# Wood or Carbon arrows??



## Elbow

I guess I don't fully understand the difference yet, still being new to the bow shooting.

But I hear difference of opinions by many about their preference to wood vs carbon or having both but using them for certain circumstances.

Now, isn't it true that wood swells when it get's wet so why use a wooden arrow in a humid climate such as Georgia?

Any help is appreciated. I am looking to buy new arrows when I get my bow from Big Jim.
El


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## longbowdave1

el,
wood arrows should be sealed so the humidity should not affect them, i just prefer wood arrows. i like the way they look and there is nothing better than the smell of fresh cedar when you cut them down or taper them to put on a nock or broadhead when preparing for a hunt. a simple straightening tool will keep them flying true!

dave


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## SOS

Have had good success with wood arrows...in fact brewing up a new batch right now for the bow I'm  building.  A few coats of poly and not a problem in the humid climes...at least none that I'm aware of.  I think the wood may be a little more forgiving, as carbons can be touchy to tune...but once you find a recipe for your bow with carbons, they are durable and hard to beat for day-in, day -out shooting, in my opinion.  It is also possible to shoot a lighter shaft with more point weight up front that can be more forgiving.  With a little work, either can be made to be a good and good-looking shooter for your bow.  Guess which is wood and which is carbon!


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## longbowdave1

i'm guessing the ones in the quiver are carbon just because of the style of nocs.


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## Barry Duggan

Carbon...if it ain't broke, it's fairly straight .


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## Elbow

I was going to say the 2nd batch were carbon...see I need all the help I can get! 

I understand what you are both saying; what about rain? If your out on a hunt and it starts pouring then don't you have damaged arrows?
El


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## longbowdave1

rain only affects the fletchings, and i use a dry feather powder which makes them waterproof. also if it's raining hard, i may take a few arrows out of my quiver just to keep them out of the elements.


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## Barry Duggan

Thats what longbowdave was talking about when he said they (wooden arrows) should be sealed.


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## SOS

If it is raining that hard - time to head for the house...don't like tracking in the rain.  The feathers are by far the most sensitive - albeit the wild turkey fletch seems to resist rain a little better.  The most rain my arrows usually get are usually during state shoots when you have to compete in the rain.  Oh, and longbow dave it right, the nocks give away the carbons.


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## longbowdave1

they are nice looking arrows steve!

 every time it's raining when i bowhunt deer, for some reason, i talk myself into going out, seldom do i see anything in the rain!


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## gurn

If you start off with wood, you will have to learn how to straighten them. Carbons are more consistant in spine, and straightness. They are also much more durable. 
As said before. A properly sealed wood arrow will not be affected by wet weather. Wood, like our choice of bows, just seem more traditional to many folks. They have a beauty of their own.


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## devolve

I use both as well but I hunt with carbons. they are more durable.


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## BkBigkid

Wood carbon or Aluminum, 

each one of them have there own little differences 

Woods and carbon don't make as much noise when hitting the riser of your bow. 

Woods and aluminum will need straightening from time to time. 

Carbon when they Break they are through 
aluminum can be Straightened unless you crease them 
Woods can be spliced back together even though it is not recommend. 

Aluminum come is some Very common camo patterns and can have wraps added to get some color 
Carbon are almost always Black and can have wraps added to get some color 
woods the sky is the limit as to what you can do with them for color. Food dye them Purple if you want them Paint the ends Pink 

Is all going to be personal preference as to which ones you choose.


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## Elbow

Well thanks everyone!
Some good advice you guys have to give!

Looks like I am going to try wood for a change and give it a chance!
Thank you for all your input!
El


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## hawgrider1200

It's mostly your traditional archers that are going to be using the wood arrows. There were no carbon arrows or aluminum arrows in the day b4 compound bows. I remember the first bow I ever shot had wood arrows.


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## Al33

I have them all but my true all round preference are the woodies. For me they are more versatile and easier to work with. They may require a bit more maintenance but you do not need a special cutoff saw to cut them to length and they do not need weights, tubes, collars, or inserts. Unfortunately, really good wooden shafts are hard to come by these days simply because the highest quality resources (trees) are not available like they used to be.

If you get into building your own arrows I think woodies are the most fun to build. Cut POC sure smells a lot better than cut carbon or aluminum.

