Looking to set up a 9 year old young lady with a bow and arrow. I would like to build her a proper set of wood. I know hildebrand used to have real low poundage arrow shafts in 9/32 but, they are no longer taking orders. Anyone else have a source? This is a set up she can grow with and Will be capable of taking squirrels and rabbits.
Wapiti
Pavan nailed it--- Wapiti!!
I made some nice arrows for my grand kids using 5/16 poplar dowels from Lowe's. I went through them carefully and chose the straightest. They turned out quite well and are more than adequate for rabbits and squirrels.
Not sure if you're interested in ready-to-shoot arrows, but 3rivers has fairly nice "youth" (low poundage) arrows at a decent price. I've purchased 2 dozen for my wife who shots 25# @ 24" that are 26" long (they'll cut them 24", 26", or 28") and they've lasted a long time and fly true for her. They also look nice!
While they do come with a press on field point, the tenon for the press on is about 1/2" long, so if you want a little more flexibility for how much weight you have up front, you can lop that point off and put your own on.
With kids I have often found it necessary with wood arrows to leave them a bit long and go for heavy points. It is a catch 22 for the little ones, they have short arms and very long arrows can be difficult for them to manage. If you cut the arrows down much at all they will be very stiff, don't bother trying to bare shaft tune. The arrow will shove no matter what you do. An arrow rest can help and a pure center shot bow will get better stiff arrow flight. I also find that a light spined aluminum cannot get light enough, an over spined cedar will always fly better than an over spined carbon or aluminum. It is a good situation for woody weights, close distances and interactive targets. Plastic gallon milk jugs, and a cedar with an HTM with a 160 grain blunt inside of it, makes a great kid arrow. the kids never tire of making big ka boom sounds when they hit stuff that responds to the hit.
THanks a bunch guys! Her dad and I were best buds growing up and she took her first deer with a rifle this year but, he tell me she really has the trad archery bug bad.
Jim Pyle at JP Enterprises has some (573) 543-5357