1s in Option 2 (Nock end tapered to 5/16"). Flight is fantastic. I stump shoot almost daily, and the surewood breaks less than carbons for me, even on rocks and green stumps. Arrow weights 10-11.5 grain per LB of draw. 650-680 grain arrows with 200 and 235 grain BHs. I just wipe on 3 coats helmsman spar urathane gloss with a rag, 0000 steel wool between coats and after. Fletch using duco cement, then one last 0000 steel wool and some johnson floor wax. Very durable and immune to any weather, for long periods. No target burn.
Have used them for about 10 years now. I generally just use the Hunter grade.
Am getting low on woodies, what/where's the source for Surewoods? ...Thanks
http://www.surewoodshafts.com/
Snag's Link
Surewood Hunter Grades are great shafts. Archery Past has them.
Deno
The arrow I have made are by makers who use Surewood Shafts. Great shafts. I've been shooting them for a number of years.
Haven't tried any tapered ones, but the regular old hunter grade work just fine for me. Maybe had one I had to hand-tweak straight out of a few dozen before staining/finishing. Love the weight and only break 'em when I glance one off something while stumping. They have a great thing going out there.
Snag, ya gotta show some of your artistry!
Question here: I'm shooting a 50 lb r/d longbow with 190 gr heads. Pull 28 and cut arrows to 29. What spine would you guys recommend for the tapered surewoods? The spine charts don't seem to take into account the various tapers.
WV, you forgot one other Pro: wood shafts are just 'purtier' than carbon:) especially some of those arrows that Snag makes up.