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Hickory shafting

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Kegan:
Cut some hickory into 1/2" hickory squares, 30" long. They are still kinda green, but all are slightly bowed. I'm using a power drill to run them through a metla plate with holes drill in, but should I wait for the wood to season? Out of trying 7 or 8, only two came out perfectly, and one came out close but still with a nasty gouge- and I'm not using the ones with knots or problems in grain. Should I let them dry befroe I continue, or continue as they are easier to straighten?

Pat B:
You will get your most stable shafts from well seasoned wood. It will probably twist and turn  :o as it cures in shaft form if it is too green.    Pat

Hillbilly:
Green wood tends to fuzz up and gouge instead of cutting cleanly, too. I've had the best luck with timber shafts by splitting the wood into "boards", then letting it season and dry before taking it down into squares. Like Pat said, they can warp up like pretzels if you cut them into skinny pieces too quickly.

Kegan:
So I should just bundle them and let 'em season, eh? Okay then ;D, time to work on broadheads ;).

Pat B:
Kegan I hike around my property on a daily basis. After hunting season until spring I collect shoots. I bring home what I have collected, bind it up in bundles with the shoots laid straight in the bundles. I date each bundle and Identify the specie on each shoot. Before you know it, you have a utility room full of shoot bundles.  :o 
   By the first of the year your bundle should be ready to work. After a few weeks, take a shoot out, scrape the bark off and begin to straighten it over heat and see what it does. Next month do the same and so on. You will learn a lot about how different woods act under different situations.   Pat

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