For long lasting durability and flight consistency I will have to give carbons my vote. You can buy a dozen carbon shafts and just about everyone one of them will fly the same from a given bow provided they are all made up the same. Not necessarily true with the woodies. Wood grains differ from arrow to arrow effecting not only spine weights but paradox too. To maximize spine it is very important to glue on your nocks so that the cross grain of a shaft is horizontal on the shelf of the bow. With carbons, you can twist the insert nock which in turn rotates your fletching to your preferences. Additionally, if you bust a nock on a carbon all you need to do is insert a new one but with the woodies they usually have to be removed with a knife and the arrow cleaned before a new one can be glued on.

Well El, looks like we cleared all this up for you so your decision should be easy now. I'm willing to bet you will end up like most of us and have a few dozen of each.


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## Elbow

Al, thanks now I have the task of finding the right wood arrow for my bow. Wood grains, spine weights, and paradox. Oh, boy...a lot to consider.

Thank you so much for your help.  I probably will end up with quiet a few arrows like you said!
El


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## BkBigkid

Elbow said:


> .  I probably will end up with quiet a few arrows like you said!
> El


Either that or a few Bend up with a few bows!


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## Jake Allen

Maybe consider aluminum shafts too.
My preference, in order:
Aluminum
Wood
Carbon

Aluminums are easy to tune, and take the least effort
to pull from a 3D target.


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## TNGIRL

Eleanor, sometimes it comes down to wether or not you want to learn to "build" them to. You can buy all three types of arrows, fully ready to shoot, but you'll start seeing how much they cost and think "I can do that!!!" And you can. I prefer my alum. arrows with my recurve and my longbow..goes like little darts!!! And I have cedar and ramen wooden ones, along with a couple cane arrows, to shoot from my selfbow and they can shoot from either recurve or LB as well. I don't have any carbon, my choice, just never got any, so had enough of the others to keep me happy. Plus, WHEN I loose or break them, the carbons cost more to replace. And I will certainly loose or break them!!!!
The rain can change your arrow flight, but there are ways around wet fletching, we'll share those!!! But some of my most fun shoots have been in the rain, and everyone else had wet arrows too!!!
I shoot 1716 alum. with usually three 5 in. feathers. I like most any shape of the feathers, lately have really liked a "traditional" cut...looks BAD!!!! the woods/cane ones are 5/16ths in dia. and spine in the neighborhood of 37 to 43# and all are 28 in. in length at least. I like a 100 gr point on it and really don't have a preferrence of nock shapes. 
But everyone on here will help you out with info and directions so just pick a way and do it!!!!!
Steve, those are some purty fine looking arras you posted pics of.
JakeAllen makes some killer arras as well!!!!!!
So many of this trad. family does such fine work on their bows and arrows, it's just a pure pleasure to see whatall they do make!!!!


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## Elbow

Jake and Tomi I do have aluminum which I really like but don't have any other arrows to compare them against.

Tomi, your right, once I priced arrows online I thought I might have to get educated in making arrows.  Not cheap!

Thanks for your advice and your expertise!
El


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## longbowdave1

hey el,

if your thinking of trying wood arrows check out www.allwoodaroows.com here is a thread about the arrows i got from him. great arrows very reasonable.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=470667


dave


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## Dennis

There is a lot of great advice here and it is all correct. But let me add one little thing maybe you have not thought of yet. I always tell someone that is just getting into trad. archery to try alum. arrows first because when your just starting out you need something that is consistant in your set up. That way when your trying to figure out how to shoot well, you will have one less thing to worry about.
I love wood arrows and i love building them also but they don't fly as constant as alum. and when your just starting out every little thing helps! Also alum are easy to tune, I shoot carbon now days but they can be a bit to tune if your not use to tuning them.Also carbon are cheaper in the long run because there much tougher than anything else and they dont bend or break very easy. I say stay with alum for now and then get with someone to help you tune some carbons and then try some woodies later cause they are cool but they can be a bit inconsistant for a new archer when there just trying to get everything else figured out.And buy the way carbons are cool to build too!


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## Barry Duggan

El, actually I think wood arrows are cool, but have yet to mess with them. Aluminums can be bought in probably the most spine choices, and are the straightest... to start with. The reason I say to start with is, I started off with them and my experience tells me they do not hold up well when glancing blows are involved. And, I mastered the fine art of glancing blows long before I learned to shoot half way decent. So I went to carbons and tend to believe they are the most durable day in and day out. But then again, I am no expert and should not be confused with one. lol


