Building the wood arrow...Part 3. Species and such

     As you, the reader can tell, in order to make a good shooting Hill style wood arrow, first must come good consistent shooting form in the Hill style.  We've endeavored to put the horse before the cart.  We want a fluid dynamic shooting form that allows the arrows to perform with the bow in the best, most forgiving way possible.  Fairly in-depth explanation of good shooting form, a clear relaxed mind, understanding arrow balance and such will help you to build a good arrow like the old-timers used to make.  A simply elegant wood arrow that springs into flight from a well-shot Hill style longbow.

     Wood species used for arrow making have varied a lot over the centuries based on what was locally available.  I'm not going to discuss all the variables of each, or what makes a particular kind better or worse for making a good wood arrow, that would take a lot of writing.  However, knowing some of the tendencies of the popular arrow woods available today will help this readership find and make good arrows in their particular locale.

    Some areas of the world, or in America, rely heavily on bamboo for making arrows.  Bamboo is a great arrow material and I've made arrows with it and they shoot very well.  There are some factors with Bamboo arrows that are overlooked when making arrows of other species...namely grain orientation, straightness and the nodes, so we'll not be discussing arrows made of them, in order to keep things as much like Hill would've used as possible.

     As previously discussed, having a lighter grip on the bow and a bend in the bow arm will allow the bow to move slightly to the side when the arrow is forced into the bow.  Dr. Elmer said all the looseness needed was just relaxed fingers.  Hill and Schulz relaxed the top two fingers on the grip.  The idea is just to be relaxed and dynamic through the shot and allow the bow and arrow to play in the hand.  Hill said at one time, that the secret was in the hands, which I've referred to in an earlier blog, and one of those secrets I believe, was allowing the bow to play, or move, if necessary because the arrow was pushing it aside.  This would help explain how he could take a bunch of arrows from a variety of shooters at an archery gathering and using his own bow, shoot this widely-spined group of arrows into a tight group in a  24" box at 30-35 yards.  The light arrows from the women's bows up to the heavy arrows for the mens' 100# bows would be allowed to bend around or push the bow aside as needed.  

      Dr Elmer showed in his testing that a heavy arrow would shoot further to the right (Rh shooter) than a lighter arrow, and that was undoubtedly due to the heavier mass of the arrow being able to shove the bow aside.  Remember, these old bows were far from centershot and the angle of the arrow being thrust into the bow upon release created quite a bit of force.  "Heavy" arrows being a relative term in Elmer's target archery context.  However, the same reasoning applies today with the non-centershot Hill style longbow.  The ability of allowing the bow to move slightly to the side when the arrow is forced into it, will help the shooter have more flexibility in the choice of arrows and even to shoot varying wood species with the same degree of accuracy.

      We have quite a few good wood species from which to choose to make good wood arrows today.  Cedar (Lawson's Cypress) has topped the list for around 100 years, due to the influence of western USA archers bringing it to the forefront and its inherent characteristics that allow it to be a preferred arrow wood.  It's grain structure allows the ability to recover from archer's paradox well, it's relatively moderate weight, it's ability to stay straight or be straightened easily all lend itself to this preference.  Douglas Fir has been an arrow wood for almost as long as cedar.  Chief Will Compton brought it to everyone's attention back in his era and it was used by a lot of archery pioneers who recognized its tougher grain structure than cedar, it's heavier weight than cedar, and its ability to stay straight especially when getting some rough treatment while hunting or roving.  Norway pine previously had held the status of being preferred as a top shelf arrow material, mostly due to the English fletchers using it for the high-grade target arrows of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Norway Pine still is recognized as a very good arrow wood and is mostly found in the European countries.  Stateside in America and Canada,  Chundoo which is another name for slow-growth western pine, also makes great arrows.  Then there's Sitka Spruce which makes a superb arrow for lightness and toughness, qualities that rarely are found together and this wood is a great arrow maker because it flexes and recovers extremely well from archer's paradox.  Western Hemlock is similar to pine and makes a great all around arrow as well.  Rounding out the list comes the hardwood choices for arrow making, namely ash, hickory, and birch.  These three, although noted for their great toughness and heavier mass weight, are also more fickle to straighten, and keep straight than their softwood cousins.  Great attention to grain and how the shaft grew in the tree is a big help to having good hardwood arrows if someone has the time and inclination.

     Elmer noted that making a good arrow, the wood needed some elasticity and springiness to help it recover from the bending forces of going through archers paradox and remain straight.  I think the hardwoods are more susceptible to these forces than the softwoods like fir and pine, and it probably has something to do with the grain structure.  For our discussions, we'll focus on Cedar and Fir as they're probably the most available in today's market, and have a nice, long record of being good arrow woods.

    So let us dive into the wood arrow making and let us all

     Shoot Straight.