Should we rethink arrow spine ?

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Karen

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May be the 'multiple arrow ' system works if you are shooting known distances and have the time to do this, but is it really a practical system for field shooting ? Can you imagine having to cart around a quiver divided into different arrows for all the distances (plus enough to allow for breakages in each size). You arrive at the peg, decide the distance, select the appropriate arrow and shoot it - then you find its not that distance after all and have to change to a different arrow for the next shot - why shoot traditional if you really want to be so limited as to how you shoot ? If you want to be that complicated then trad shooting is not the best section for you.

Sounds a bit like my better half ! He recently took up archery (flatbow) and decided that there must be a better way than mine to do it ( must be easy if I can be any good, as usual !) So I left him to it and he tried all the ways to aim and shoot that we all go through to start with - he wanted to put the point always on the centre, so he moved up and down his face, tried to do long and short draws to vary length, tried different arrows for different distances, after weeks of 'research' what is he doing ? Shooting 'gapstinctively' (lovely word, macbow ) like the rest of us - and just having to practise more ! Now he's getting somewhere, but still can't grasp that most of the faulty shots are due to the archer, not the bow.

Nothing beats practice. Not even having an arrow for every distance !
 

not dead yet

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Ironman
macbow and yew self bow...........................so where do u aim for 100yds and wot is your best 100yds 6 doz score ....longbow of course....pete
 

steve58

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I started from the position of one bow, one set of arrows would be the ideal. The original set of arrows will reach 100 yards, but I couldn't see enough of the boss to shoot to my satisfaction, this led me into trying different things. My recent patch of good form has meant that I can try things and be fairly confident that the information I am getting is about the difference the arrow makes, not the archer! Indoors (does this apply to field to some extent?) the distance is short so I can try things like 5" helical fletchings and still get a sight mark I am happy with (eg rubber band 5" above the grip for 20 yards). I just shoot target at the moment, I wouldn't want to take a set of arrows for each distance, but to take a couple of sets for a York I could live with. I enjoy putting my own arrows together so making another set is not a worry... other than liberating the money from the household budget, but at least wooden ones are a lot cheaper than ACCs etc
 

Macbow

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macbow and yew self bow...........................so where do u aim for 100yds and wot is your best 100yds 6 doz score ....longbow of course....pete
Hi Pete - I'm a field archer and shoot AFB so my answer isn't much use to you. The longest distance on our course is an 80 yard walk-up with one arrow from each distance. 100 yards is my ring finger knuckle on the spot looking at the back of my bow hand.
 

Dante

New member
Interesting thread, having just made a new set of arrows for in doors and a new heavier bow in the post I think my first morning shooting will be different :cheerful:

A lot to think about based on this discussion although I would tend to agree that having multiple sets of arrows in my quiver for each distance is, personally speaking, OTT. But each to his own :reading:
 

Yew Selfbow

Active member
what I've tended to do is match arrows to bows and bows and arrows to distances. Of course as Macbow said this approach doesnt work for field or other disciplines where the target distance is unknown. I have multiple arrow sets for 2 reasons..
1st it allows me to perform the same shot with the same aiming point with the minimal amount of adjustment irrespective of the target distance. So my 40 yard shot is the same as my 100 yard shot. It does mean that for a York round I'll use 2 bows and 3 sets of arrows.... and..
2nd... I love making arrows.
 

Hanley J.

Member
The appropriate arrow spine selection for wooden longbow arrows is a discussion that crops up again and again with different people offering differing suggestions and recommendations.
The common consensus seems to be that the correct (or near correct) spine lies anything from 5lb to 15lb below the draw weight of the bow. But is the draw weight of the bow a correct indicator of the required stiffness of the shaft?
The required stiffness of the arrow shaft is a result of the magnitude of force applied to the arrow on release from the bow. Force is a product of mass X accelleration so there fore would it not make for a more accurate spine indicator if the limb speed (arrow accelleration) were the prime indicator factor and not the force required to bend the bow.
As a simplistic example, take 2 50lb at 28" bows. One has a limb speed of 1meter per second the other has a limb speed of 10 meters per second. The force exerted along the axis of the arrow is increased by the second bow by a factor of 10 so the arrows would need to be proportionally stiffer to resist excessive deflection caused by an increase of accelleration.
Of course it would only be of help if bowyers were able to provide limb speed data for there bows.
Look, what about aluminum? I'm interested to know about your experience. It's much easier to measure arrow spine with an alluminum or carbon arrow, why use wood in the first place?
The bows I made as a child out of palm fronds and grass cane worked, but they were under powered, and I wouldn't use them now.
 
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