A Really Awful Aussie Arrow Wood?

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erron · #1 Post by **erron** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:31 pm

Celery Top Pine, I'm talking about.

I bought a batch of raw shafts from Tasmania a couple of years ago, and recently made them up. Beautiful looking, and the weight was nice: on the heavy side. But the grain, oh the grain

Most of them, the grain ran right off the side in several places, resulting in arrows that snapped on contact with a solid target. Some snapped when I tried to straighten them, as most needed this constantly: after every few shots, in fact. They seemed to have a softness that made them take a warp very easily.

Maybe I struck a bad batch, and I know it's a good wood for bows: I have a flatbow made from the stuff that shoots nicely enough.

Has anyone else had experience with this arrow wood?

Erron

#2 Post by **Stickbow Hunter** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:46 pm

I hand planned a shaft from Celery Top some years ago. It was reasonably heavy (physical weight) but it didn't have much spine.

If the shafts were badly cross grained as you said I would not have used them - rubbish just like any other wood shaft with cross grain. It seems to be a reasonably brittle wood also.

In my experience it doesn't make a very good laminated longbow. Over the years I have known a number of Celery Top bows to break. It seems OK in light bows as I made one for Jude around 35# that has had thousands of shots through it and it is still going. However any bow over 55# seems to break. As I said above it seems to be brittle and I saw one bow that snapped like a carrot accross the limb.

So after all my rambling, I'm not fussed on Celery Top for arrows or bows. Jeff

erron · #3 Post by **erron** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:04 pm

thanks Jeff. I have a very light (35 lb) flatbow of celery top, and it had a lot of use a few years ago. No problems with it, but I can believe they are unreliable, after the experience with arrows made of the stuff. As you said, the grain should have told me not to bother, but I had to learn, I suppose

cheers,

Erron

gilnockie · #4 Post by **gilnockie** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 10:02 pm

I tried making a selfbow from CTP, several times, and found that it did not work, it is too brittle. I make laminated longbows from Tasmanian timber veneers and CTP makes one very forgiving bow. It is probably the pick of the local timbers for a bow which is comfortable to shoot. I have just finished one made of CTP which is 64# @28" and 70" long. It is a sweet bow and the smoothness belies its draw weight.

I would have thought CTP was suitable for arrows because of its grain. But I have never built used it so I will accept the advice of those who have.

erron · #5 Post by **erron** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 8:07 am

I think the grain on the arrows I was using may have been the cause, as it didn't always run the length of the shaft. Might have been a bad batch, perhaps.

Erron