Red Osier Arrow Question

[JO_EZ]

I cut about a half a dozen shoots off of a red osier bush in our hedge and started debarking them for arrows. I noticed that in order to get a shoot that was about 34" long, the fat end was as big around as my thumb and the skinny end was too skinny to put a nock in for either a head or to nock on the string.

Is this normal for dog wood? I expected to have to do some work to get the diameter down, but not that much. Perhaps, finding a bigger patch of dog wood and being more selective is what I need to do...

[Pat B]

For the butt end you may have to use a thumb plane to reduce the diameter. How small is the small end on your shoots. You should be able to put a nock in a shaft that is 1/4" in diameter and especially if you wrap the shaft below the nock.
 What is your draw length and why a 34" arrow? Generally there wouldn't be that much taper but I have see it like that.

[JO_EZ]

Pat,
I have a 28"(ish) draw length. I didn't intend to leave them 34" long. Some of the tips are less than 1/4" - skinnier than a pencil.

I was just supprised at the amount of taper in the shoots and wondered if other folks found the same thing and if they did alot of messing around to get the sides paralell.

Thanks,
Doyle

[No-sage]

The ones I go to gather are not tapered so badly.  

I've found that the ones with the greyish red colored bark are better / stiffer than the all red (younger?) shoots.

The young Shoots seem to sprout quickly and have too much taper.

We've got gobs of the stuff around the river bottoms near my house, so I can be very selective in what I cut.  Sometimes I can only find one suitable shaft in an entire bush. Sometimes I can get several dozen in a trip, after culling, maybe a handfull of real good straight arrows.

[JO_EZ]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I have a spot with a bunch of it. I'll make a gage with skinny and fat slots to use and be more selective when I go do some more serious collecting.

By the way, Pat, that elm bow you did for the give away looks really nice.

Thanks,
Doyle

[Pat B]

Thanks Doyle. It was a fun bow to make and especially with a wood that is new to me.
 When choosing hardwood shoots for arrows be sure you collect only 2nd year old shoots or older. The first year these shoots grow they grow to their ultimate height and have leaves on them. The 2nd year small branches grow from last years leaf scars. It is after the 2nd growing season that you want to cut the shoots. With red osier the newest shoots are red. Sometimes they are red the second and 3rd year also so color is not always a good indicator.
 Also, you have to realize that shoot shafts are way stronger than store bought doweled shafts and a 1/4" nock or even a little less will still be strong enough especially with a wrap below the nock. There are other methods of making the nocks too. You can add material on the outside of the shaft at the noch end to make the side walls of the nock, Sort of like a reversed splined reinforced nock.

[JO_EZ]

Pat, I see that you are a mind reader, also. As I was cleaning up the last of the shoots last nignt I was wondering at what point they were too thin for my 55# bow and needed to go to the kids.

This little exercise has yielded more insights than I thought it would. I basically started it out of bordom. But, now when I get serious about collecting shoots in a couple of weeks, I will know what to look for and not bring back a bunch of stuff that won't work.

Thanks!

[George Tsoukalas]

There is shoot info on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/crookedbow.html