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## robert carter

I`ve hunted with wood,aluminum and carbon and they all work great . I`m not the 3d archer a lot of you folks are I just spend a lot of time bout lost in the swamp.Shooting critters is what I tune up my arrows to do. I have always been a fan of slightly heavy arrows and aluminums worked great for me. At the pounds I shoot a 2020 or 2018 is a heck of a durable shaft and when you do bend one a little hand straightening will have it ready for the squirrel hunting quiver and you won`t cry if you loose it in the top of an oak.Wood works great and I believe is more forgiving at the shot and quieter in flite.But stay away from antything other than cedar or maybe douglas fir. I have had some hardwood shafts actually warp in my quiver.Sounds crazy but it happened. Right now I`m shooting carbons. Love`m. They are either broke or ready to shoot. no in between. You can get`m a little stiff and add some point weight to make them spine right and get the total arrow weight up like that and they fly great with a high front of center.You can get Beemans at 3 rivers made up for 77 bucks a dozen or shafts for 49. I just bought some of the "built" ones and they are very well fletched and seem to be a great buy.Plan on gathering supper with some soon. I bet if you posted your bow set`up and draw length etc...Somebody will have an arrow that you could try before you spent some money. I got`m by the bucketfull.RC


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## BigJim Bow

I have light weight carbon shafts that will shoot like lightning bolts out of your new bow. They can look just like wood, they can also be died different colors too(bet ya'll didn't know that). If you go to aluminum, you will have to shoot shafts on the lighter end to shoot well and they will be very delicate and prone to bending. they are noisy and ugly (ok that last one is my opinion after shooting them for 20 + years). Wood are cool no doubt, but I would rather spend my time shooting arrow than making them. As far as tuning difficulties goes, once you have a set tuned for a specific bow (quite easy I might add) you are done. The next set of carbons of the same make and spine will be exactly like the last 40,000 carbons of the same make and spine. They will also shoot better when out of tune than most other types of shafts.
And Tough!!!!!, I shot a Carbon Express Heritage 350 (785g arrow) out of an 86# bow into a saw blade (not the center either) and it bounced half way back to me completely unharmed. I couldn't believe it so I did it again only this time on purpose (maybe) and it only jammed the insert back into the shaft 1/2 ".
I don't care what you pay for them, carbons are cheap!!

good luck choosing, and if you decide to go the way of carbons, I have plenty of test shafts here. 

thanks,bigjim


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## JSOG

I think it all depends on what ya started with...
I cant get used to aluminums, so I shoot wood.

Carbons ARE the bomb, if you can get a set to do perfect at your release and draw style. I just dont gee n haw with em.
The thing about carbons and luminum, is the  issue if they disontinue YOUR favorite set. Soooo pick a big name, and pick a common shaft, and be happy.
I am obsessed with wood tho, and it is what I shoot best day in day out. Pay attention to your nocks and specially your inserts on carbons, or youll slowly loose confidence and ruination yourself.

Wood. Ramin. Tapered. Made by GOD.


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## gurn

El
What bow are you using #, draw" ? 
Some of us may have different shafts, or made up arrows of different materials in your weight range for ya ta try.
May help you out.


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## Badddwithabow

well crap lol.you guys are making me 2nd guess my decision..... I'm new into trad and am gettin to be a decent shot, i have been shooting the carbon express heritage's but just ordered my 1st set of arrow material. 

I honestly just want the full effect of killing something with something i made is all it comes down to i guess.

The carbons fly like darts and my bow seems to love em but I just for some reason am having a mental objection since i've shot carbons out of my wheelie bow for years...... 

I'm just all about the experience and if wood will make it better i'm all for it! Just hope the arrows i make are shootable LOL, again all i really do is hunt not much for 3-d although they are fun  i'd rather be huntin


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## Elbow

Big Jim, looks like me and you have some shopping to do! And any color I want? You shot at a saw blade?
I think I'll go with the carbon for now.  Maybe get a few woods later for kicks and giggles. They sound a little more complicated.

Gurn, my Big Jim bow is 35#, draw 28. 


Thanks Mr. Robert Carter.

El


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## fountain

big jim hook you up!  thats the biz.
cant go wrong with carbons imo.  tune them and then shoot them. 
wood shafts are just aggrevating to make up and too expensive to buy pre-made ans probably aggrevating to bare shaft tune as well.
aluminum can be bent
carbons are broke or good--no in between.
they even make pink uns!  not syaing that is your style, but just an option--and it even helps with the breast cancer funds!!!!


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## SOS

El, if you are thinking carbon, it is great if you can wait until you are at a shoot where Big Jim is set up.  He has sets of several lenghts and point weights of carbon arrows that you can borrow and bareshaft your bow right there to get you close to the right arrow...plus folks around to help.  Having the test shafts to use is a big help!  Just a thought.


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