I’m using steel arrows. I don’t seem to have a hard time making enough iron to make them, but it’s always tough going to a new town where I don’t have a steel stash built up yet.
I told a friend I was using steel, and they gave a 1.10 modifier, and he thought maybe it wasn’t worth 36 iron ore per stack of 50 for 10% damage.
Most people I’ve seen use iron. There was a guy yesterday giving steel arrows away since he was leveling crafting. I got 3500 for free and promptly sold them on the market.
I use bow only against easy PvE mobs because when mobs are tougher I’d rather have a melee weapon when they inevitably close to melee distance.
So I just use whatever arrows the game gives me as drops, either Iron or Steel. I throw away Flint. If I actually need arrows I’ll go make a batch of flint because I just one-shot easy mobs with it anyway.