"IF" a wood arrow breaks at the shot (which I have never seen), it will most likely fail on the "runouts" or the part of the grain that looks like this (>>>>>). When building an arrow, the fletcher should put the nock on the end that makes the >>>> point away from the archer, or toward the point of the arrow. the reasoning is, if the arrow splits, the "side" of the arrow should, hopefully, slide past your hand instead of dig in and pierce your hand. Like I said, good, undamaged arrows, rarely ever break. Look, there are several pics on the net of guys with carbon arrows in their hand. How many are there with wood arrows like that? I have never seen one. YOU MUST CHECK YOUR ARROWS AND EQUIPMENT FOR SAFETY!! THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES HERE!