Surewood Shafts

[slinkymalinky]

Well, hasn't the wooden arrow thing been a journey so far. Unlike the carbon shafts I've been used to, as I've been navigating my way around the world of woods I've discovered that it's a much more convoluted and tangled place.

The spine measuring system is as much art as science (no, a 45-50# shaft does not mean it suits a 45# bow... in fact my 45# bow with 29" shafts and 125gn points at my 28" draw tunes best to 65 - 70# shafts... go figure). The variety of materials means that even within a spine range, they all behave differently I've been having to think about grain direction, straightening, nock orientation, tapering and on and on.

My first bare shaft tests with woods resulted in broken arrows... when a soft of stiff carbon hits a bale the momentum of the shaft's tail doesn't snap the shaft like it does with Douglas Fir or PO Cedar

I could go on and on about the alchemy that is wooden arrow making but you all already know and are probably just smugly grinning at the carbon carrying noob.

But wait, I actually have a contribution to all of you wise old men and women of the stick and string. I know a few of you get shafts from them but I just discovered Surewood Shafts. To say that I'm really happy with the shafts that have just lobbed on my doorstep is akin to saying that it would be kind of nice to have a Ferrari. Even with my limited experience I can see that these sticks are something special.

The grain is amazingly straight and consistent. The shafts are amazingly straight. The hardest thing I've found about the transition to wood arrows is finding good material. I think I've just found my source. Shame it's not local but comparing shafts from different places isn't comparing apples with apples and when the best tasting apples land on my doorstep for the around the same price as any others and better than most, it's not a hard decision. I'm sure there are a couple of local stores who would supply similar quality shafts if they could get them and I'd happily buy from them but so far there's nothing I've found that's close.


Cheers, Tony

[GrahameA]

Morning Tony

The spine measuring system is as much art as science (no, a 45-50# shaft does not mean it suits a 45# bow... in fact my 45# bow with 29" shafts and 125gn points at my 28" draw tunes best to 65 - 70# shafts... go figure). .....

...I could go on and on about the alchemy that is wooden arrow making ...

IMHO Wood Arrows do have a Science to them and the Spine ratings do make sense if you understand where it comes from. The downside in my experience is most people do not want to undestand it.

So the BIG HINT is that Spine is a measure arrow deflection and that is an indicator of the stiffness of the shaft and that in turn is used as an indicator of the natural frequency of the vibrating shaft. And people are interested in the arrow going through one cycle in the time it takes to go past the riser.

I am well over disussing this after a few years of people ignoring the Physics of what they are doing.

Using the AMO system the values originate from an all wood american flat bow and I think a 28" draw and if you shoot an all wood american flat bow with draw length the numbers are very good. The real issues start occuring when people shoot something something else in bow design and want to shoot shorter or longer arrows. (Changing the length of the shaft will change the natural freqency and shooting bows that result in a faster or slower arrow will change the time it takes for the arrow to go past the riser.)

... Surewood Shafts. To say that I'm really happy with the shafts that have just lobbed on my doorstep is akin to saying that it would be kind of nice to have a Ferrari. Even with my limited experience I can see that these sticks are something special.

The grain is amazingly straight and consistent. The shafts are amazingly straight. The hardest thing I've found about the transition to wood arrows is finding good material. I think I've just found my source. Shame it's not local but comparing shafts from different places isn't comparing apples with apples and when the best tasting apples land on my doorstep for the around the same price as any others and better than most, it's not a hard decision. I'm sure there are a couple of local stores who would supply similar quality shafts if they could get them and I'd happily buy from them but so far there's nothing I've found that's close.

Good shafts are a great starting point and make life easier. The downside that I encounter is that many people will not pay for them. They will spend hours with bent, mismatched shafts just to save a dollar.

As the saying goes...
The bitterness of Poor Quality lingers long after low price.

Then there is the issue of people wanting one set of arrows to shoot from a range of bows. Aaaagggghhhh..........

[Buranurra]

I am using crafting my Surewoods right now, they are without a doubt quality of the highest level.

[bear74]

the surewoods are great shafts that if you have the right ones for your chosen set-up you certainly wont be disappointed with. look forward to seeing some finished shaft pics mate.

[little arrows]

so you've got plenty of time to get them assembled and ready for their big outing to the North Albert Trad shoot............

cheers
sue

[daniel boon]

Most of my arrows are carbons, but have 2doz Surewood shafts that I made up, and I'm also very happy with them. Got the Premium shafts, only a few $ more a doz than the other grades. All of them are straight and weigh the same within a few grains.
Great shafts and very reasonable price even with the shipping

[Trad Bound]

I buy the 100 shafts bargain batch. Good value then in weigh them up into similar weight lots. I have found them very good value and postage that way means very good economy. Last lot worked out $240 including postage.
Tony j

[Chase N. Nocks]

Hey Slinky,

Thanks for the heads up. I absolutely love Aluminium arrows and Carbon arrows but would certainly like to have more woods in the collection.

This is a handly link for high quality shafts. BTW our own Steve Wallace I believe still supplies high quality shafts at very reasonable prices (as well as some of the best custom arrows I have ever seen). So may be worth a look as well.

http://surewoodshafts.com/

http://www.swallace.spiderweb.com.au/

And I agree with Grahame 100%

Good shafts are a great starting point and make life easier. The downside that I encounter is that many people will not pay for them. They will spend hours with bent, mismatched shafts just to save a dollar.

as you gain experience (which I have little of) with wood arrows you can play around with the mass produced stuff and still get great results but the savings aren't necessarily there as you will discard a lot as you get more fussy and more experience.

Cheers
Troy

[Fraser]

I'll back Troy on the quality of Wallace woods, I shoot heavy bows with a very long draw length (32" shafts are no good to me) Sue and Steve are the first Australian supplier to supply me with matched billets of the right length and 100#+ spine that I require. I normally have to do the rounds of cabinet or furniture makers until I find suitable timber to make shafts.

Fraser.