Got a call from a guy the other day looking for tight ring (15+ per inch) D. fir
Got with him and talked a little. Port orford cedar has been the wood of choice but it's getting so rare that they've gone to fir
He makes traditional wooden arrows out of d fir. Has developed a world wide market and now has run out of stock to make the arrows and is looking all over the place. Is turning down requests for dealerships for lack of stock.
http://www.surewoodshafts.com/Quite a little operation. It's just he and two other guys. He designed the machines that sizes them and test them for "spine" strength, if that the right word. It's how stiff the arrow is to match the size of the bow in pounds pull.
He said that 80% of the tree goes out in scrape with a 20% usable wood. Asked me to keep a look out for wood for him.
He can't use cut boards because the arrow stock has to follow the grain. He splits all his wood into to like shake bolts but 36" long. So this is a great place to sell short pieces instead of making fire wood. Then saws them to thickness on a little ground mount band mill from Linn Lumber.
Thinking of Kirk I asked him if he'd like to handle Osage Orange bow blanks on the side but he passed on the idea. Want's to concentrate on arrows. Did offer contacts if Kirk were interested.
He said he discovered that he can't use fir from our (Oregon) coast range for his arrows. Their too weak. The winters are too mild to really define the winter wood from the summer. And generally the growth is too fast.
He designed all the machines to make and test the arrows. Cutoff saw, sander and bend tester. And uses a "DH kiln" to dry the finnished stock. It's an insulatated room with a Sears dehumidifer sitting on the floor.
