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I have been shooting for over 45 years. I make all my own gear, I have a wood working background and engineering. I make arrows from dowel but I go through the dowel with a fine tooth comb. I might only get 2 pieces from a bundle. I use dowel that has the correct grain. I also make from billet.
One other thing you forgot to mention is that you NEVER use wood arrows in a compound bow. The let off and reflex is too much and will break the arrow and dry fire your bow. And you thought wood hurts, try fiberglass!!!
The dowel you used on the spine tester seemed to be incredibly poor. I must confess I make arrows from bamboo that grows in my yard, suckers from choke cherry trees, birch, aspens and poplars my friends cut down in their yards and yes even dowels. Your video is correct you can buy very bad quality dowels from home improvement stores. In the US,Home Depot has notoriously bad dowels that are labeled "poplar" but are some kind of cheap wood from the orient. When i buy dowels to make arrows I sort through bins of 4' long dowels and probably examine 100 and choose five or six, looking at the grain and the feathers that show run offs, I also hand flex them looking for dowels that will spine out for ~ 45 or 50 lb bows. The only arrow shafts I have ever had break when shooting were store bought, supposedly Port Orford Cedar from Three Rivers Archery. I've been making my own arrows since I was about 11 years old and lived where you simply could not buy arrow shafts. The region where I grew up had pretty poor wood for making arrows, the native Americans who lived there long ago got by hunting large game with arrows you would not consider safe at all.
Well, I can't say I fully agree with this video. I made quite a few arrows out of dowel rods for my ~60# manchu bow and they work just fine. I only have done this as getting shafts in excess of 34 inches is a pain. Naturally you can't use any random dowel rod. You have to pick through the whole stock at your Hardware Store select only those that are as round as possible, with the straightest grain and if you find some that are straight even better. The hard part comes after buying them. Most of the rods have to be straightened, polished and tapered to fit some points. Afterwards you need to spine them, weight them, put them together with similar rods.... In the end it ist more expensive than buying arrowshafts and a lot more work. Still it works in a pinch. The selection does the trick. I am talking about half inch dowel rods and wouldn't go any smaller than that and it is always a greater risk than with arrowshafts. In the end I can't reccoment it especially for a beginner at arrowmaking. I'd rather buy the shafts anyway.
That is one flimsy dowel. I don't know if dowels in the UK are for some reason different than the ones we have here in Bosnia, but at the hardware store near me I can buy straight grained 1m long beech dowels for dirt cheap. They work just fine as arrow shafts, although their diameter usually needs thinning (not too hard to do, just stick one in an electric drill and run some sandpaper along it). So I suppose it's just about what kind of dowels you can get your hands on, some are great, some not so much. P.S. Grain is not the same thing as growth rings, although straight growth rings usually mean the grain is also straight.
The UK government hates the idea of people making this sort of thing from hardware store supplies, they probably put pressure on the stores to sell non-weapons grade versions.
I think that this is a sensible video, but I have to say when I was young and into bows, I used almost anything that was straight and never broke an arrow in a bow !
ive been using wooden dowels to make arrows for 15 years. i used to use ramen wood before it became endangered. now i use poplar. i use 7/16 shafts for bows between 65-70 lbs and they shoot just fine up to my 100 lb warbow. i use fairly heavy arrowheads and livery style long fletchings. however, i go through hundreds of dowels in a bin and only pick ones that are straight, straight grained and do not have defects. why do i use poplar or hardwood dowels instead of wood arrow shafts? cost, accessibility, and durability. im sorry. but most arrowshafts made of wood are made to be light weight, not durable. when i was a teen i got tired of breaking cedar and pine arrows every time they hit or glanced brush, a tree branch, a rock in the dirt etc. i forge my own arrowheads from scratch. my arrows weigh about 1.5 to 1.65 oz. ive been making arrows so long i spine them more or less by feeling their rigidity in my hands vs using tools. when using long fletchings spine matters far less as well. ive shot armor, stumps, steel plates etc and unless i shot an arrow directly at a hard object the arrows i make rarely break. and ive never had an arrow break and stab my hand or any safety issues because of my selection of materials. so yes. you can use dowels. if you understand the materials you are working with they work just fine.
@@longbows it takes effort. ill hit every hardware store and only select the best dowels at each store within my state till i get a desired quantity. ive yet to find poplar arrow shafts thicker than 11/32 on the commercial market unfortunately.
Oh, and as you said, be Very carefull with The grains on The shaft, get It as stright as possible to avoid The shaft breaking when you loose your Arrow.
Glad I could help, not sure where you live, but, we sell shafts and all the items you could need, we can only supply shafts to the UK, smaller items we can send round the world. www.richardheadlongbows.com
Love your channel BUT have had some very good luck buying hardware store dowels.... but am VERY selective picking out the shafts...Hickory dowels are great and work well if properly selected...!👍
Hi Phil, Great video, I wonder if the quality of dowels. Are different there than they are in the state. As because I've read number of books by archers over here. Who talk about building arrows from dowels in there books. They're two fellas in my Archery club who only build arrows from Raymond wood dowels. Guess they have been doing that for years...
Had this discussion at latest 1-2 days ago with a mate that made his own bow and now is trying to learn to make arrows. and after i sent him this video he did test the dowl he had bought and et broke even with less weight with the one you showed. i was just glad i managed to show it to him throu this video and im thankfull that you made it as well. personaly i preferes red ceder shafts that i buy from my local archery shop due to about this reason and also i know its spined for my bow as i will put my hand up saying im still learning so its always better to learn and ask for advice then do and fail and get hurt. Thank you and may i take this opportunity to wish you and your family a merry christmas even thou its a tad early =)
Good advice phillip, but I have a question, Saxton Pope used dowlings from the store and he spent a lot of time going through the dowels to pick good shafts, what is the difference to the dowels that you can find today, and what would suggest for a person who wants to make there shafts from scratch without having to buy premade shafts
As usual my videos (as I point out in the video) are aimed at newcomers to the sport, people who have never even used wood before etc. People specialise in selecting materials for use in all sorts of wood working, it takes practice, I hope that deals with the first part of your question. To make your own, well, you either pend thousands on machines to make dowel or make them in the old fashioned way, as per this video...czcams.com/video/gvwernxQi8A/video.html
I am one of the newts who does things like try to use dowels, lol. I did not make my own bow, I bought a Samick Sage, because that was so cheap, I figured why bother when there is no way I could ever make something as good... but with arrows I have succumbed to the temptation... A comment and a question in response to this video.... Firstly, the dowels I buy are nothing like the dowel you have there. If you can pick through them, you can sort and buy ones that are more straight-grained. They are also smooth and have no ridge in the middle. They come cut in a much shorter length than what you have there, and with a bit of sanding, and a finish, they are quite smooth. Making decent fletching has been more difficult. I cannot say I have achieved "decent" arrows yet, but I am just starting, as I say. So that is the comment, maybe your dowels just really, really suck as dowels go. And the question is... how much should I pay for arrow shafts that are manufactured as arrow shafts. I do see the point you make, but how much should I expect the cost to be from a reasonable and legitimate source. (I am in the US, if that makes any difference)
Hi, well, you said it yourself, the dowels you buy are nothing like the ones we have here in the UK, which are cheap rubbish. So I am glad you have acces to something better, I doubt they are spine matched to the bow though? I have no idea how much arrow shaft are in the US, here they are around £23-£25 a dozen.
