Our Process
There are also certain things we do not, nor will ever do. These are crucial guiding principles in our business – it makes us who we are!
There are certain things that we do within our processes – procedures and steps that we feel are integral to the final quality of the product.
This is about who we are, why we do what we do, and also maybe why we don’t do some things.
This is about how our beliefs, principles, and personalities mould our business and how our business represents who we are!
Like most people, there are some facets of our lives that are open to change and some lateral movement, and some areas where we are steadfast and uncompromising.
Root wad of massive blow-down Sitka Spruce tree.
Only the straightest, tight-ringed, high-grade wood is selected to be processed into Premium-Grade Wooden Arrow Shafts.
Dan, "disconnecting" the root wad from a blow-down Giant Sitka Spruce tree.
Dan, our local Haida tree feller, is spending an introspective, quiet moment with this behemoth! The native Haida still lives very close to the land nowadays, despite the world's many modern advances. Tight-ringed, high-grade wood is selected to be processed into wooden arrow shafts.
Sitka Spruce does not give up its hidden treasure easily. This is a tough wood to split – she doesn’t split easily like a Cedar or Douglas Fir log!
Sika Spruce has an incredibly high proportion of radial interconnective fibres. These small fibres run perpendicular to the grain. They are what hold the wood fibres together so well and prevent them from splitting too easily.
Along with the fact that it has the highest strength to weight ratio of any wood in the world, this makes Sitka Spruce the wood of choice for airframe construction, masts and spars for traditional sailing vessels, and premium-grade Wooden Arrow Shafts.
Sometimes, the selected log is deep in the forest, and in accordance with our strict, self-imposed environmental philosophy, we refrain from building roads or tearing through the forest on tracked machinery. Instead, we lug it all out on packboards!
After splitting the rounds into bolts, they are stored under shelter to season. This will take anything from a minimum of 1 year to 5 or 6 years, depending on the starting moisture content, how long the tree has been dead for, and the size of the bolts.
Our seven-year-old "apprentice" is taking a day off school to help out in the shop!
Raw bolts are transformed into “shaft blanks”. The shaft blanks are then turned into rough dowels in the shaft shooter. They are then sanded through two stages of the sanding process to ensure a fine finish, roundness, and perfect size!
The wooden shafts are then trimmed to length and graded again. Only then are they finally sent to the grading room to be graded again, spined, weighed, packaged, and stored in a humidity—and temperature-controlled environment.
Shafts are bundled into dozens and clearly marked.
Shafts are hand-spined in 5# groups and weighed and sorted into 10-grain groups. Additionally, we will always try to tighten those sort parameters if the sort volume allows.
Packaging:
Recycling and the use of recycled materials is a great start to taking some environmental responsibility.
However, we like to feel that we have taken it one step further.
We collect appropriate packaging from the commercial sector, break it down, and then rebuild custom packaging., using our custom Box Maker!
This not only allows us to use “REPURPOSE” packaging but also allows us to build boxes that exactly match the contents in size. We obviate the need for plastic bubble wrap filler, and our customers pay only for real shipping weights and dimensions.
Yes, this is more labour-intensive than simply buying packaging, but we believe it's the only way that is fair to both the environment and our valued customers!
