Home > Arrows and Arrow Making > Boyton Scots Pine Shafts
Boyton Scots Pine Shafts
Reviewed By Steve , 6 November 2009
There is more choice available for arrow wood than most archers realise, despite the predominance of POC on the market there are other woods which have exceptional characteristics for making arrows. Chris Boyon has been making pine arrows for some considerable time, I have been using his shafts along with others for many, many years.
I like these pine shafts for several reasons, firstly I tend to prefer a heavier rather than lighter arrow because this utilises more of the bows energy and tends to give a softer shot, meaning there is less in terms of wasted energy and vibration coming back through the bow, it's true that many of the bows available today are very low or no shock, but my preference is a heavy arrow with a big fletch. Were I hunting then pine would allow me to start with a shaft with some real weight behind it, weight of course aids penetration. We are not talking about mad weights here a pine shaft would be some 50-90 grains heavier than the equivalent poc shaft. I find too that generally the weights in any given batch of the same spine are within acceptable limits and allows close matching to be done.
In terms of strength I have found that pine is tougher than poc, so if you anticipate bouncing arrows around the woods pine ones will stand up to it a little better. Boytons pine shafts come to me generally very straight, always a good property in an arrow. However, storage, shipping and age can all play a part in putting a kink in a once straight shaft and these shafts straighten well and hold their straightness too.
I taper a lot of my own arrows as a tapered shaft offer some advantages over a parallel one, however Chris will do this for you and the extra charge is really negligible for what you get, I have found this to be a huge advantage with having a shaft manufacturer in the UK. I also should mention that Chris will happily provide shafts from 1/4" right through to 1/2" shafts for guys that shoot the monster War bows and you don't get that service shipped in from the States.
I can definitely recommend Boyton shafts, and if you don't normally use them I would say, "give them a go", you may be surprised, I know many archers shooting light weight arrows when something a little heavier might improve the efficiency of the bow, flight characteristics and accuracy... It isn't all about speed.
| Rating | |
|---|---|
| Features & Design |   |
| Since bows were invented pine has been used as an arrow wood, it's lightness in comparison to other woods and it's straight grain mean it is the ideal choice. | |
| Performance | |
| Excellent performance - shafts should always be matched to the bow. | |
| Value for Money | |
| Even a little cheaper than poc, wonderful !! | |
| Overall | |
| Great shafts which will produce excellent arrows | |
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| Essential Details | |
|---|---|
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What : Boyton Scots Pine Shafts Price : £20.40/dozen |
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Beautiful straight grain.
Uniform growth rings mean the density will be similar, spine and weight should be close - when tested this is the case.
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Magazine |
July 2010
The Mary Rose story comes to life this month, when Steve and Andy went to visit archaeologist Alex Hildred and got our hands on 500 year old long bows (literally). We look at the battle of Vernuiel, Andy visits France on a peace mission and we talk to Sid at Border.
June 2010
Bumper edition this month, a pig in armour, Geoff towers direct from Homildon Hill and a look at the Mary Rose. There is also news of the UK Atlatl championships and all the usual regular items.
May 2010
This month sees the release of yet another Robin Hood film, to celebrate this months magazine is a Robin Hood special. We look at the man behind the legend with a couple of articles about the man and the period that gave rise to him. We also have an article on Little John, not Robin Hoods side kick but John Cately of Little John Arrow, he talks to us about his life in archery and the way he likes to make his arrows.
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Your Comments
Tell us what you think, do you agree with the review or have something to add?
Posted by: Darren Chaplin on Mar 14, 22:04
Steve, Wouldn’t mind trying these, but no contact details for C.Boyton in this review, also would it be possible to get a 5/16 shaft with a taper (possibly down to 1/4”) as I feel (Through observation not testing) that a narrow shaft for a given spine/weight seems to hit a little harder. I shoot 45-50lb spine arrows out of some of my bows so prefer the less common 5/16 dia in this weight. Also the following seems to produce slightly faster arrows;
1) Combi point seems faster than conventional field points/piles.
2)5” Parabolic feathers seem to travel faster than 4” Shield. Is is down to the more aerodynamic profile of these components, or just my imagination?
Posted by: Steve@archers-review on Mar 17, 19:38
Hello Darren,
now here is a can of worms !!! I could write a novel, but better yet I have mailed you. There will be several articles relating to arrows over the next few months in the magazine portion of the website… stay tuned because you will love them…. Steve