Nice video!! I make them my self from hardwarestore shafts, from beech wood is what I find in The stores from Bilbao. I find them excelente but The only advice I'd make is to reinforce The front parte of The shaft with other material, I use Ashwood for this, and you'll get an extremelly durable Arrow! 😁👍
i completely agree, when i started making bows i was using pine dowles from hardware stores and they tend to explode when they hit stray rocks and such. i only use good quality grain matched arrow wood now
@@longbows hello again : ) yes i believe i am as i receive notifications on your videos. I like your channel and recommend it to others who are interested in archery and such. the three channels i view the most are yours mick grewcock and joe gibbs. i started making bows last year after a fat sporting accident. and due to my physical health not being great I'm losing hobbies and sports i was previously able to do so took up archery. being a carpenter i naturally and also being obsessed with ancient arms and amour got into bow making. in the past i have also made greek linothorax armor, Greek domed sheilds or aspis, and also swords like the xiphos and the later kopis. i messaged you a while ago asking about how much to tiller? and you replied 100 times per inch lol well i actually do this as standard now as it works very well :) one of the bows in my videos is laminated African iroko and oak and about 45lb. tillering though i absolutely must say is an art in itself!! by the way the flat horn knocks i ordered from you recently were superb ;) i fitted them to p.o.c arrow shafts and they feel tough dude
@@longbows I just wrote a long passage but i have been watching lord of the rings and drinking straight Jamaica rum so feeling very enthusiastic when someone mentions bows lol ;)
Very argumentative and informative video. I have a question though. What is your opinion about repairing old broken arrows with pieces of other arrows and glueing them together. Is that safe? I have never tried that, but I see, that tools for making and preparing arrow pieces are sold on many big archery dealers. So, obviously someone does this. Thank You in advance for your answer, it would be very appreciated.
Hi, in general I wouldn't repair arrows. You can `foot` arrows, this is very difficult to get right and takes some practice, repairing arrows also depends on the damage to original arrow has sustained. Suffice to say without seeing the arrow in question it would be dangerous for me to generalise about repairing, so for safety sake I would advise against it.
@@longbows Thank You for your kind answer. Seeing that you have extensive experience with wood, I'm more than inclined to believe that this is better not to do. I saw this tools, which are called " splicers", or something. You then splice two pieces of shafts diagonally and glue them together. But I saw allready myself how can an new shaft explode on a bow, because the grain was diagonal. I don't know why would someone risk his hand over a 2 or three €. But obviously is this an established practice, otherwise there would not be a tool developed for it. Thank You again for Your answer.
It is good of you to point out the potential for serious injury by using low quality wood for arrow shafts its a very real and very painful and debilitating injury and gives real life meaning to the term "got shafted". I read the comments below and many are from people who dont truly understand what happens when an arrow comes apart before it has left the bow if they did know they wouldnt have the first objection to spending whatever is required to make sure it wont happen. I will gladly spend $20 per shaft to KNOW I will be safe when I release. I buy the best quality aluminum arrow shafts and WOULD STOP SHOOTING IF I COULDNT GET THEM. I know there are people who think this is foolish but take it from someone WHO KNOWS WHAT ITS LIKE TO GET SHAFTED THRUE THE HAND. I couldnt shoot for years I was so afraid to let go of the string. Want to cheap out and use cheap crap...better you than me... you guys are pushing your luck and sooner or later it will run out. The arrow I got injured with was a commercially made arrow of the correct spine and it failed FROM WITHIN WITH NO INDICATION WHATSOEVER of any defect.
Ive made a few arrows from poplar dowels. they shot well, and i didnt have to look through that many dowels just chose one that was straight and had as little run off as possible. they actually took quite a bit of abuse until I accidentally left them in the sun (I was like 10, so naturally), where the fletching came off. They then sat in the pot with the other garden stakes for a couple years now . They have mildew but they are still straight.
As long as the grain runs true and the dowel isn't too thin you'll be fine. If you can't find my dowel with straight grain don't buy it. Also roll the dowels that have straight grain on the flat floor in the DIY shop you'll get some odd stares but you'll know which ones are closest to dead straight
As I point out in the video, buying shafts from an Archery retailer such as myself means you receive arrow shafts that have been manufactured for the purpose, checked by us, also matched into spine groupings. Can your wood supplier do this, is he an experienced Bowyer/Fletcher of 30 years?
Been shooting dowels for 2 decades. No trouble to report! I have ten arrows that are twenty years old and still survive shooting weekly. Does Richard Head sell arrow shafts, perchance? Conflict of interest?
Thanks for the input, Sam. I am unsure where you live, I can only speak for my area, I know in places like the US that dowels are far better quality, again, in my experience where I live they are very poor quality. Yes, I sell arro shafts. I am very busy selling arrow shafts and have no fear of people buying dowel instead of my arrow shafts, so no, no conflict, I am far more likely to loose out to people simply buying archery equipment from another archery retailer than the handful of available dowels that our local DIY stores carry. I am genuinely trying to prevent injury based on my experience.
I need 2 information please !... 1 how much must be seasoned the first wood before processing it to transform it into an arrow.? .... 2 what are the standard diameter measures of the arrows.? ... in cm if possible I live in Italy .. Thanks
I use shafts from a shaft manufacturer, you will need to ask them about that, please see my website for all the diameters we use www.richardheadlongbows.com
i bought one of those cheap bows for fun and the arrows they gave me broke really quickly so i wanted to have some arrows and wondered if dowels were viable. I guess i'll just buy some proper wood arrows, the plastic one was just sad after a few shoot.
I really think the problem is that people don't understand the risks that they're taking. One can only learn so much from internet tutorials, and there are always unspoken things that the person making the video can't anticipate to tell you the viewer. I do make my own arrow shafts, but out of bamboo. However I understand that I am taking additional risks, and need to take additional steps to test my materials before I put them on a bow, and often wear an armored glove for the first few shots of each arrow. Any kind of natural material is by definition not manufactured for purpose, and only those that by coincidence are suited should be used. That means weeding out lots of bad material. It's easy to watch a tutorial and assume that you understand everything that there is, and that there aren't unmentioned risks that the person making the video didn't already avoid as a matter of course. Anyway, love your videos and hopefully this prevents someone taking a shaft through the hand.
@@longbows The cynic in me suspects that those who need to know this won't pay attention but if even one injury is prevented then it's a job well done.
Purpose-made shafts for arrows are much better quality than hardware store dowels. If you are adventurous and have a lot of time to make arrows AND you know what to look for, you can find a few dowels that will make an arrow. You will have to do a lot of work on them if you want a premium arrow. Just spend some money, support an arrow shaft maker, and order shafts that will be much better off in the end.
I always make my own arrows but usually from shafts bought from archery shops - I am very much a fan of spruce even though nothing can compete with the smell of cedar. On occasion I have made my own arrow shafts as I often make "primitive" style bows and arrows but only ever from wood I have harvested and shaped myself. I will admit that I once glanced through a dowelling rack at a hardware store before discarding it for the reasons mentioned in the video. Similar can be said of making "board bows" - I realise that in the USA they are lucky enough to have red oak as the most common wooden board but in Europe most of our boards are pine and is not really suitable. All the things that happen by having a broken arrow in your hand plus getting hit in the face by a broken bow is a terrible hobby. Be careful not to injure yourself but especially don't make someone else the victim of you trying to save a few quid.
