Carbon vs Wood

[Miner49er]

I had always shot Goldtip carbon arrows and like most,I got interested in trying some wood arrows.My bows are 46 lbs,so I started with 50-55 Doug fir.I got those all lined out,shooting straight.They came out the same length as the Goldtip 500's that I have been shooting.I have always heard that longer arrows are more forgiving to your form,so I got some 55-60's and they came in a little short of full length and the same over all length as the 400's that I also shoot.Is that strange or is that how carbon spine vs wood match up.Has anyone else had similar results?

[WESTBROOK]

Purely coincidence, there is no easy conversion "formula" between carbon and wood.

[damascusdave]

Not sure how longer arrows might be more forgiving of form errors...what would be the basis for that?

DDave

[Sam McMichael]

My opinion is that it is a bit of a waste of time to look for a conversion formula to correlate wood to carbon. Simply test carbon till you find what your bow likes, then do the same with wood. Don't be concerned with similarities and differences, just treat each one individually. Your bow will tell you what it wants.

[Longtoke]

trying to match spines might be a good place to start but so much can change when you factor in draw length, point weight, shelf cut, fletchings, release, string type, grip on the string,  bow design, ect, ect...

In the end you just have to play around and see what works.

For me it turned out to be 600 carbons and matched 40-45# 5/16 POC woodies

[Miner49er]

I really don't think anyone is concerned,just thought it was kind of funny how that worked out,and if anyone ever had that happen.The longer arrow thing came from Mike Treadway,so the next time you see him ask him.I try to keep an open mind to other peoples views and ideas,as I am still learning about traditional archery.I'm not like some ....I don't know it all...sorry.

[JRY309]

I find you can't really compare carbon and wood arrows.Carbon's are spined on 28" centers and wood is spined on a 26" centers.Thet don't react the same,wood is alittle more forgiving.

[two4hooking]

I have found that with wood it is best to limit the wasted arrow hanging off your shelf at full draw.  A shorter wood arrows recovers faster from paradox and is more stable in flight than a longer wood arrow.  Carbon reacts much differently to paradox than wood does and has a much faster recovery. They are both arrows but different animals.

Originally posted by JRY309:
I find you can't really compare carbon and wood arrows.Carbon's are spined on 28" centers and wood is spined on a 26" centers.Thet don't react the same,wood is alittle more forgiving.

I guess it all depends who is shooting them! Carbon are a loooooooooooot more "forgiving", or easier to deal with than woods for me!

Also, carbons are spined on 28" center, but with a 1.94# weight and just give you deflection in inches. Woods are spined on a 26" center with a 2# weight and while the spine tester is still measuring deflection, someone somewhere changed it into #. Both spine testers do the same thing; they measure how much the shaft bends when a certain amount of weight is applied to the center.

And like two4hooking said, carbon and wood are definitely two completely different animals!!!

Bisch

[Shadowhnter]

Its just coincidence i think. Stiffer spines tune out longer with any material when using the same bow, because thats the simple nature of things. But hand in hand measurements across the material types are not going to hold true. Just a freakish deal in your case.

[Don Stokes]

Bisch, the original spine testers were calibrated in pounds of draw weight based on wood bows of the era. The pound scale only applies now if you're shooting self bows or the equivalent. When I manufactured shafts I sold them based on deflection, because telling someone they needed 60# shafts for their 40# hot recurve was too confusing. We developed a spine chart based on the style of bow and how it was set up, determined by bare-shaft testing of a couple hundred folks when attending shoots.