correct spined shafts for longbow

Bandit

Active member
It'll show up more over distances, and with longbow the draw weight is only a starting point, I have a 45lbs snakewood bow that will shoot the same arrows as my 65lbs osage bow. The osage isn't a slow bow, but the snakewood is ridiculously fast. It's about the speed of the bow, not the measured draw weight, a fast bow needs a stiffer arrow than a slow bow.
Sounds fair. In my case our bows are made by the same bowyer, Gary Evans so at least that is similar. They are only 7lb different at our given draw lengths. I will do some experiments at the club this weekend. It’s fun to play around with stuff 👍
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
Sounds fair. In my case our bows are made by the same bowyer, Gary Evans so at least that is similar. They are only 7lb different at our given draw lengths. I will do some experiments at the club this weekend. It’s fun to play around with stuff 👍
Strangely both of my bows are made by the same bowyer, Pip Bickerstaffe. The 45lbs bow is incredible, with a 5/16" arrow with 4" feathers, using an under chin anchor I am aiming at the bottom of the target stand legs to hit the target at 100yds.
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
I had a Bickerstaffe. It was really nice to shoot right up to the part where it broke in half and hit me on the head 🤪
Breakages is one of those things that can happen to any longbow. If a bowyer told me that they'd never had a bow break I'd assume that they were lying. (That said I've never had a bow break - but I've only made one and it's less than a year old, so there's still time!)

I've had 6 Bickerstaffe bows, and there are at least a dozen more in the club, I've seen one break in the last 20 years, and Pip replaced it free of charge.
 

Bandit

Active member
Breakages is one of those things that can happen to any longbow. If a bowyer told me that they'd never had a bow break I'd assume that they were lying. (That said I've never had a bow break - but I've only made one and it's less than a year old, so there's still time!)

I've had 6 Bickerstaffe bows, and there are at least a dozen more in the club, I've seen one break in the last 20 years, and Pip replaced it free of charge.
I'm not having a go at The Bickerstaff bows in any way. I was just unlucky.
 

Podium37

New member
Hi all sorry to butt in, I've just started shooting ELB which is a Bickerstaffe Deluxe 40# @ 28" and the trial and error of getting the right shaft was a real pain. I went for 30-35 premium spruce 5/16 and did some bare shaft shooting, we whittled the shaft down to an inch longer than my drawlength and they were still weak so we then went to point weight we got to 70gn and they were still slightly weak. Anyway we settled for this and fletched them up, took them to the range and shot a short clout about 90yds (field won't give us the full 180) and they were coming out stiff landing about 1 metre to the left of the flag. I'm now shooting them with 125gn points and they just about there. Just wish I'd left an extra inch on now 🤣
 

Podium37

New member
There are any number of things that could have been before spine. Wind drift would be my prime suspect.
Yeah, that's what I thought too but it was an unusually calm evening and I also shot them at short distance target indoors and they were veering left too. I know I'm still new to longbow shooting and my coach is an old hand and he suggested the heavier points. That then sent the arrows in the right direction. Thank you for your reply, there is always something new to discover
 
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