We sell quite a few items worldwide, sometimes to places where people have trouble getting them. Many people make their own equipment, from raw materials rather than relying on substandard or dangerous dowells. This video is based ony experience in the UK, where dowells are generally cheap cross grained pine, I am aware some other countries, like the US have good quality dowells available in hardware stores. I can only speak to my experiences here.
just get dowels and wrap them like a mummy in sinew and hide glue then sand it! then you have not worry about ze grain run off! also i just harvested viburnum suckers for arrow shafts! being a landscaper and passionate toxophile pays off haha
Hello, it does not pay to take shortcuts in archery, as you said not only could you injure yourself but others as well. Stay safe and enjoy your archery.
Experimentation, trial and error, they are the true teachers, but advice from someone who has spent their life doing something is a least worth listening to.
@@longbows fair enough but any body can call them a self a master or pro at something and dont know jack but i belivee it is worth giving listening to and i did just that
Yes, people can call themselves Professional, if they are doing it as their profession, I do it for my job, full time, therefore I am Professional, I am only called a master by my peers, because I went through years of apprenticeship, joined a Guild and became proficient in my art. I do not call myself a "pro" or a master, this is what other people say of me.
I was always under the impression that dowel arrows were reasonably safe if you adhered to two fundamentals:- 1.) Relatively weak low-poundage bows. Amateur selfbows, bundle bows, survival bows etc. I.e. trying to loose dowel rods from a 90lb longbow would be ridiculously dangerous and stupid. 2.) Be very selective of the dowels themselves. They're inherently flawed and non-optimal for the task primarily because they're not at all designed for said task. That said there will be variability and certain flawed parameters can be mitigated. Some dowels will have grains, some even have straight grains. But perhaps not full length. Many don't have knots but most will. Some are rounder than others, some are extremely non-uniform. Basically dowel rods can be filtered but it's time consuming and a lot of effort. I'm still of the opinion it's generally not a great idea but have still considered it with very light sub-20lbers.
Yeah good advise.I cut my own blanks for arrows from recycled Douglas fir and Baltic pine.I have been making my own arrow shafts since 1970 .I am now 64.One thing I know is good arrow wood.I still hand plane all my arrows.Also 90% of all my arrows are footed.I even heard of young kids making dowell arrows and using them in compound bows.Scary to say the least.They just don't get it.Arrows can and do explode.apart from your fore arm there is your eyes .Wood arrows can send splinters every where.You mentioning of by standers is also of major concern too.A prominent flight shooter Allan Case in the US recently had a carbon arrow shatter and impale his foot using his foot bow.That guy can make world record breaking flight arrows.Even an expert like him can get it wrong.Amatures should really use industry proven shaft material. I religiously inspect all my arrows before shooting during shooting withdrawing them from targets and after shooting.I often get critisized for being paranoid.Of the thousands of shafts I have made I have yet to have any mishaps.I may be just lucky but the forces placed on wooden arrows is a lot . One older arrow I had that was used in a 60# bow for about 8 years got spongy and lost its spine.My guess is the constant compression of being shot started breaking down wood fibre structure.Who would ever guessed?????.I have been out on the 3 D range and drew an arrow from a target and saw severe damage to it and immediatly snapped it in two.My shooting partners were shocked.I told them to have a faulty arrow in my quiver was asking for trouble.Better to prevent accidental use and injure my self.One thing is the Victorian English arrow makers in my opinion were the pinical of wood arrows craftsmanship that there ever was.Purle and Thompson and others.I heard Thompson actually made Purles arrows.Correct me if I am wrong.May your arrows fly true Cheers Old school Richie p
Hahahahaha brilliant! Bang out a couple arrows using shitty shit from B&Q and cook up a test rig to fire them from, simulating a heavy weight bow. Bit of slow motion shaft explosion footage. For that, I would like to see.
Of course not every piece of hardware doweling is suitable for arrowmaking, but you can say the same about any piece of wood for an arrow, or more importantly, a bow stave. Things like grain straightness and runoff can be checked. Sure, you might have to go through a dozen pieces to find one hardware dowel suitable for an arrow. I've made arrows and bolt shafts from oak and poplar doweling many times and haven't had any issue with them, as have others. You just have to do your due diligence.
I would like to argue that you don't have to by arrow shafts, you can absolutely make your own. Your point still stands when it comes to dowels, they are usualy nott good enough, but you can learn to make good arrow shafts by hand. I think we to often say "only trust in seller" but archery is arguebly the worlds oldest hobby. It is great to try to learn to make arrows just like our ancestors and should be endorsed. Tl:dr points on doweling are on point but don't dicurage people to learn to make their own arrows.
Hi, half of my videos are about encouraging people to make their own arrows! One of my most popular videos is how to make your own arrow shafts, perhaps you haven't watched enough of my content to understand what I do.
If you examine dowels in a hardware store you may also see that they are not all made from a single length of timber. Many of them are made from short lengths and glued together to get the length the stores want to sell. Each join is a potential failure point!
ive made arrows from poplar dowls and theyre NOT that flimsy, i have one thats lasted several years from a 55# hickory bow and i ts still holding strong.
I recently bought a bundle of them at a bigger diameter for a new bow im making and i dont see a problem with them so far since i picked them from a crowd.
I will go further and state that you should pay for premium arrow shafting from a reputable company. Some of the bargain priced arrow shafting can be mismatched in spine and weight by an unacceptable margin. Some of the very cheap finished arrows available from the other side of the world, (politically correct way of saying China), can also be very mismatched. There is nothing more frustrating while working on correct form than a wonky arrow, convincing you that you are not shooting correctly when it is most definitely a crappy arrow. New archers especially should not subject themselves to this. Thanks again for a great tutorial. I anxiously await your Christmas presentation.
I understand your not for using a hardware store dowel, but you were a bit biased. I am planning to use them and there are several things to take into consideration. The first first 2 are are size and wood, I'm using a poplar dowel, in 3/8 (about 9.5mm). Next you pull all the dowels out of the bin and only select the ones with no knots and good grain, not just randomly select. Lastly I fully intend to spine test my dowels to make sure they are up to it before I loose one. Where I am i can get a 3/8 poplar dowel for $0.98, vs $40.00 PLUS shipping and tax per dozen. All in all it come to $4.18 per shaft. I can take my time and select good dowels, and buy 4 for the price of 1 manufactured shaft.
I was thinking instead of buying 8mm dowel light hardwood probably white oak I was thinking of buying 11mm light hardwood thicker= mostly stronger but probably heavy
Then good luck, I cant say anymore than I did in the video, keep getting lots of people from USA etc where `dowel` is good quality, hence assuming you were outside of the UK
an arrow shaft is made from selected wood with grain that runs end to end, not just decent wood, there is an art to it, it takes years of practice to select the correct materials to make an arrow shaft, its not as simple as people think.
I can't "tell" anyone what to do, I wouldn't pretend that I have the power to make people do my bidding. And, frankly, I was already busy selling shafts for 30 plus years before making this video, it hasn't made any difference to the number of shafts I have sold. So if it makes you feel any better, anyone reading this, please don't buy shafts from me...but please, don't buy dowels that could harm you.
