Hey, Rml. Building arrows isn't that difficult. I believe Port Orford Cedar is more popular than hickory though. I'm not sure of the specific benefits of hickory, but there are a plethera of woods to choose from. PO Cedar is a light, straight wood. You can get other woods that are heavier and more durable though. Douglas fir is a little heavier, and ash is even heavier. There's an article in the current issue (August/September) of Traditional Bowhunter about wood arrows. It talks about the different woods. After I go through my cedars I want to get some Ash because it's heavier and more durable. I think the dowels you're talking about might be ramin. I'm not sure, but I've heard other people refer to such dowels from Home Depot and Lowels and call it ramin. I haven't used it myself, but I've heard good things about it. A woodchucker is used to taper the shafts for nocks and points. It's kind of expensive, but there are lesser expensive means. Cabelas offer a tool that'll taper, but it's not a machine like the woodchucker. Kustom King archery www.kustomkingarchery.com has one that's like two pencil sharpeners together. One for the nock and one for the point. It's about $5. You can also get them tapered from your supplier. They usually charge a couple dollars to do it, but if you don't have the means to, it's worth it. I never used dip tubes on mine, or gasket laquers; I haven't even sealed them actually. Still they've held up, and they have been in the rain. If you choose to seal them, you could use any wood sealer that's good for the elements, like a polyurethane for decks. It may be a cheaper way to go, but they're still functional. Allegheny Mountain Wood Arrows offers a good variety of woods and reasonable prices. I'm not sure all the different woods from Silent Pond, but they are cheaper than Allegheny. The cheapest I've found for Port Orford Cedar was from DJR arrows. The raw shaft, cut to length and point/nock tapers was about $20 for a dozen. I never messed with crowning or cresting either, just fletched them. You'll need a fletching jig for that. I bought a Grayling for $30. It works great. Bitzbenburg has a pretty good reputation and I think is a little better quality, but runs a little higher. I bought some Bohning fletching tape to try out and was very pleased with it. I actually prefer it to the fletching cement. It's very quick, unlike the glues. Instead of waiting 15-20 minutes for glue to dry on one feather, you can do a few arrows in that amount of time with the tape. It hold very well also.
There are some cheaper brands of carbon if you'd like to go that route. PSE has a model that runs about $40 for a dozen, and Easton Excels are pretty cheap also. One of the benefits of carbons of wood is that they aren't as spine critical. If you do decide to go with woodies, talk to some arrowsmiths and they can set you up with a dozen of a few different spines. If they're not willing to do this for you, they're not worth doing business with. There's a technical side to wood arrows, but it's fun shooting arrows you put together.

God bless,
Brandan