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Shoot shafts

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Pat B:
Fox, any time from fall until the next spring. I usually wait until winter but it's not necessary.
 A never make shoot or cane arrow sets. I make them individually. After I've made a few I shoot the arrows and group them into similar shooting arrows. I have found with sourwood(the shoots I use mostly) and with hill cane, if they are similar size they are usually close in spine and weight. Generally they are about 3/8" at the point end and 5/16" at the nock on a 30" arrow.

BowEd:
With dogwoods like said after the second year growth is best.Dogwood is a very elastic and strong type wood.I've made a bow or two out of them too in the past.As dense as your densest hickory.Reason why they make terrific heavier hunting weight arrows like hickory does.
They are like shooting a little tree at your target or game.
The dryer you get them or more cured the better they will hold their straightness.A heat correction on a bow or bend after they are dry will hold very well also.Some will have mild wiggles that still shoot just fine.
A 20 to 30 grain difference in mass weight at the same spine is not uncommon.Shooting at distances 25 yards and under you won't notice all that much difference in contact points on a target.
I make enough of them that I do have sets of them.I also have sets of 9 different types of shoot shafts including dogwoods also.
Not all shoot shafts of different species come in the same diameter of each other.Sourwood is close to comparable to dogwood as so is the different species of dogwoods to each other too.Dogwoods make some of the skinniest shafts out there. The only skinnier at the same spine I've found so far is plum and privet.An advantageous feature when shooting non center shot self bows.
My dogwoods here end up 9/32" at the self nock and around 23/64" at the tip generally.Finished with a 125 grain weight up front and at 30" long and 50# spine they end up weighing around 575 grains or there abouts but can weigh 600 grains or closer to 550 grains also.
In time even with the inconsistency of natural materials you can achieve good consistency and can get consistent shooting sets.

Fox:
Alright so a bit of weight difference is okay, I think I know where a privit patch is I might go try and harvest some. Is it too far into spring to harvest them now? The leaves aren't out yet on them.

BowEd:
You'll like that privet I bet.At least I did.They dried bundled up nice and straight.I traded for mine green yet as it does'nt grow around here.Bob Barnes to the rescue.If it's an established patch I don't pay any attention to what time of year that I cut those dogwoods.I would think the same about privet also.They are more easily indentified in the winter from their red twigs.
They are free and most everyone else treats these species as invasive.
Cutting them at the right diameter I do pay attention.Makes for less work.I kinda have a way of reducing the time though the way I make them,but still in the end I will probably put close to an hours' worth of work into each shaft.
They can look pretty neat finished with some cambium on them.After putting a little finish on them the pink cambium turns a pinkish tan with darker brown highlights.Almost the same colors of a copperhead snake.Most times they end up bone white for me.Try to keep the full length taper on them if you can.The shoot shafts are unique that way.
Not the best detailed picture.They look nicer in the hand.From what I've found is that the only way to get the camoflauged look on these shoot shafts after they are dried and cured with the bark on is that they must spine in at what you want or very close to it at that stage.Then the bark can be removed.The bark itself has no spine value.The same as bows.

I think the reason why most of mine are bone white is because I want to make sure I get one with enough spine to use.

archeryrob:
As many said second year growth is better. I have never been a huge fan of dogwood. It doesn't grow much here but I was able to find some Silky dogwood. That and hazel seemed to work fine for me, but both tended to warp on me. Constantly restraightening shafts. I was making me think about plains lightning grooves and if them and heat might help with that. As a general rule I have found that harder wood typically make better arrows. With exceptions like cedar and spruce like traditional archers use. I have used Southern arrowwood, Multiflora rose, privet and Ocean spray and all hard and loved them. They stay straight and take hard hits and don't break.

A lot of wood don't respond well to being cut, stripped and straightened while still green and damp. The only wood I had success like that was Multiflora. Many other would split lengthwise on me if not dried with the bark on.

Break an arrow while straightening with heat means the wood was not hot enough to bend yet. I use bacon grease on shafts and a candle to isolate the heat. heat the shaft and spread the grease around. Heat and keep moving the liquid grease around you'll feel when its ready. Take a junk shaft and practice. you'll burn a couple learning. heat and isolated spot and you'll feel it get soft and flexible right there when hot enough.

I planned on writing a book 20 years ago on arrow making and do like I always do. Squirrel, a new hobby to chase. Anyways, I posted it on a blog for free. There is a lot of reading for a new arrow maker on there.
https://boweyrsden.wordpress.com/category/arrow-e-book/

Also start looking up on making spine tester.

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