@@longbows I mean, I don't even think that's necessary. I'm not opposed to people buying shafts from you guys; I'm pro-small business and a business owner myself. I'm just pointing out a slight conflict of interest. Honestly, what would make me feel better is if people didn't preach the idea that you should *never* use dowels or that using dowels for arrows is *always* dangerous as definitive truth. Rather, be selective about *which* dowels you select, test them rigorously, and accept that every part of archery (and even life in general) contains some level of risk. I think the stigma in the archery community against dowel arrows is frankly quite silly and overblown. You're absolutely correct on one front; don't make arrows out of inferior materials. But what you conveniently left out was that not *all* dowels are inferior materials, only dowels with defects, as many in the comments have pointed out already. I understand wanting to keep people safe. I just think it's better to say "be very careful when making dowel arrows" than to say "never make arrows out of dowels." No disrespect intended; you're clearly a stand-up dude. And while you don't have "the power to make people do your bidding" you do have a platform and influence, as I'm sure you're aware. -cheers and have a great afternoon
I don't know where you live, bit where I live ALL dowel is cheap and poor quality wood, I have never seen dowel for sale in England that's A: actually round B: straight grained C: available in sufficient numbers to be able to select a dozen shafts that actually match a bow, let alone a DIY store willing to let me sit there with a spine tester to go through their stock. I do not preach, I can only speak about my experiences, my experience of wooden dowels in England is that they are NOT suitable for making arrows, so therefore I made this video in the hope of preventing injury, even if I can save one person from the horrific injuries I have seen. Again, there is no conflict of interest, I have no influence, you are example of that, you have different experiences from me and are going to do exactly the opposite of what I say in my video. Not everyone is trying to profit out of their knowledge.
So cherry pick your dowels. I get mine from the hardware store, red oak 5/16, I hunt with them and practice combat archery.. there a bit heavy but provides good penetration on game animals and good accuracy. Again if you cherry pick your shafts.
Hi, as I have mentioned to a few people here in the comments, in the UK we don't get the same kind of dowels you get, ours are inexpensive cross-grained pine, if you have access to oak then maybe you can do what you are doing.
Yes, dowells suck for making arrows. Im making my bows out of the same trees that the local Indians made theirs out of. Osage orange, red oak, black walnut and my favorite, Ash. Im also making my arriws out of what they used for centuries. Straight sasafras sapplings when I can find them are great but hickory sapplings that are strechting for sunlight in heavy woods work too. We also have black and honey locust sapplings that are nice, if u dont mind getting stuck by thorns that were made by Satan himself. I still have alot of 30 yr old cypress (which is kinda like cedar) that has straight, tight grains that run 10 feet and may jog left or right 1/16 of an inch. It almost looks line imitation wood because its so straigh. Havent quite fifured out how the Indians used those heavy stone arrowheads unless they were making very, very, strong bows. Im using copper scraps to make mine and I'm making tiny target heads but some of the arrowheads that I've found over the years must weigh 1 to 3 ounces, some even more than that. Some saran wrap got pinched between the strips of wood on my last red oak bow when I was glueing it and it broke lastnight because if it. But because I live in the country in Arkansas I jusf reached back, pulled my .380 and shot the hay bales 8 times then blew them up with some old black powder later. 😳 P.S. The pistol is just my back-up, incase my bow jams.
Of course one can make arrows out of dowels. But one must be willing to accept the fact that they will often explode into your bow hand if your bow pulls much over 10 pounds. Ask me how I know. Oh, you covered it later around 8 minutes. It happened to me just like that 50 years ago, and I still have the scars.
I've made dozens of arrows from hardware doweling for bows up to 45 lbs, never had an issue. You just have sort through the pile and select the one situable for the job at hand. In the video, he shows what you have to look for in a good arrow shaft. No different from selecting proper wood for a bow stave.
Dowels make perfectly fine arrows, if you select them properly. This guy purposely chooses a poor dowel and uses it as an example of ALL dowels. He's selling arrow shafts, take his words with a grain of salt.
I agree with you, if you are able to access good quality dowells, be able to go through a large number of them to sellect ones that dont have poor grain etc. I am not sure where, you live, but, here in the UK dowells are very often made from poor quality materials and the stores that have them may only have a 100 or so on the shelf, I picked that shaft at random, I am not trying to make people buy my shafts, I am busy enough without that, I am trying to save poeple from hurting themselves just to save a few pennies, I only sell shafts in the UK, I do not export them, so this video is very much aimed at UK Archers.
Thanks, glad you could stop by, love it when people watch my videos and comment, each view and comment helps the channel and earns me money, it really is appreciated, please watch more of my videos and comment, I really like to hear what my fans have to say.
@@longbows Yes i will watch your channel again and again, it's interesting and i did not say the opposite but i like more action then talk. Still interesting don't stop
Hi, no, Longbow arrows, bows and the materials are sold in inches, of I change one, the shafts for example, the customer won't know what piles, nocks etc to buy to match.
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I think dowel is ok if you know about timber and wood grain and I've never seen a dowel that isn't round.
Then you're very very lucky!
I have been shooting for over 45 years. I make all my own gear, I have a wood working background and engineering. I make arrows from dowel but I go through the dowel with a fine tooth comb. I might only get 2 pieces from a bundle. I use dowel that has the correct grain. I also make from billet.
Well done.
Had to sneak in the little “engineering” bit🙄,not that it had any importance on the subject
One other thing you forgot to mention is that you NEVER use wood arrows in a compound bow. The let off and reflex is too much and will break the arrow and dry fire your bow. And you thought wood hurts, try fiberglass!!!
Good thoughts.
The dowel you used on the spine tester seemed to be incredibly poor. I must confess I make arrows from bamboo that grows in my yard, suckers from choke cherry trees, birch, aspens and poplars my friends cut down in their yards and yes even dowels. Your video is correct you can buy very bad quality dowels from home improvement stores. In the US,Home Depot has notoriously bad dowels that are labeled "poplar" but are some kind of cheap wood from the orient. When i buy dowels to make arrows I sort through bins of 4' long dowels and probably examine 100 and choose five or six, looking at the grain and the feathers that show run offs, I also hand flex them looking for dowels that will spine out for ~ 45 or 50 lb bows. The only arrow shafts I have ever had break when shooting were store bought, supposedly Port Orford Cedar from Three Rivers Archery. I've been making my own arrows since I was about 11 years old and lived where you simply could not buy arrow shafts. The region where I grew up had pretty poor wood for making arrows, the native Americans who lived there long ago got by hunting large game with arrows you would not consider safe at all.
Interesting, thanks.
No matter which wood you choose , dowel ,shoot, shaft, or tree , only the very Best of the wood should be ever considered .for arrows !!! ..
Excellent video,and advice, thank you for passing on your pearls of wisdom.
Thanks, glad you found it useful.
Well, I can't say I fully agree with this video. I made quite a few arrows out of dowel rods for my ~60# manchu bow and they work just fine. I only have done this as getting shafts in excess of 34 inches is a pain. Naturally you can't use any random dowel rod. You have to pick through the whole stock at your Hardware Store select only those that are as round as possible, with the straightest grain and if you find some that are straight even better.
The hard part comes after buying them. Most of the rods have to be straightened, polished and tapered to fit some points.
Afterwards you need to spine them, weight them, put them together with similar rods....
In the end it ist more expensive than buying arrowshafts and a lot more work.
Still it works in a pinch. The selection does the trick. I am talking about half inch dowel rods and wouldn't go any smaller than that and it is always a greater risk than with arrowshafts.
In the end I can't reccoment it especially for a beginner at arrowmaking. I'd rather buy the shafts anyway.
Intersting, glad you aggree.
