A friend of mine just got a recurve bow given to him. It is a 50lb bow with 28inch draw. Should he shoot alluminum or carbon or wood? I appreciate your help.

Cotton

Starting out, I'd do with aluminum or carbon--easy to replace, consistent, tough. I shoot wood arrows pretty much exclusively, but they have their particulars--better to get familiar with the bow before becoming addicted to wood arrows. Stay with 8 grains per lb or more, in my opinion.

Chad

I would second carbon. I shoot gold tips weighted to 640 grns now and they bareshaft great outa my 65# widow and they will take a beating before breaking.
Good luck to your friend he just started a very addictive journey

Well, I guess I'm just a lover of wood and actually a decent set of plain jane cedars are no more expensive than aluminums or carbons. Besides, most recurves are very forgiving when using a cedar arrow that is anywhere from 5-15# spine more than the poundage the archer is drawing. So if your friend is actually drawing 28" he could use a cedar anywhere from 55-65# spine. If he draws 27", anywhere from 50-60# would work. If he draws 29", anywhere from 60-70# would work. Plenty of decent cedars up for grabs on eBay.

I suppose a 1916 or 2016 aluminum would be good for that bow, but they do bend and sometimes are difficult to straighten. I think our local pro-shop gets around $50 for a finished dozen of Game Getters, maybe XX75's. Basic cedars on eBay are going for around $50 a dozen also. Not sure about the price of carbons, suspect a bit more than alum. or wood.

I've careened woodies off targets, trees and such. Sometimes they snap in half, sometimes they come away none the worse for wear. But most aluminums will be bent nearly every time, but depends on how thin or thick-walled alum. you're using. If you know what carbon to buy for a 50# recurve, it really takes a lot of abuse, hardly ever breaks and never bends.

My thoughts...

Cheap carbons really aren't worth buying. They have many issues with spine and weight consistency and straightness. To get carbons that equal the straightness and consistency of aluminum, you have to spend at least twice the price. If they last twice as long, then they're well worth it. But I've found that carbon is just as easy to lose as aluminum arrows are.

I've been pretty darned impressed by the carbon/glass composite arrows, specifically Carbon Express Terminator Selects. Good weight without having to fiddle around with weight tubes, brass inserts or other weighting systems. Straight within .003" for the full length of the raw shaft - something I've NEVER seen with all-carbon arrows. Consistent in spine and weight. VERY durable. The Select version isn't cheap, but it's price is pretty consistent with Easton's XX78 aluminum arrows.

I like wood arrows. I shot wood for 25 years before buying my first set of aluminums. I always have at least a few wood arrows on hand. I can't say they're no good for a beginner, because wood is what I began with! I'm not sure I agree with Chad that wood isn't as straight or consistent as aluminum. It takes a good bit of effort to get a matched set of straight wood arrows, but it can be done. So, I think it's more appropriate to say it's far easier to get a matched set of arrows with aluminum or carbon or carbon composite.

If you simply want to walk into a store, anywhere in the country, and buy a matched set of arrows... that are an exact match for the arrows you've been using... then aluminum is your arrow. There are so many carbon arrow mfr's these days that you never know from one shop to the next what they're going to have on hand. The shop that carried Brand X last week is liable to be carrying only Brand Z this week, and Brand Y the week after. You walk into a shop and buy a half dozen Easton XX75 2018's. You can walk into any other shop anywhere in the country and buy another half dozen that will be an exact match. That's called consistency and availability. You KNOW what you're getting, time after time after time. IMO, that's aluminum's biggest advantage.

Yes, aluminum does bend. The good thing about it is aluminum can usually be straightened. On the other hand, carbon cracks. Carbon can't be glued back together.

PL, I love wood arrows and shoot them pretty much exclusively--but I did have a learning curve when I swiched over to wood that I didn't experience with aluminum or carbon. When starting out, I think it's easier to just get some aluminums that you can pick up at pretty much any archery shop, instead of going through the process of figuring out what wood you want to use, who supplies the better shafting/arrows, what finish to use when you make your own, finding affordable and well-made arrows, etc.

Arthur, where did I say that? *note to self--Arthur gets a pink string*[>:] You did straighten me out on carbons though--when I shot them, Beemans were about the only brand I knew of or could find. They did just fine for me, but never had the appeal of wood. Besides, I thought that back when you started shooting a bow, all that was available were wood shafts (and stone broadheads)

There are gobs of places to get wood arrows/shafting, but in my experience there is more junk offered than really good ones, and some in-between. One thing to keep in mind--a fancy paint job doesn't mean you have good arrows. Some builders will use the paint to hide flaws.

Chad

Chad, the dog woke me up at 5 AM today after I'd been on the road all weekend, running back and forth from here to the hospital 137 miles away. To top it off, I made the mistake of posting before the coffee pot got done with it's business. So, due to exhaustion and caffiene deficiency, it's just possible I was hallucinating.

Pink string? I gots a magic marker.