Wood arrow spine ; strong side

[Triphammer]

OK, So I'm making shafts from poplar from Lowes & Home Depot. I understand that this is really tulipwood but that has no bearing on this discussion. Anyway, I built a spine tester to know what I am working with & find three to four diferrent measurements per shaft. This is all expected but I've read a few places that the "strong side" should be against the bow. My question is how would that be determined? If I place the weight on the shaft & get my least deflection, does the side with the weight on it go against the riser or the side opposite the weight? It the strong side determined by strength in tension or compression?

[lpcjon2]

Are they all straight grained and have little or no run out? Oh and what pound is your bow?

[Triphammer]

Beutifully straight grained. no run outs. material selection is key. These are heading to three different recurvs & possibly a compound. The recurves are an old 45# pearson, a new Samick Red Stag 50#  &an old bear Kodiak Magnum 55#

[lpcjon2]

I would not shoot any wood arrow from a compound! that is not wise at all. I am not well versed on dowel made arrows.I always thought they lacked the strength( my own ignorance for never trying them).

[Triphammer]

These are NOT dowels. I'm buying poplar 1 x 6, cutting to 36" length, running though a tablesaw to produce 3/8 x 3/8 x 36 blanks & running that through a router based (ok they are dowels) dowelmaker. These are straight grained, straight shafts with quality control by ME the shooter every step of the way. Right now, I'm running them @ 11/32nds and they're spining high, around 70# I'll work with that. Either leaving long or heavy ponts or both or sanding the center section.
 I haven't shot in 15 years & just getting back in. Always shot wood. Never had a spine tester, just purchased POC pre-spined & set the nock perpendicular the grain. Now I'm looking for a clearer explanasion of "Strong Side"

[Bjorn]

Poplar can be tricky, and hard to see the 'points'. Anyway lay the shaft on the bow shelf with that point up.  The 'strong side will now be against the sidewall.

[Scott Smith]

If it has straight grain when you install your nocks make sure your bow string is running against the grain. Now your stiff sides should be correct.
Clear as mud??lol..grin

[fujimo]

you will want the grain to be perpendicular to the bow.
i usually spine all 4 quadrants.
theory #1- when you find the stiffest spine- and assuming your weight is hanging from the arrow-then the opposite side( or the inside of the curve created by the weight- should be against your bow, because this is the way the shaft will be making its first bend as it moves around the bow(archers paradox)
theory#2-it doesnt really matter which is the stiffest of the two sides, as long as the spine aginst your bow, is the spine measurment that works for your bow.
spine both sides and use the one that is closest.

more importantly is to orientated the shaft, so that if it does have any grain runout, and if it breaks on a growth ring, the back of the arrow is going to lift up and away from your hand, not down and towards your hand- and in turn impale your hand.
to do this the easy way- look for the feathers or points created by the growth rings running out- and the points should be pointing forward on the top of the arrow when it is nocked- in other words, the side against your hand should have the feathers pointing back at you.

only problem will be if you are shooting arrows with a full length taper- you might not have the option of choosing the stiffest or best side for against the bow- as the arrow can obviously only go one way when you orientate the grain run out "points/feathers" properly.
if your shafts are perfectly true - with no runout- well then you wont have any problems!!
spruce is a notoriously straight grained wood- with the highest interfiber strengths out of all the arrow woods.
thats why all the top wooden sail boats with wooden masts will use spruce- lighter and stronger than fir, and less apt to tear apart.
and none of them use P.O.C.
and those guys put a piece of wood through its paces!!!!
obviously the other woods work- and have for a long time- just that spruce has better properties.
i personally like to use a lighter shaft with a heavier point- better foc!
but enjoy making the poplar shafts- it is a good wood, and you will have a blast making your own and shooting them

[Triphammer]

Thanks guys.
 I knew the answer resided here!

[Grey Taylor]

Originally posted by lpcjon2:
I am not well versed on dowel made arrows.I always thought they lacked the strength( my own ignorance for never trying them).

Milled arrow shafts are dowels, no two ways about it.
But milled arrow shafts are manufactured, sorted, and intended to survive and excel at being arrows. Common dowels are not.

Guy

[Flying Dutchman]

See my tutorial about this:   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=106905;p=1  

Under "determing the grain" you find how to select the strong side.