That is one flimsy dowel. I don't know if dowels in the UK are for some reason different than the ones we have here in Bosnia, but at the hardware store near me I can buy straight grained 1m long beech dowels for dirt cheap. They work just fine as arrow shafts, although their diameter usually needs thinning (not too hard to do, just stick one in an electric drill and run some sandpaper along it). So I suppose it's just about what kind of dowels you can get your hands on, some are great, some not so much.
P.S. Grain is not the same thing as growth rings, although straight growth rings usually mean the grain is also straight.
The UK government hates the idea of people making this sort of thing from hardware store supplies, they probably put pressure on the stores to sell non-weapons grade versions.
I think that this is a sensible video, but I have to say when I was young and into bows, I used almost anything that was straight and never broke an arrow in a bow !
Same here. I cut my own and sand and polish them. Time and experience teaches more than any expert on CZcams.
Exactly.
ive been using wooden dowels to make arrows for 15 years. i used to use ramen wood before it became endangered. now i use poplar. i use 7/16 shafts for bows between 65-70 lbs and they shoot just fine up to my 100 lb warbow. i use fairly heavy arrowheads and livery style long fletchings. however, i go through hundreds of dowels in a bin and only pick ones that are straight, straight grained and do not have defects. why do i use poplar or hardwood dowels instead of wood arrow shafts? cost, accessibility, and durability.
im sorry. but most arrowshafts made of wood are made to be light weight, not durable. when i was a teen i got tired of breaking cedar and pine arrows every time they hit or glanced brush, a tree branch, a rock in the dirt etc. i forge my own arrowheads from scratch. my arrows weigh about 1.5 to 1.65 oz. ive been making arrows so long i spine them more or less by feeling their rigidity in my hands vs using tools. when using long fletchings spine matters far less as well. ive shot armor, stumps, steel plates etc and unless i shot an arrow directly at a hard object the arrows i make rarely break. and ive never had an arrow break and stab my hand or any safety issues because of my selection of materials.
so yes. you can use dowels. if you understand the materials you are working with they work just fine.
Well done, glad you have those years of experience and access to that many dowels to go through, brilliant work.
@@longbows it takes effort. ill hit every hardware store and only select the best dowels at each store within my state till i get a desired quantity. ive yet to find poplar arrow shafts thicker than 11/32 on the commercial market unfortunately.
I assume you are not in the UK then?
this is a subject that I have been thinking about. Thanks for the information.
Any time!
Oh, and as you said, be Very carefull with The grains on The shaft, get It as stright as possible to avoid The shaft breaking when you loose your Arrow.
This is even more true here in NZ, most dowelling I have seen in stores is made from little offcuts of wood, finger jointed together end to end.
Yes, we have that too, forgot to mention it!
Brilliant top-class video and THANK YOU for not using music to conflict with your voiceover.
Thanks...oh, you may not like all my videos then.
Wow...Thanks Richard Head...so useful and informative. Much appreciated.
Welcome!
Really informative and helpful video.
Thanks for your video, was thinking of getting some dowels but was skeptical. Thanks again.
Glad I could help
Thank you Phil for making this very important video. Merry Christmas to all at Richard Head Longbows!
Thanks, you too.
I want to thank you for your video. And I want to thank you for your knowledge. And it has been a big help to me thank you
Thanks for the kind words, glad you found the information useful. Have you seen www.howtomakealongbow.co.uk
good show. thank yew
Thank you for posting this.
No problem.
Thanks for the video! I was just planning on using dowels, but I gonna buy proper shafts
Glad I could help, not sure where you live, but, we sell shafts and all the items you could need, we can only supply shafts to the UK, smaller items we can send round the world. www.richardheadlongbows.com
Sound advice Phil.
Well presented.
Thanks, much appreciated.
Thank you I was going to try the dowels.. You just saved me the grief!
Brilliant, glad to have saved you.
Good video, I hope some of the youtubers that show making dowle arrows watched and learned no to do it.
Thanks, yes, just one person saved will be worth it.
Love your channel BUT have had some very good luck buying hardware store dowels.... but am VERY selective picking out the shafts...Hickory dowels are great and work well if properly selected...!👍
Thanks, glad you love the channel. Are you in the UK?
Thanks Mr . I Will be more selective when i make my arrows , very important the advise you gave.....
Glad to help
Happy Christmas to You and Your Family!
Great Show RHL.
And to you and yours, my friend, you continued support is noted and appreciated.
Hi Phil,
Great video, I wonder if the quality of dowels. Are different there than they are in the state. As because I've read number of books by archers over here. Who talk about building arrows from dowels in there books. They're two fellas in my Archery club who only build arrows from Raymond wood dowels. Guess they have been doing that for years...
I am sure quality varies as it does with any material.
Always brought cedar form an archery supplier. Off cuts and "old" arrows actually make good dowelling.
Yes, indeed they do.
Had this discussion at latest 1-2 days ago with a mate that made his own bow and now is trying to learn to make arrows. and after i sent him this video he did test the dowl he had bought and et broke even with less weight with the one you showed. i was just glad i managed to show it to him throu this video and im thankfull that you made it as well. personaly i preferes red ceder shafts that i buy from my local archery shop due to about this reason and also i know its spined for my bow as i will put my hand up saying im still learning so its always better to learn and ask for advice then do and fail and get hurt. Thank you and may i take this opportunity to wish you and your family a merry christmas even thou its a tad early =)
Great, glad I could help.
Good advice phillip, but I have a question, Saxton Pope used dowlings from the store and he spent a lot of time going through the dowels to pick good shafts, what is the difference to the dowels that you can find today, and what would suggest for a person who wants to make there shafts from scratch without having to buy premade shafts
As usual my videos (as I point out in the video) are aimed at newcomers to the sport, people who have never even used wood before etc. People specialise in selecting materials for use in all sorts of wood working, it takes practice, I hope that deals with the first part of your question. To make your own, well, you either pend thousands on machines to make dowel or make them in the old fashioned way, as per this video...czcams.com/video/gvwernxQi8A/video.html
I am one of the newts who does things like try to use dowels, lol. I did not make my own bow, I bought a Samick Sage, because that was so cheap, I figured why bother when there is no way I could ever make something as good... but with arrows I have succumbed to the temptation... A comment and a question in response to this video.... Firstly, the dowels I buy are nothing like the dowel you have there. If you can pick through them, you can sort and buy ones that are more straight-grained. They are also smooth and have no ridge in the middle. They come cut in a much shorter length than what you have there, and with a bit of sanding, and a finish, they are quite smooth. Making decent fletching has been more difficult. I cannot say I have achieved "decent" arrows yet, but I am just starting, as I say. So that is the comment, maybe your dowels just really, really suck as dowels go.
And the question is... how much should I pay for arrow shafts that are manufactured as arrow shafts. I do see the point you make, but how much should I expect the cost to be from a reasonable and legitimate source. (I am in the US, if that makes any difference)
Hi, well, you said it yourself, the dowels you buy are nothing like the ones we have here in the UK, which are cheap rubbish. So I am glad you have acces to something better, I doubt they are spine matched to the bow though? I have no idea how much arrow shaft are in the US, here they are around £23-£25 a dozen.
Of all the hardware store dowels we inspected , only a very very small percentage of them were found usable ...
Would they be ok for slow
As per the video ,I would not recommend them for anything.
Nice video!!
I make them my self from hardwarestore shafts, from beech wood is what I find in The stores from Bilbao. I find them excelente but The only advice I'd make is to reinforce The front parte of The shaft with other material, I use Ashwood for this, and you'll get an extremelly durable Arrow! 😁👍
Great, I wish that was possible here in the UK.
i completely agree, when i started making bows i was using pine dowles from hardware stores and they tend to explode when they hit stray rocks and such.
i only use good quality grain matched arrow wood now
Glad to hear it. By the way are subscribed to my channel?
