Newbie questions
 

At the good advice of many, I'm going to learn to shoot my recurve with aluminum arrows, but if I'm satisfied with my improvement I want to get some cedars before next season. I will probably get some "plain-jane" pre-tapered, fletched shafts from either Cabela's or 3-Rivers. Anyone have a preference or is the quality about the same? Is length on complete shafts measured to the very end or the beginning of the taper? (Do I need to add inches to allow for the fit of glue-on points) I'm leaning towards the Zwickey 4-blade Eskimo 125gr. broadhead because the bleeder blades look small enough that I could still use my Lansky for sharpening. Does anyone sharpen this way? I'm not bad with a stone on knife blades but nothing compares with the edge from the Lansky.

RE: Newbie questions
 

I'm at a loss as for wooden arrows, I shoot the aluminums. As for broadheads take a look at the magnus II's and Wensel woodsmans as well as the Zwikees. Good luck and keep it fun.
Towerrat164
All praise to the Lord,
may he bless you today.

RE: Newbie questions
 

I think would be well advised to buy the best arrows you can afford if you buy wood. I've seen too many "Bargain" wood arrows that aren't built correctly. The most common problem with a cheap wood arrow is that they are not indexed properly. This will cause the spines to be different and your groups will open up conciderably. This is the main problem I find when people tell me that wood arrows won't group. The other problem to watch out for is arrows that don't run straight with the grain. You will see a lot of chevrons in the grain and those arrows are weak. Rogue River has always been a quality shaft supplier and I would assume that their arrows would be built with care. I have seen several Custom King arrows that have had the afore mentioned faults. One other thing that I would like to point out is that wood arrows are more fragile than aluminum or carbon. Be prepared to break some if you miss the target. Dick

RE: Newbie questions
 

My advice would be to NOT buy prefinished shafts from either company. Three Rivers, right in their catalog, says their shafts are not weight matched...and I'd doubt that Cabelas is either. If your shafts are not weight matched, there could be 100 or more grains difference within the dozen (been there, done that).

What ever you buy, make sure they are matched in both weight and spine. Nothing less should be acceptable.

JRW

RE: Newbie questions
 

I'm with JRW. I wouldn't buy shafts from 3 Rivers or Cabelas either. When I first started out I bought a dozen shafts from 3 Rivers. I "assumed" that they would be reasonably close in weight. Au contrare. They were as much as 70 grains apart. 3 Rivers is a good company and I don't understand why they do that. They could charge a couple bucks more and give you something useable.

I have bought shafts from Raptor and Allegheny Mountain and they give a 10-20 grn range. Other places do the same.

RE: Newbie questions
 

I just bought a dozen laminated birch shafts from Allegheny Mt. Arrow Woods and they are all within 20 grains of each other. I have never used this shaft before but after staining and sealing them I'm quite impressed. Very straight, don't really have to worry much about graining as they are laminated with 6 lams each. Very heavy shaft also. Raw shaft is around 500 grains which will bring my finished arrow to about 650. When I fletch them I'll let you kknow how they fly.

KPC