Having tested birch, maple, hickory, oak, ash, poplar,
alder, red cedar, mahogany, palma brava, Philippine nara, Douglas fir,
red pine, white pine, spruce, Port Orford cedar, yew, willow, hazel,
eucalyptus, redwood, elderberry, and bamboo, we have adopted birch as
the most rigid, toughest and suitable in weight for hunting arrows.
Douglas fir and Norway pine are best for target shafts; bamboo for
flight arrows.
The commercial dowel, frequently called a maple dowel, is made of white
birch and is exactly suited to our purpose. It may be obtained in
quantities from dealers in hardwoods, or from sash and door mills. If
possible, you should select these dowels yourself, to see that they are
straight, free from cross-grain, and of a rigid quality. For hunting
bows drawing over sixty pounds, the dowels should be three-eighths of
an inch in diameter; for lighter bows five-sixteenths dowels should be
used. They come in three-foot lengths and bundles of two hundred and
fifty. It is a good plan to buy a bundle at a time and keep them in the
attic to dry and season.
Where dowels are not obtainable, you can have a hickory or birch plank
sawed up or split into sticks half an inch in diameter, and plane these
to the required size, or turn them on a lathe, or run them through a
dowel-cutting machine.
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