I bought some poplar dowel's at Lowe's.Made up a dozen arrows,but they range from 490gn-650gn.Sanded from 3/8 to 11/32.Any thought's or input? I also found that Rural King has birch dowel's,i think I may look into those.
I used a couple of dowels myself . so far I prefer the river cane that a generous member sent me...
lets see some pics...
-hov
A friend gave me a dozen 3/8" poplar dowels he never got around to making arrows from.
They were about 90# spine. I barrel tapered them and sanded the middles to get them down to 50-55. The finished weights were 595 to 650 gr. I have lost or broken all but 2 or 3 of these over the years but they are some of the best shooting arrows I have ever shot.
I buy all the straight grained 5/16" poplar dowels I can find each time I go to Menard's. When I get home I cut them, spine them on a cheap homemade spine tester, weigh them, and bundle them in 4 pound groups (i.e. 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, etc.). In no time at all you will have a pretty good supply of weight and spine matched shafts to choose from. Here's my hunting set I made this fall:
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Arrows%20and%20Quivers/HPIM4064.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Arrows%20and%20Quivers/HPIM4066.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Arrows%20and%20Quivers/HPIM4067.jpg)
And a custom set for my brother-in-law:
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Arrows%20and%20Quivers/HPIM4076.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Arrows%20and%20Quivers/HPIM4078.jpg)
those look nice. where do you find perfect fletch?
-hov
Nice!! I'll post pics of mine tomorrow.I have a Ben Pearson @ 40#,another one @ 45# and a hickory self bow @65#,quite a spread,hard to see arrows that will fit all of them at the same time.
Oh yea,the birch dowels were made in china.bought some anyway.Reckon they are birch?
The Chinese birch is a birch, but it seems a lesser quality than American/Canadian birch. I've had a hard time finding good birch dowels.
The poplar makes first rate arrows, when selected and sorted properly, I've made a few excellent arrow sets from poplar dowels. Make sure you use the American dowels made by Madison. The poplar that's sold at Home depot is crap.
My Home depot does't sell them,however Lowes does.Haven't got to the pic's yet.
ive used ramin dowels with good results too, you just have to watch the grain closely before you buy. i started carrying one of those eye glass cleaner wipes with me so i can wet them to see the grain better. of course i always burnish/compress the grain on all my dowel shafts too for good measure. ive also heard some using oak dowels though i havent tried it yet myself.
pics (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb396/WillTaylor57/IMG_0169.jpg)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb396/WillTaylor57/IMG_0168.jpg)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb396/WillTaylor57/IMG_0167.jpg)
those are nice
Those tips obviously are not for hunting,killing maybe.Bet you could use them were you are LellyG.I don't recall if the Geneva Convention has an issue with this type of weapon.
if a cheytac is allowed , i dont see how those couldnt...
mmmmmmm200
-hov