Main Discussion Area > Arrows
Arrow making process - questions
TSA:
Willie make s a valid point, one might consider building arrows and assembling arrows may be two different things.
so a bunch of this stuff you will know already- but i will just fire away.
all wooden shafts are measured on 26" centers, so cutting your shaft will not affect the static spine- unless you go less than 26 of course :)
now shortening will affect the dynamic spine of course.
one can quite accurately affix weight values to most arrow components, so you can get quite close to an estimated arrow weight, before you even start.
this is how i build my arrows, granted i am using pre-made parallel shafting.
1.have an accurate draw weight on my bow for my draw length- i check that!
2.taking the draw weight, style of bow and my draw length i refer to my chart for getting a starting point in static spine.
3.put one coat of sealer on, put a nock on and field point, and bareshaft them
4.once i have a static spine and arrow length tuned , i thengo ahead and build the arrows.
5.a good idea to group tune after building a few. (bareshaft, fletched field point and fletched broadhead) they should all be hitting the same spot.
some points to remember.
for the average to good shooter, out to 20 yards, it will be hard to tell 30 or 40 grains difference in mass between the shafts- there is still significant velocity at that stage, and the gravitational difference is still minimal at that stage.
i believe that having the same foc makes a more significant difference on point of impact than most things( spine excluded)- i did cover that in another post on here titled " interesting" http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,62862.0.html
remember when bareshafting, to have the arrows still showing slightly weak, as adding the fletching and cresting and crown will stiffen the dynamic spine.
now the better tuned your arrows are, the smaller fletch you can use, which changes the spine less, is affected by windage less, increases velocity, possibly less noisy, but it will be less forgiving of form errors.
its all a trade off :D
after building the arrows, i dont go back and weigh them, with the same components etc, thats not a big issue. but then again my average hunting distance is 5 to about 12 yards.
too me, spine is waaaaay more critical than mass. within 10 to 20 grains is just fine, i think. Unless of course i was shooting at an olympic level.
good luck, and dont forget the pics
FilipT:
Thanks TSA, you managed to clarify some things.
Can you tell me how did you get static spine after the point no. 4.? You wrote that you "bareshaft" them and in the point 5. you mention that you got static spine and then you can build an arrow.
Also where does my spine tester fit in all this, I mean at which stage of process?
TSA:
ok, sorry if it was a bit vague.
so i look at the charts, taking all the variables into account- decide on a static spine, then maybe choose a spine above and a spine below- but mainly focus on the one on the charts.
then i bare shaft.
after trimming and shooting them all, till i have one that flies as i want it, i use that static spine i started with- before i start, i clearly mark the static spines on the shaft in pen- so that figure doesnt disappear.
i know, this whole static spine, vs dynamic spine can be a bit confusing, in a way i wish the industry would have used a different word other than dynamic spine- it can be very confusing- was for me in the beginning.
this is my opinion. focus on the static spine, its a hard tangible number a person can work with.that never changes.
the flight performance of an arrow will change dependant on many factors, point weight, tail weight. length , taper, diameter etc etc.
kinda, dont see that as the spine, see that as how you can best manipulate the static spine to suit your bow. there is really no difinitive way to measure the dynamic spine of the arrow, we just know that we can manipulate the given spine of an arrow, to "BEHAVE" like a different spine, but the spine measured, on the spine tester stays the same.
for example if we take a 50# spine arrow, but increase the point weight from 125gr to 150gr the arrow should start behaving like a 45# arrow. the static spine is still #50 , as measured, but the behaviour has changed- crazy stuff innit it ;)
hope that helps some
TSA:
sorry, missed the second part of the question.
the spine tester is used after making the shafts, to ascertain the static spine- in fact its more commonly referred to just as spine, the whole "dynamic spine" thing confuses the issue here.
so build the shafts, then measure the spine- wooden arrows are measured on posts 26" apart- irrespective of the finished arrow length, or your draw length. its just an industry standard.
now you have a spine value or number that you can refer back too when you want to build more arrows for that bow.
as was mentioned in other comments here. i would see what spine i needed according to the charts. start building one arrow, checking the spine continually- reducing diameter, until you have the spine you want to bareshaft with, leave the shaft long. Then bareshaft tune it and see how that works- if you need a stiffer or weaker arrow- build the next arrow accordingly, and bareshaft it. when you have one that flies well, now you know what spine you will need- then build the other shafts to that spine requirement.
for most woods- some better than others, you will finds that the wood around where you took the first shaft out of, will all produce similar spines.
ie same Rings per inch, same side of the tree, etc etc.
your spine tester just gives you a repeatable value- its a reference point. you would then tune the arrow to the bow, and the bow to the arrow to get the best flight that you can!
FilipT:
I managed to learn a lot from your posts and now I must organize it all in step to step process. I will write it here and can you tell me have I got it correctly?
1. Put shafts on spine tester, measure their spine and write it.
2. Use the chart and select shafts that are more suitable for my bow and put ones that are not aside.
3. Put the point and make/put nocks on them, but not yet feathers.
4. Do the bareshaft test of these arrows.
5. After I am content with them, do a batch of them and put feathers.
In all this, can you link me a chart that you use? Do you use excel calculator for all this or just chart? And last, have I got anything wrong?
Thank you.
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