@@longbows hello again : ) yes i believe i am as i receive notifications on your videos. I like your channel and recommend it to others who are interested in archery and such.
the three channels i view the most are yours mick grewcock and joe gibbs.
i started making bows last year after a fat sporting accident. and due to my physical health not being great I'm losing hobbies and sports i was previously able to do so took up archery. being a carpenter i naturally and also being obsessed with ancient arms and amour got into bow making. in the past i have also made greek linothorax armor, Greek domed sheilds or aspis, and also swords like the xiphos and the later kopis. i messaged you a while ago asking about how much to tiller? and you replied 100 times per inch lol well i actually do this as standard now as it works very well :) one of the bows in my videos is laminated African iroko and oak and about 45lb. tillering though i absolutely must say is an art in itself!! by the way the flat horn knocks i ordered from you recently were superb ;) i fitted them to p.o.c arrow shafts and they feel tough dude
@@longbows I just wrote a long passage but i have been watching lord of the rings and drinking straight Jamaica rum so feeling very enthusiastic when someone mentions bows lol ;)
Very argumentative and informative video. I have a question though.
What is your opinion about repairing old broken arrows with pieces of other arrows and glueing them together. Is that safe? I have never tried that, but I see, that tools for making and preparing arrow pieces are sold on many big archery dealers. So, obviously someone does this.
Thank You in advance for your answer, it would be very appreciated.
Hi, in general I wouldn't repair arrows. You can `foot` arrows, this is very difficult to get right and takes some practice, repairing arrows also depends on the damage to original arrow has sustained. Suffice to say without seeing the arrow in question it would be dangerous for me to generalise about repairing, so for safety sake I would advise against it.
@@longbows
Thank You for your kind answer. Seeing that you have extensive experience with wood, I'm more than inclined to believe that this is better not to do.
I saw this tools, which are called " splicers", or something. You then splice two pieces of shafts diagonally and glue them together.
But I saw allready myself how can an new shaft explode on a bow, because the grain was diagonal.
I don't know why would someone risk his hand over a 2 or three €. But obviously is this an established practice, otherwise there would not be a tool developed for it.
Thank You again for Your answer.
It is good of you to point out the potential for serious injury by using low quality wood for arrow shafts its a very real and very painful and debilitating injury and gives real life meaning to the term "got shafted". I read the comments below and many are from people who dont truly understand what happens when an arrow comes apart before it has left the bow if they did know they wouldnt have the first objection to spending whatever is required to make sure it wont happen. I will gladly spend $20 per shaft to KNOW I will be safe when I release. I buy the best quality aluminum arrow shafts and WOULD STOP SHOOTING IF I COULDNT GET THEM. I know there are people who think this is foolish but take it from someone WHO KNOWS WHAT ITS LIKE TO GET SHAFTED THRUE THE HAND. I couldnt shoot for years I was so afraid to let go of the string. Want to cheap out and use cheap crap...better you than me... you guys are pushing your luck and sooner or later it will run out. The arrow I got injured with was a commercially made arrow of the correct spine and it failed FROM WITHIN WITH NO INDICATION WHATSOEVER of any defect.
Ive made a few arrows from poplar dowels. they shot well, and i didnt have to look through that many dowels just chose one that was straight and had as little run off as possible. they actually took quite a bit of abuse until I accidentally left them in the sun (I was like 10, so naturally), where the fletching came off. They then sat in the pot with the other garden stakes for a couple years now . They have mildew but they are still straight.
Well done
What about hardwood vs softwood dowels for use with low poundage bows?
As long as the grain runs true and the dowel isn't too thin you'll be fine. If you can't find my dowel with straight grain don't buy it. Also roll the dowels that have straight grain on the flat floor in the DIY shop you'll get some odd stares but you'll know which ones are closest to dead straight
What about using hardwood dowels, my wood supplier can provide me good hardwood ones with decent grains. What are your thoughts on this please.
As I point out in the video, buying shafts from an Archery retailer such as myself means you receive arrow shafts that have been manufactured for the purpose, checked by us, also matched into spine groupings. Can your wood supplier do this, is he an experienced Bowyer/Fletcher of 30 years?
Been shooting dowels for 2 decades. No trouble to report! I have ten arrows that are twenty years old and still survive shooting weekly.
Does Richard Head sell arrow shafts, perchance? Conflict of interest?
Thanks for the input, Sam. I am unsure where you live, I can only speak for my area, I know in places like the US that dowels are far better quality, again, in my experience where I live they are very poor quality. Yes, I sell arro shafts. I am very busy selling arrow shafts and have no fear of people buying dowel instead of my arrow shafts, so no, no conflict, I am far more likely to loose out to people simply buying archery equipment from another archery retailer than the handful of available dowels that our local DIY stores carry. I am genuinely trying to prevent injury based on my experience.
I need 2 information please !... 1 how much must be seasoned the first wood before processing it to transform it into an arrow.? .... 2 what are the standard diameter measures of the arrows.? ... in cm if possible I live in Italy .. Thanks
I use shafts from a shaft manufacturer, you will need to ask them about that, please see my website for all the diameters we use www.richardheadlongbows.com
Learn how to make your own shafts...czcams.com/video/rVG7LFI4EBU/video.html
i bought one of those cheap bows for fun and the arrows they gave me broke really quickly so i wanted to have some arrows and wondered if dowels were viable. I guess i'll just buy some proper wood arrows, the plastic one was just sad after a few shoot.
Glad I could help you.
I don't even use dowels for dowels. I use arrow shafts for all of my dowel needs.
Good idea
I really think the problem is that people don't understand the risks that they're taking. One can only learn so much from internet tutorials, and there are always unspoken things that the person making the video can't anticipate to tell you the viewer. I do make my own arrow shafts, but out of bamboo. However I understand that I am taking additional risks, and need to take additional steps to test my materials before I put them on a bow, and often wear an armored glove for the first few shots of each arrow. Any kind of natural material is by definition not manufactured for purpose, and only those that by coincidence are suited should be used. That means weeding out lots of bad material. It's easy to watch a tutorial and assume that you understand everything that there is, and that there aren't unmentioned risks that the person making the video didn't already avoid as a matter of course.
Anyway, love your videos and hopefully this prevents someone taking a shaft through the hand.
Yes, this is one of those videos I wish I had done some time ago, hopefully this will prevent at least one person from injury.
@@longbows The cynic in me suspects that those who need to know this won't pay attention but if even one injury is prevented then it's a job well done.
Purpose-made shafts for arrows are much better quality than hardware store dowels. If you are adventurous and have a lot of time to make arrows AND you know what to look for, you can find a few dowels that will make an arrow. You will have to do a lot of work on them if you want a premium arrow. Just spend some money, support an arrow shaft maker, and order shafts that will be much better off in the end.
Thanks for the thoughts, yes, its something people have to make their own choice about.
Καλησπέρα από τι ξύλο είναι τα βέλη? Ευχαριστώ πολύ
We use Pine, Poplar and Ash.
I always make my own arrows but usually from shafts bought from archery shops - I am very much a fan of spruce even though nothing can compete with the smell of cedar.
