Arrow spine

[Brently]

Have a friend who has shot trad for years, he will not use wood arrows because he says you shoot the spine out of them.  I only shoot wood arrows  and have never noticed that, and many of my arrows have been shot hundreds of times.  Any body else ever heard this and is it correct?

[moebow]

That's hogwash!  Spine is spine until the arrow breaks.  That said, this post would be better in the Pow Wow section as it is not a shooting form question.
Arne

[Brently]

Thanks, that is what I thought also but it is good to get other peoples ideas about this. 

[Wudstix]

Arne right spine stops when the arrow dies.

[Silent footed]

When tuning a new set of arrows I've built, I have sometimes wondered if my shafts have an afternoon's break in period: It just seems sometimes that after I've shortened my shafts down to perfect flight, and then shot all afternoon I notice a bit of weak flight once more and have to shorten one final time, almost as if they had lost a pound or two. I don't consider it unusual when starting out a new dozen, actually.

However, that is completely different from shooting the spine out of an arrow, which DOES NOT happen.

[BigJim]

Silent Footed, it is not uncommon for people to tune, tune, tune and think they have it and over the next few days of relax-in period, find out that they must still adjust a little.

I try to explain to people that you don't go out to tune your bow... You should go out to shoot your bow and read the results and then make adjustments.  Yes, it is nearly the same thing, however if you have a tune mentality, you are subject to make changes in an attempt at consistency that you would never do while you were out "just" shooting.

BigJim

[David Mitchell]

One way to find out would be to test spine on new arrows and then later after having shot them for a while recheck.  I have had wooden arrows that definitely showed a weakness in spine after a lot of shooting. 

[McDave]

My experience is that some of my wooden arrows have experienced changes, while others haven't.  I have had arrows that seem to become “mushy” after straightening them numerous times.  In other words, they just sort of give up and accept whatever bend I might put in them.  Probably some defect in the underlying wood.  I would guess less than 5% (after rejecting some up front for various reasons) develop problems down the line.  The other 95% either get broken or lost or become hanger queens in my box of orphan arrows.

[durp]

what mcdave said fits my experience to a T

[Silent footed]

I'm mostly just speculating when I'm discussing a break in period. Sometimes you also think you're done tuning but really weren't and need to make an adjustment. So I'm pretty much in agreement with what big jim said.

I'd love to see someone who owns a spine tester test what David mentioned. I know my arrows get lost or broken in the woods long before old age. I couldn't wear one out if I tried. I have had to replace fletchings occasionally though.

[Orion]

In nearly 60 years of shooting woodies, I've only had one or two arrows become noodly, and I'm pretty sure that was because the finish wore off and they soaked up a lot of moisture.  Too, this was after thousands of shots.  Most of my woodies don't last that long. I manage to break them other ways or lose them. 

Regardless, your friend is wrong.   

[Wheels2]

They only go out of tune when they break..