Tuning wood - again.

[Ulysseys]

Guys who shoot woodies - what's your tuning method?  I shoot carbons and bare shaft but recently bought some cedars from the classifieds that I thought "might" be close to what I need.  Well I glued on some tips and went out to see how bad they flew and they're actually flying very good to the naked eye, granted they're 4-fletched but they're quieter and penetrating better than my carbons.  My question is do you guys even tune wood or just look for good arrow flight?  Bare shafting seems like it would be difficult due to the relative inconsistency but I'd still like to see how much work these fletchings are doing.

With carbon shafts, the shaft is so light that it acts like a weather vane.  To get the same results with wood it will take an extremely heavy head, not practical.  I test with with fletched arrows and i look for a quick and complete recovery from the 'S' curve.  Some like to look for a left or right push in arrow flight, but that can get pretty much subjective, unless one is shooting with a vertical bow and using bow sights.  I sight with the arrow and I shoot the arrow, not the bow.  I care what the arrow does in relation with my eye, not the bow.

[JB]

Put a broad head on a couple and see if they group with field points

[JB]

Put a broad head on a couple and see if they group with field points

[Orion]

I don't bare shaft woods.  Been shooting them for more than 50 years.  Of course, that means, I can now know almost exactly the spine I'm going to need for any particular bow I shoot.  

If you get good arrow flight, what's bare shafting going to do to improve it?  I do agree with JB.  Try a broad head or two and see what happens.  Should get good flight and the arrow impacting the same with both. If not, you can employ most of the other techniques to bring them together (point weight, shaft length, side plate thickness, brace height modification, etc.), but don't necessarily have to bare shaft them.

Good luck.

[Ulysseys]

Would you still expect a broadhead to hit left or right if the shaft is stiff/weak respectively?  Thanks guys!

I forgot one very important point about shooting wood arrows.  The most important thing to do when tuning wood arrows if one is unfamiliar with them, is to start out the right way and call Surewood, be honest about your user draw length, give them all of the specs, let them cut and taper your shafts and then precisely follow directions on how to make a wood arrow. Shoot them and prepare to be surprised.

[slowbowjoe]

Hitting left or right if stiff or weak is still basically the case - unless you're getting a false stiff or weak reading.

I'm with the other guys in tuning by eye with fletched shafts. I end up with either the same weight field point and broadhead, or sometimes a slightly lighter broadhead than field point, to get them to shoot the same. 20 yards, or more, gives you enough time to watch the flight, but don't drop your bow arm to see it!

[SuperK]

Some good info, ya'll.  Also read "Kelly's tips" at "Arrows by Kelly" (www.arrowskp.com)

"Upon release with both hands, do nothing."  If you don't, you will never know for sure what your arrows are doing.  Most import of all, this ain't rocket science or brain surgery.  i just got in from shooting 200 arrows, 16 in the quiver.  I held every one back for a bit and worked on good tension, with the slight straight back motion in my release hand,(normal thing with good back tension), and keep the bow steady.  Sure, I shot tight groups, split a bunch of nocks and feathers. It happens when there are too many arrows in the target. I noticed that perfectly similar arrows, 1918s that are shot with as near as I can power, still do not all fly exactly the same on every shot.  Gusty swirling wind, slight variances in the release fingers, my pet wren singing next to me in my apple tree, whatever, it is always good to allow for some slack in the system. I did prove that it is possible to stick 16 arrows into a pile the size of a large apple without breaking any from 18 yards.  I also proved that one could stick 16 arrows into a pile the size of a watermelon and damage four and those four were not in the middle.  When I get my new bow, it will be shooting woods and I will only be shooting three arrows at a time and I will not be aiming at my own arrows just to see how tight my groups are.

[Ulysseys]

Just when you think you knew it all.....good info as always guys, thanks