Wooden Arrows

[GranvilleRose]

Hello All! I am a brand new owner of a Phoenix crossbow. I am from Michigan and and I enjoy archery all the way around. This is my first real crossbow and have to admit that lurking here since October is pretty much what made my decision. I am in love.

I wanted to know if anyone here has played with wooden arrows at all? I make wooden arrows for my recurve and longbow and wondered if it were an option for my excalibur? I will be hunting with the firebolts for the first season without a doubt, but I do enjoy making my own equipment.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Granville

[Calcobrena]

What they are made of doesn't matter so much as the characteristics of the finished product. Weight, spine, balance, squaring, FOC, etc etc. You're probably going to want to look at the specifics of a good arrow setup for your crossbow and then try to match them when you make a wooden arrow. I think the main thing you might lose is durability. Wooden arrows don't "recover" from certain kinds of stress the way a carbon arrow will. Furthermore, it can be more work to try to replicate each wooden arrow exactly and the closer your arrows are to being identical the more likely they will fly the same.

And this is by no means meant to discourage you. Just want you to know what your challenges are so you can meet them and be successful if you decide to do it. It would certainly be incredibly rewarding if you make yourself a set of arrows that are identical and accurate out to 60 yards.

[Deaf jeff]

welcome to the forum. its good to see another michigander join! i live 50 mile south of ole mighty mack bridge

[rayman]

It would not be recommended to use wood arrows.

X 2

Save the wooden arrows for you longbow. I hate it when people get hurt taking unnecessary risks.

[volfan]

What they are made of doesn't matter so much as the characteristics of the finished product.

I hate to disagree with you but your statement is a little dangerous. With the power of today's xbows, what they are made of is very very important. I once shot wood too when I was shooting a 45lb. recurve or longbow but when you are looking at the 150lb. plus in the modern cross bow, you are asking for trouble. These bows are able to have as much power as they do today mainly because of the advancement in material, both for the bow and for the arrows.
PLEASE do not try wooden arrows through a modern day cross bow. You are asking for a serious injury.

[newbie]

I agree don't try wooden arrows unless you want to make toothpicks

[Rufus]

I think wood arrows if you pick the right ones are plenty strong enough . The problem is the nock end would need to be covered with something so it would not split and they need to be straight enough to lay flat on the rail and you would have to keep a very close eye on this . I have shot them for years also and do not think it would be worth the trouble.

[Shotnbeer]

You'll poke your eye out. On a serious note with the speed of todays xbows if you have a weak spot in a wooden arrow you'll find in with not the best of results. Be careful..

[Calcobrena]

I did mention that durability and stress on the arrow could be a problem, but with the right materials there isn't any reason why he can't find a good wood to make a good crossbow bolt out of. It shouldn't be approached the way people do it for bows, for example, but shutting down an interesting ambition like this one seems a bit premature.

Personally, I find it to be an interesting endeavor and it would be pretty damn cool to see someone with the know-how and experience to conquer this route. Definitely be careful, but if you know your stuff, you might be able to do something that could affect the entire crossbow community.

[volfan]

Like she said but remember if you can't then you are in for a world of pain and maybe worse. I work with wood all the time and I know there is no such thing as a guarantee that any piece of wood will not have a flaw or weekness and the bad thing about wood is that it may be great today but because of weather change it can be a cocked cannon tomorrow. You are awlfully free with your encouragement for someone else to put their well being and life at that kind of risk. It is obvious that it is the words of youth and not that of wisdom and experience.

[Calcobrena]

I'm not going to underestimate someone's ability whom I don't know. Personally, I definitely do not have the woodworking experience to accomplish this. However, if someone took the right precautions and took on this task, I think it would be an incredible accomplishment. I never said it wouldn't be cheap or a lot of work and a background in engineering might be useful as well, but it certainly isn't impossible. I wouldn't suggest making it out of Ramin, but I'm not going to prejudge someone else's abilities. What about experimenting with Lignumvitae? Verawood? Australian Buloke? If you can find the material and a process that gives you the characteristics that you are looking for, it doesn't matter what you make it out of. That's just basic physics. I think it is irresponsible to say it isn't possible. And if you can mitigate the risks, it could be a fun challenge to pursue if you enjoy woodworking.

[volfan]

.....and if a frog had pockets he would carry a pistol and shoot snakes.

[Calcobrena]

LOL. I'm just saying we shouldn't project our own limitations onto other people. Until we've tried everything we haven't tried anything, and we shouldn't conclude anything when we haven't tried anything.

[awshucks]

Wood arrows [@ 22/64]= Dumb idea.

[volfan]

Ami, try it if you like but if you understand anything about physics you will know that when the arrow comes under stress from the string, it is going to bend in arcs regardless of the material it is made of. Carbon and aluminum can handle the harmonics and stress without breaking but wood simply will not. It is too dangerous to play around with some things. Do you really believe that these arrow companies don't have engineers who understand this?
You do know that aluminum and carbon will retain its same characterics regardless of the weather change and that wood will not don't you. This change and unstable characteristic of wood makes it a poor choice for arrows under the pressure that a modern crossbows puts on them. Like I said, years ago they worked because the bows did not possess this kind of power but even then, even the best wooden arrows would break under the stress of the bow which usually resulted in a broken arrow with the back piece going through the forearm of the shooter.