What is the best shaft? Ive been told Port Oford but then ive heard Douglas Fir what does everyone suggest?

Good thread I cant wait till tommorrow when everyone is awake and can answer. Love my POC but havent shot at a deer yet.

Theres so many woods to choose from but from what ive heard these are the two shafts that seem to be the most used.

My favorites are the hardwoods, Maple, Birch(laminated,white,yellow) Hickory, or Ash.  They are heavier and about 10 times more durable.  Joseph

POC.

POC

POC

White birch. It was used by Pope and Young. It is what I call a "soft" hardwood...in ohter words you can  use hand taper tools to work on the tapering and don't need a power sanding tool to work on them like ash, maple, etc. Hard rock maple is an excellent shaft if you want a heavier arrow and it is about as tough as any wood I have ever used.

Which ever you can tune to your bow to fly the best and give you a weight range you like to shoot. :)Once that is done it really does not matter what the arrow is made from.I have shot deer with cedar,pine and spruce and the results were always the same.

10-11gpp and STRAIGHT !

Eric

It's hard to beat Port Orford Cedar, but I'm trying some fir once again.  Will see if it works to my satisfaction.

I'm in Westbrook's camp. Weight and straight is the concern.

I plan on to do a lot of stumping and small game hunting I do a lot of squirrel hunting in September what do you guys recommend for those kind of shots where my arrow could hit off rocks and trees?

Weight and straight is the biggie. POC does 0kay on both counts though much of it is a little lighter than I prefer. Sitka Spruce is a joy to work with...but it is usually a little light. Ash in harder to work  but TOUGH and gives good weight(and stains oh so prettily). Poplar is  easy to work and weights are generally good (But it is plain to look at). Doug fir makes a nice arrow. Red Oak makes some nice heavies though it isn't easy to taper and straighten(these are all relative ratings-all of the wood I've used can be worked with common arrowcrafting tools). Pine(Norway and Lodgepole/Chundoo) works up nicely -weights vary but tend toward the lighter end.Laminated birch make ssuperb heavy shafts. plain birch works but the shafts require repeated straigtening more than I like. Unknown tropical hardwood dowels from the hardware store can make good arrows but reqire more effort than commercial shafting. Hickory is heavier than I care to use.

I use the split hex shaft from Whispering Wind Arrows. It is a relative heavy shaft & is very tough. Bob can either make up arrows just for you & your bow or furnish shafting that you can make into your own arrows. Frank

I like hexshaft also,made of laminated lodgepole pine,tough and durable.
IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/udboss2/stumpshooting009.jpg[/IMG]
Did some stump shooting this morning with them,have yet to break one. I just ordered some POC last week and haven't tried them yet so I can't tell you how good they are but judging from what I read here I can't wait.
Serge

ttt,another try

Cool pic!   :cool:

It was suppose to go into the woodpecker hole at 20 yard or so,I'm getting there slowly but surely      Thanks Timothy.
Serge

Drifter I notice you dont have a Judo on the end why is that?

Also for wood shafts you have to stickly glue on heads correct? How would you tune them or if you wanted to shoot field points remove one head then glue another on? Im really starting to like the wood shafts sounds like fun with all the stuff you have to do with them would give me something to do and would be good to know I did everything on my own and if I kill a deer I can gleam on that.