c903

Whatever happen to the days of..cheaper?

Pinwheel 12

C903-

I'm sorry if I burst your bubble, but we also thought the fiberboard were the cat's butt for awhile until we found out otherwise. Yes, we shot the compressed edges of all kinds of different fibrous material, and to this day if you wish to shoot at a compression target, my advice is to use or build something like the block with layered foam for that application. Trust me, you'll thank me later. No, you cannot see yourself shooting a broadhead into the ethafoam with rags behind it, but in reality as stated above a broadhead tipped arrow destroys most anything it is shot into quite quickly regardless as that's it's job, that's why most guys only shoot ONE tuned head when setting up their hunting equipment and shoot it into a foam media, and they don't pound them constantly for any length of time either. For general field use with parabolic points, those homemade ethafoam and rag targets will last at least as long as anything else on the market, they are fairly cheap to build, (especially if you can get the free rag scraps) and are easy on the arrows (and shoulders![8D])with two finger removal. I'm not the only one here that have found the fiberboard/celotex/insulation board/whatever tough on arrows.

If you do decide to go ahead with it, whatever you do never use the insulation board with the black facing on one side-- We had guys from one local club unknowingly pick this stuff up instead of the "clean" fiberboard and they went and built a full set of targets with it. The residue was ten times worse with that stuff due to the coating on the one side. Terrible![:'(]

Hope you find something that will work well for you. Good shooting, Pinwheel 12

Arthur P

How about pressed carpet remnants in the same kind of compression butt? Anybody tried that?

c903

No burst bubble. I shot the fiberboard target for several years with good results. I just don't remember having many of the problems others seem to have had.

However, "Pinwheel" has made a statement regarding "black" board that alerted me that I forgot to include a very important piece of information in my post. I don't know if the "black" board has tar in it, however:

MAKE SURE THAT THE FIBERBOARD IS NOT THE TYPE THAT IS COVERED WITH TAR-BASED PAPER OR HAS TAR IN THE FIBER!!!

Fiberboard without tar is available.

BOWFANATIC

Yes! It works quite well. We use compressed carpet at our archery club. But our broadhead targets are about 6" narrower than the others to allow the broadhead to pass thru to the other side. The only down side is you either have to un-screw the broadhead to pull the arrow out or pull the arrow straight thru which is hell on the feathers.

It certainly is! That just happens to be the industry I work in. Just about every bowhunter at work has his own fibre bale in his back yard or basement. They are very durable , easily constructed , and if compressed to the max , most fast bows only penetrate 3"-6" which makes arrow removal easy. The trick is getting the right fibre board. I've found that fibre board containing virgin kraft is too hard and rough on arrows. Fibre board with solid chip made with water based adhesive is what you need to look for.

c903

Bowfantatic:

Thanks much for some very important information. I assumed that the fiberboard compositions of today had to be advanced from yesterday's type. I had been researching types but without the knowledge you have about the material, I still would not have known which would (now) be best, other than to avoid the tar-based boards. Now I know.

I had read about the "virgin kraft," but compatability for a target was beyond my knowledge.

I am going to insert your information in the plans.

Rangeball

Bowfanatic, does this type of board leave the residue on the arrows the other guys are reporting? How hard is it on the arrow shaft, any spine degradation going on?

BOWFANATIC

It leaves absolutely zero residue on arrows. The water based adhesive we use is comparable to watered down elmers glue. When we laminate the fibre board the glue is kept at 160 - 190 degrees which allows the chip to absorb the glue to a point where if you were to touch the web while the line is running you wouldn't even know we were applying any glue.

I've been with Dura-Fibre for twenty years and the bowhunters have been using the bales since I've been here with no problems on alluminums or carbons.

Another thing to check into would be finding any type of paper products mfg's in your area. Alot of mfg's have to pay someone to remove their scrap paper bales and have no problem giving them away! Just another idea.

c903

Bowfanatic:

A few questions:

1. Does "Dura-Fibre" sell insulation fiberboard under the name of "Dura-Fibre," or does it supply the product to companies who then sell the board under other various brand names?

2. When you say "bales," are you referring to a waste product that is baled?

BOWFANATIC

Unfortunately (because we dont get to take credit for our product thru the consumers eyes) , the vast majority of our product is sold to companies who warehouse it , mfg it (cut to size) and distribute it under their name. The stuff we do take credit for (Dura-Fibre) , is seldom seen thru the average consumers eyes. For example., we make fire retardant fibre board that is set against insulation inside mobile homes , office partitions , and as bad (or cheap) as it sounds , we make fibre board that goes inside coffins.

Yes! Just another idea that folks around here (huge paper industry) use for archery targets. The only downside to checking into that is , if they cant sell them to paper mills to be recycled into chip , it's because their paper contains something that either cant be broken down in the pulper or it takes too long and the paper mills dont want it. One of our local archery ranges use to use bales that came from a local converting plant (mostly printed , poly coated paper). Although they worked great and didn't damage or mark your arrows , you had to be extremely carefull when removing a broadhead or you'd lose it in the bale.

Wish I could help more!