carbon vs. wood

[DesertDude]

For me, I love to make them both. I like all the wrap options "Onestringer" has to offer. Carbons offer alot of great things. I also enjoy making wood arrows, nothing feels like it. Here's a couple I made last week. The green one is a reflective wrap.

[freefeet]

I bought some carbons in February to replace the POC woods that were dwindling away as they kept breaking.

My thinking was that i couldn't afford to keep replacing wood at the rate i was going through them and also i wanted a more consistent arrow shaft as i'm a learner and in my mind i wanted to take out as many variables from my shooting equation as possible.  With perfectly straight, spine matched and weight matched arrows that the carbons provided i could no longer blame any inconsistencies in my shooting on anything else but myself.

But the week the carbons arrived (end of Feb), while i was waiting for the inserts and points to arrive from a different supplier, i seriously strained my rotator cuff and have been doing lots of physio therapy since to fix it. Ergo, i never got to shoot my bow or the carbons until 2 weeks ago.

But after 6 months without shooting and with a shoulder that is still not as strong as was, i'm shooting better with the carbons than i ever was with the woods.  Of course there are other factors to bring in here, the carbons were bang on tuned straight out of the packet (i used that on line spine calculator that someone mentioned on here and it hit the nail bang on the head), whereas i never was able to get the woods tuned as the bareshafts kept breaking when they hit the target sideways.  Also the carbons have allowed me to really up the FOC which i'm presuming is helping my shooting also.

I'm using CE, Terminator Lite Hunters 6075.  I did have them full lenth with 50gr inserts and 200 grain points, but yesterday i took them to my local archery shop and had them trimmed back to 30 3/4 inches and will retune with 100gr inserts and 200 gr tips for more FOC.

I also reduced the fletching on the carbons to 3x3 inch and as i said, they fly better than the woods did with 3x5 inch.

Not sure if i'll ever go back to wood, i like these carbons too much.

[Don Stokes]

freefeet, the secret to bare-shafting with wood is to use a soft foam target, like a sofa cushion. It will "catch" the arrows without breaking them. I went to a local furniture foam supplier and had them cut 2 foot cubes, and haven't broken a shaft since.

[freefeet]

Thanks Don.  Wish i'd known that earlier.  Not sure if i'll ever go back to wood, but i'll certainly let others know who do shoot wood.

Stan

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Carbons are great, but everytime I find a shaft I like, they quit making the damn things. I shoot aluminum right now.

Most traditional bow shooters have a soft spot for wood arrows, but they are so time consuming to make.....

[Fletcher]

Your bow will shoot whatever you ask of it, but it will be happier shooting wood.

[Frenchymanny]

I always read that carbons are stronger than wood.
My experience is a bit different: I love stumpshooting, but shooting stumps broke every single carbon I experimented with . I did break POC and poplar same as carbon, but I found ash tougher than nails.
On top of that,you got weight without tube or anything.

I guess it's a personal different experience

F-Manny

[Frenchymanny]

dble post