HELP - Wood Arrows and Tight Groups

[Hobow]

One thing that I started doing is measuring the spine on both sides of the grain.  It seems that there can be a lot of spine difference in some shafts, I've seen more than 5#'s difference between sides.  All of my best shafts are 2#'s or less difference although I try for matching whenever possible.

[Rick James]

I don't think that wood needs a break in period  and I don't think carbon is more forgiving--it is just more consistent. I also don't think you have to have large fletching for wood--What I have found is that a good arrow is a good arrow...When a wood arrow falls in the correct spine range and is straight then the important characteristic seems to be the consistency of spine around the shaft--the wood shafts that give me trouble are the ones that measure the correct spine when measured against the grain in one direction and then when spun 180 degrees measures 5 or more pounds stiffer or weaker--this also applies to a slightly lessor degree when measurements at the 90 degree points also vary more than just a few pounds...If you can get wood that has that consistency of spine then I think you can make a GOOD arrow out of it--I have also found that it is easier to get this kind of wood when you buy the older stuff...
I agree with Charlie--An arrow that don't shoot right ain't worth nothin--I love shooting Good Wood
Rick

[SuperK]

All good advice posted so far.  Also don't forget to check your nock height.  When I went back to wood (after playing around with carbon), I found I had to raise my nocking point just a bit (1/16 inch).  If I made a bad release (imagine that!   :rolleyes: ),the arrow would tail kick up and it seemed to be weak.  (I do cant the bow right much).  A properly spined, straight wooden arrow will shoot better than most can hold.

[Rod in SC]

Check the nock.  A straight nock is  the most important part of a wood arrow for accuracy.

[UrbanDeerSlayer]

Good tips so far, thanks.

Checked my shafts and my one that was shooting to the left has a twist in the grain. The other that was hitting low appeared to have the nock glued on at a slight angle so I fixed that but the weather isnt cooperating with shooting tonight.

[snag]

Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
If your draw length is 27.5 and your arrow 29 BOP cut one of those suckers down to 28 and see what happens.

If you are making the arrows yourself make sure your nocks all align with the grain in the same way.

Identify the "fliers" and set them aside, break them or give them away. An inaccurate arrow has no purpose... NONE!

Good advice!

I have the arrows above the nock on the string. I have run into a situation with some bows that when shooting tapered shafts the nock on the string needed to go up about a 1/16th of an inch. On the bow you mentioned it is entirely possible that you will need to have a specic brace hieght to shoot the woods and another to shoot the carbons.

[UrbanDeerSlayer]

Update and question: A slight bit of bow tuning and working on my shooting form, I'm getting better flight. I matched up 2 sets of 3 arrows each. All shafts 29" BOP, 145 g tip,RW feathers and within 6g of total arrow mass weight. Set 1 has high profile big 5 1/2" banana fletchings and I spined them at 53/54#, set 2 has 5 inch low profile shield feathers spines 52/53#. Here's the perplexing thing: set 1 flies try and like darts, set 2 is tail wag right hits left slightly, and I think smacking off the side of the riser when I release. I would think maybe they are flying stiff but the shafts are actually weaker. Or am I getting false stiff because they are hitting the riser?

[Red Beastmaster]

"Identify the "fliers" and set them aside, break them or give them away. An inaccurate arrow has no purpose... NONE!"

This will be the first time I have to disagree with Charlie.

Put a blunt on the flier and take it stump shooting. It will break soon enough, but at least it died with dignity!  

[Flying Dutchman]

Amen to that!