How straight is straight enough?

[Pack]

Thanks for all the replies.  It is good to know that there are others who struggle with getting them as straight as they want, even though as many have stated wood arrows have a tendency to fly well even when much less than perfect.  I guess we get them as straight as we can and then shoot them to see which ones are really going to go where we point them.

[Shakes.602]

How does that Old Saying Go?  "Somedays You are the Bug, and Some Days You are The Windshield!!"      

[Don Stokes]

My brother, who was a pretty good physicist, said it has to do with the rotating center of mass. All the mass in tubular shafts is in the shell, which makes them much more sensitive to straightness. Solid woodies have the mass equally distributed through the cross section, making them naturally less sensitive to straightness.

I'll be checking straightness of four dozen this morning, to send off to a fellow tradganger. I spin them on my thumbnail and sight down them. I never use a tool, just bend them over the heel of my hand. After a few thousand, it comes naturally.  

The best thing you can do for the ones that don't want to stay straight is shoot them. The flexing tends to stress-relieve them, and settle them down.

[tkytrac]

Before my dear old dad passed away, he made me a spinner out of solid oak.  The wheels spin true as a handmade spinner can.  I've made hundreds of arrows using this device.  To be honest I have no idea how you'd make a good wooden shaft w/out one. I have even straightened aluminum using the thing. Once I straighten a cedar arrow and seal it, its there.  Never straighten it again unless I hit something w/ it. (And that is too seldom to admit. LOL)
Sometimes compression is necessary but most often looking at the wow and laying it across the palm and heel of your hand as its being flexed does the trick for me.  
Never taper until the arrow is as straight as its going to get. That's where most of us mess up.  Crooked tapers can hurt the final product.
That being said.  Most of us can't shoot w/in the tolerances anyway. So if it works for you....its straight enough.

[Old York]

I used to think my arrows were straight until I actually  measured  the run-out with my dial indicator AAE high-dollar $$$$$ arrow straightener. They looked straight but they were really all over the place, +/- 0.010, 0.025".

I can spend a lot of time straightening them on the AAE, then I shoot them, pull them out of 3-D targets, they get 'crooked', I re-straighten them, and so it goes. It's actually a pain in the arse, measuring and knowing they're 'crooked' and now I just do it the old way, sighting down the shaft, straightening by hand, and calling it a day. They fly good enough and now & then I hit a few 10's    :D

Just straighten by hand, roll them on a piece of plate glass to speed up the process, trust your eyes and go shoot the buggers.

[Fletcher]

I still don't know how straight "straight enough" is, but I put more effort into making the shafts straight than any other part of the arrow making process.  I check my shafts with a very good spinner, and if I can see a wobble, it isn't straight enuf.  The shaft is the heart of the arrow; there's nothing I can do to make up for a crooked shaft.

[Don Stokes]

From the raw shaft to the finished arrow, my shafts are straightened multiple times. The most critical time is when the nock and point tapers are put on. If the shaft is truly straight at this point, and the nock and point tapers are put on straight, the finished arrow will always shoot well, even if it isn't perfectly straight. The next most critical straightening is when broadheads are put on. The broadheads MUST spin true for the best accuracy, especially the big ones.

I check straightness every time I shoot them, and automatically check them every time I pick them up out of long habit, whether they need it or not. I also inspect used arrows for flaws, because an unnoticed flaw can cause the arrow to break.

Call it obsession, but knowing my arrows are in good shape increases my confidence, and I have one less thing to distract me from making the shot. Archery is 90% mental, so everything I do to increase my confidence improves my odds of hitting the target.

How straight is straight enough? Straight enough that you are confident that the arrow will go where it's aimed.

[Jim Wright]

I believe the most critical factor in arrow flight is nock allignment and I check this visibly with a spin tester on the edge of a work table with a straight edge. Shafting can be made reasonably straight by normal sight down the shaft and hand stightening methods but If anyone doubts the critical nature of nock allignment, take a perfectly straight shaft and grind the nock taper off just a tiny bit on purpose and install a nock the same way and then try to get it to fly straight.

[reddogge]

I straighten by rolling the shaft on my kitchen table and do each batch 3 times.  By then they are as straight as I can get them.  After finishing I install the points and check with a homemade point alignment jig.

The biggest unstraightener is other people not used to woodies pulling your arrows by not holding them up against the the target thus bending them when pulling.  I just came back from a 4 day shoot and a couple had bad bends in them and I know how that happened.

[Shakes.602]

There Ya Go!!Reddoge has it down!!                               I do the same thing with my Woodies. I work them Until the  "ROLL TEST"  is Smooth!! I admit, I use the  ACE Straightener,  that doesnt Mar the Finish, as I too Check them after Several Steps have been Completed.
  After Fletching and Point Attatchment, I test them One More Time, then they Go into the Arrow Boxes to Prepare for Flight!!
  We  ALL  get a Tad  "AnalRetentive"  with Our Straightening, but there comes a Time when Ya get Done, and Just Shoot the Dang Things!!  

[Red Beastmaster]

"pull them out of 3-D targets, they get 'crooked',"

I used to cringe when my buddy would pull my arrows out of targets. It looked like he was reeling in a marlin! Geesh, he bent a lot of arrows.

When I shot wood I would straighten as best I could without too much effort. The best ones went for broadheads, the fairly straight ones went for target, and the worst went for stumpers. I use aluminum now and don't worry about it. Shooting better than ever too.

[Flying Dutchman]

When pulling wooden arrrows out of targes I use this device:  http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Bearpaw-Arrow-Puller/productinfo/4705/

It is really handy, not expensice, fits all shafts and when you put it on the shaft close to the target, your arrow's will stay straight!