On occasion I have made my own arrow shafts as I often make "primitive" style bows and arrows but only ever from wood I have harvested and shaped myself. I will admit that I once glanced through a dowelling rack at a hardware store before discarding it for the reasons mentioned in the video. Similar can be said of making "board bows" - I realise that in the USA they are lucky enough to have red oak as the most common wooden board but in Europe most of our boards are pine and is not really suitable. All the things that happen by having a broken arrow in your hand plus getting hit in the face by a broken bow is a terrible hobby. Be careful not to injure yourself but especially don't make someone else the victim of you trying to save a few quid.
I did the same thin fm before I watched this video lol
So what do you do in a country where archery things are not available?
We sell quite a few items worldwide, sometimes to places where people have trouble getting them. Many people make their own equipment, from raw materials rather than relying on substandard or dangerous dowells. This video is based ony experience in the UK, where dowells are generally cheap cross grained pine, I am aware some other countries, like the US have good quality dowells available in hardware stores. I can only speak to my experiences here.
@@longbows I'm in Costa Rica. The mail is not reliable here
just get dowels and wrap them like a mummy in sinew and hide glue then sand it! then you have not worry about ze grain run off! also i just harvested viburnum suckers for arrow shafts! being a landscaper and passionate toxophile pays off haha
Hello, it does not pay to take shortcuts in archery, as you said not only could you injure yourself but others as well. Stay safe and enjoy your archery.
Exactly!
Coming from a Professional Bow builder, I'm always going to use your advise Sir!
yes i would agree with you on that robert just because u call him professional dont mean he knows what he is talking about
Experimentation, trial and error, they are the true teachers, but advice from someone who has spent their life doing something is a least worth listening to.
@@longbows fair enough but any body can call them a self a master or pro at something and dont know jack but i belivee it is worth giving listening to and i did just that
Yes, people can call themselves Professional, if they are doing it as their profession, I do it for my job, full time, therefore I am Professional, I am only called a master by my peers, because I went through years of apprenticeship, joined a Guild and became proficient in my art. I do not call myself a "pro" or a master, this is what other people say of me.
I never knew this.
Glad to have helped.
I was always under the impression that dowel arrows were reasonably safe if you adhered to two fundamentals:-
1.) Relatively weak low-poundage bows. Amateur selfbows, bundle bows, survival bows etc. I.e. trying to loose dowel rods from a 90lb longbow would be ridiculously dangerous and stupid.
2.) Be very selective of the dowels themselves. They're inherently flawed and non-optimal for the task primarily because they're not at all designed for said task. That said there will be variability and certain flawed parameters can be mitigated. Some dowels will have grains, some even have straight grains. But perhaps not full length. Many don't have knots but most will. Some are rounder than others, some are extremely non-uniform. Basically dowel rods can be filtered but it's time consuming and a lot of effort.
I'm still of the opinion it's generally not a great idea but have still considered it with very light sub-20lbers.
In Australia we have Tasmanian oak (gum) dowel. Tassis oak is a hard wood.and is finished not cacky like yours
How much is it?
Yeah good advise.I cut my own blanks for arrows from recycled Douglas fir and Baltic pine.I have been making my own arrow shafts since 1970 .I am now 64.One thing I know is good arrow wood.I still hand plane all my arrows.Also 90% of all my arrows are footed.I even heard of young kids making dowell arrows and using them in compound bows.Scary to say the least.They just don't get it.Arrows can and do explode.apart from your fore arm there is your eyes .Wood arrows can send splinters every where.You mentioning of by standers is also of major concern too.A prominent flight shooter Allan Case in the US recently had a carbon arrow shatter and impale his foot using his foot bow.That guy can make world record breaking flight arrows.Even an expert like him can get it wrong.Amatures should really use industry proven shaft material. I religiously inspect all my arrows before shooting during shooting withdrawing them from targets and after shooting.I often get critisized for being paranoid.Of the thousands of shafts I have made I have yet to have any mishaps.I may be just lucky but the forces placed on wooden arrows is a lot . One older arrow I had that was used in a 60# bow for about 8 years got spongy and lost its spine.My guess is the constant compression of being shot started breaking down wood fibre structure.Who would ever guessed?????.I have been out on the 3 D range and drew an arrow from a target and saw severe damage to it and immediatly snapped it in two.My shooting partners were shocked.I told them to have a faulty arrow in my quiver was asking for trouble.Better to prevent accidental use and injure my self.One thing is the Victorian English arrow makers in my opinion were the pinical of wood arrows craftsmanship that there ever was.Purle and Thompson and others.I heard Thompson actually made Purles arrows.Correct me if I am wrong.May your arrows fly true
Cheers
Old school Richie p
Hahahahaha brilliant!
Bang out a couple arrows using shitty shit from B&Q and cook up a test rig to fire them from, simulating a heavy weight bow. Bit of slow motion shaft explosion footage.
For that, I would like to see.
OK
Of course not every piece of hardware doweling is suitable for arrowmaking, but you can say the same about any piece of wood for an arrow, or more importantly, a bow stave. Things like grain straightness and runoff can be checked. Sure, you might have to go through a dozen pieces to find one hardware dowel suitable for an arrow. I've made arrows and bolt shafts from oak and poplar doweling many times and haven't had any issue with them, as have others. You just have to do your due diligence.
Thanks for commenting.
I would like to argue that you don't have to by arrow shafts, you can absolutely make your own. Your point still stands when it comes to dowels, they are usualy nott good enough, but you can learn to make good arrow shafts by hand.
I think we to often say "only trust in seller" but archery is arguebly the worlds oldest hobby. It is great to try to learn to make arrows just like our ancestors and should be endorsed.
Tl:dr points on doweling are on point but don't dicurage people to learn to make their own arrows.
Hi, half of my videos are about encouraging people to make their own arrows! One of my most popular videos is how to make your own arrow shafts, perhaps you haven't watched enough of my content to understand what I do.
If you examine dowels in a hardware store you may also see that they are not all made from a single length of timber. Many of them are made from short lengths and glued together to get the length the stores want to sell. Each join is a potential failure point!
indeed, some are made that way, amazes me that it's worth the effort to make cheap dowels.
LOL!!! The 2lb weight. I didn’t think it’d break the dowel IMMEDIATELY.
yes, frigtening isnt it.
I saw a video of someone saying to use dowel and I thought it could be ok. I’m glad I saw this..just from how easily it broke is scary.
Glad I could help
Well I guess my idea of using dowels to make arrows is a "no go"
Some people do, but, I really wouldn't advise it.
I buy my shafts from your eBay store haha
thanks
ive made arrows from poplar dowls and theyre NOT that flimsy, i have one thats lasted several years from a 55# hickory bow and i ts still holding strong.
I recently bought a bundle of them at a bigger diameter for a new bow im making and i dont see a problem with them so far since i picked them from a crowd.
Well done
@@longbows thank you I try
If I get a heavier bow though you bet I'll be getting Ash shafts
Great, we sell them
@@longbows fantastic I know where to buy them then
I will go further and state that you should pay for premium arrow shafting from a reputable company. Some of the bargain priced arrow shafting can be mismatched in spine and weight by an unacceptable margin. Some of the very cheap finished arrows available from the other side of the world, (politically correct way of saying China), can also be very mismatched.
There is nothing more frustrating while working on correct form than a wonky arrow, convincing you that you are not shooting correctly when it is most definitely a crappy arrow. New archers especially should not subject themselves to this.
Thanks again for a great tutorial. I anxiously await your Christmas presentation.
I understand your not for using a hardware store dowel, but you were a bit biased. I am planning to use them and there are several things to take into consideration. The first first 2 are are size and wood, I'm using a poplar dowel, in 3/8 (about 9.5mm). Next you pull all the dowels out of the bin and only select the ones with no knots and good grain, not just randomly select. Lastly I fully intend to spine test my dowels to make sure they are up to it before I loose one. Where I am i can get a 3/8 poplar dowel for $0.98, vs $40.00 PLUS shipping and tax per dozen. All in all it come to $4.18 per shaft. I can take my time and select good dowels, and buy 4 for the price of 1 manufactured shaft.
I am glad you have the expertise to select good materials from trash, not everyone is.
@@longbows i went through about 50 dowels to find 4. no knots allowed, good straight grain, fairly straight over all.
My local store doesn't have that many dowels in stock
Haha.. creamy shaft with white background
...and stiff
I was thinking instead of buying 8mm dowel light hardwood probably white oak I was thinking of buying 11mm light hardwood thicker= mostly stronger but probably heavy
Our video applies to UK only.
I live in the UK
Then good luck, I cant say anymore than I did in the video, keep getting lots of people from USA etc where `dowel` is good quality, hence assuming you were outside of the UK
From 0:00 to 0:10 that's what she said
Amazing
From zero to 10 seconds, its a worry if she says that.
@@longbows ohhhhhhohhohooohhhhhhh 😂😂😂🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣😂
@@longbows amazing comeback
If you dont want babies then thats the best place for it.
An arrow shaft is a dowel just made from decent wood
an arrow shaft is made from selected wood with grain that runs end to end, not just decent wood, there is an art to it, it takes years of practice to select the correct materials to make an arrow shaft, its not as simple as people think.
Not to be rude, but it seems a tad biased that a shop owner that sells arrow supplies would tell you to not make your own arrow shafts.
I can't "tell" anyone what to do, I wouldn't pretend that I have the power to make people do my bidding. And, frankly, I was already busy selling shafts for 30 plus years before making this video, it hasn't made any difference to the number of shafts I have sold. So if it makes you feel any better, anyone reading this, please don't buy shafts from me...but please, don't buy dowels that could harm you.
@@longbows I mean, I don't even think that's necessary. I'm not opposed to people buying shafts from you guys; I'm pro-small business and a business owner myself. I'm just pointing out a slight conflict of interest.
Honestly, what would make me feel better is if people didn't preach the idea that you should *never* use dowels or that using dowels for arrows is *always* dangerous as definitive truth. Rather, be selective about *which* dowels you select, test them rigorously, and accept that every part of archery (and even life in general) contains some level of risk. I think the stigma in the archery community against dowel arrows is frankly quite silly and overblown.
You're absolutely correct on one front; don't make arrows out of inferior materials. But what you conveniently left out was that not *all* dowels are inferior materials, only dowels with defects, as many in the comments have pointed out already. I understand wanting to keep people safe. I just think it's better to say "be very careful when making dowel arrows" than to say "never make arrows out of dowels."
No disrespect intended; you're clearly a stand-up dude. And while you don't have "the power to make people do your bidding" you do have a platform and influence, as I'm sure you're aware.
-cheers and have a great afternoon
I don't know where you live, bit where I live ALL dowel is cheap and poor quality wood, I have never seen dowel for sale in England that's A: actually round B: straight grained C: available in sufficient numbers to be able to select a dozen shafts that actually match a bow, let alone a DIY store willing to let me sit there with a spine tester to go through their stock. I do not preach, I can only speak about my experiences, my experience of wooden dowels in England is that they are NOT suitable for making arrows, so therefore I made this video in the hope of preventing injury, even if I can save one person from the horrific injuries I have seen. Again, there is no conflict of interest, I have no influence, you are example of that, you have different experiences from me and are going to do exactly the opposite of what I say in my video. Not everyone is trying to profit out of their knowledge.
M8 instead of saying diy store just say Bunnings
Who are they?
So cherry pick your dowels. I get mine from the hardware store, red oak 5/16, I hunt with them and practice combat archery.. there a bit heavy but provides good penetration on game animals and good accuracy. Again if you cherry pick your shafts.
Hi, as I have mentioned to a few people here in the comments, in the UK we don't get the same kind of dowels you get, ours are inexpensive cross-grained pine, if you have access to oak then maybe you can do what you are doing.
Yes, dowells suck for making arrows. Im making my bows out of the same trees that the local Indians made theirs out of.
Osage orange, red oak, black walnut and my favorite, Ash. Im also making my arriws out of what they used for centuries. Straight sasafras sapplings when I can find them are great but hickory sapplings that are strechting for sunlight in heavy woods work too. We also have black and honey locust sapplings that are nice, if u dont mind getting stuck by thorns that were made by Satan himself. I still have alot of 30 yr old cypress (which is kinda like cedar) that has straight, tight grains that run 10 feet and may jog left or right 1/16 of an inch. It almost looks line imitation wood because its so straigh. Havent quite fifured out how the Indians used those heavy stone arrowheads unless they were making very, very, strong bows. Im using copper scraps to make mine and I'm making tiny target heads but some of the arrowheads that I've found over the years must weigh 1 to 3 ounces, some even more than that. Some saran wrap got pinched between the strips of wood on my last red oak bow when I was glueing it and it broke lastnight because if it. But because I live in the country in Arkansas I jusf reached back, pulled my .380 and shot the hay bales 8 times then blew them up with some old black powder later. 😳
P.S. The pistol is just my back-up, incase my bow jams.
Of course one can make arrows out of dowels. But one must be willing to accept the fact that they will often explode into your bow hand if your bow pulls much over 10 pounds. Ask me how I know. Oh, you covered it later around 8 minutes. It happened to me just like that 50 years ago, and I still have the scars.
Sorry to hear you had to lear the hard way.
@@longbows That is what the 14th year of life is for. Ask Romeo.
I've made dozens of arrows from hardware doweling for bows up to 45 lbs, never had an issue. You just have sort through the pile and select the one situable for the job at hand. In the video, he shows what you have to look for in a good arrow shaft. No different from selecting proper wood for a bow stave.
Dowels make perfectly fine arrows, if you select them properly. This guy purposely chooses a poor dowel and uses it as an example of ALL dowels. He's selling arrow shafts, take his words with a grain of salt.
I agree with you, if you are able to access good quality dowells, be able to go through a large number of them to sellect ones that dont have poor grain etc. I am not sure where, you live, but, here in the UK dowells are very often made from poor quality materials and the stores that have them may only have a 100 or so on the shelf, I picked that shaft at random, I am not trying to make people buy my shafts, I am busy enough without that, I am trying to save poeple from hurting themselves just to save a few pennies, I only sell shafts in the UK, I do not export them, so this video is very much aimed at UK Archers.
you talk too much
Thanks, glad you could stop by, love it when people watch my videos and comment, each view and comment helps the channel and earns me money, it really is appreciated, please watch more of my videos and comment, I really like to hear what my fans have to say.
@@longbows Yes i will watch your channel again and again, it's interesting and i did not say the opposite but i like more action then talk. Still interesting don't stop
@@longbows Im not all that familiar with British accents but u kinda sound like Ian Anderson man. Are u both from the same area in England?
Can we have millimetre sizes please we are British not American
Hi, no, Longbow arrows, bows and the materials are sold in inches, of I change one, the shafts for example, the customer won't know what piles, nocks etc to buy to match.