new-be at arrow making...please help clear this up.

[pintail_drake2004]

Hi, I plan on making some arrows soon, and was reading about them and came across something i didnt understand. What is spine? how do you test this? how do you adjust?

Ill prolly think of a few more, but that is all for now.
Pintail

[poekoelan]

Spine is how stiff or limber an arrow is. It is measured on a device called a spine tester. They are pretty expensive but you could make your own for just a few dollars.

spine can be manipulated by making the arrow longer or shorter or by using a heavier or lighter point. Do a search on it and you should be able to pull up some stuff to get you accquainted with it.

[Jeff Hren-Renegade]

Spine is how stiff or flexable the arrow is.

[mbbushman]

Listen carefully to what the previous posts said. Spine, NOT SPLINE!  :mad:  That word and its's use is one of my pet peeves. Splines are on axles and drive shafts, Spine, no "l", is an archery term. Sorry for the rant, but seen too much of this lately.

[poekoelan]

spline is also used to hold screen in a screen door. LOL. Used to do that for a living. But to pintail's defense, he used the correct word, and he is just a beginner. I've seen the wrong word used by people who should know better. It really doesn't get on my nerves, though. I just figure that it's a coloquiolism.

[mbbushman]

My post was not insinuating Pintail used the wrong term, just trying to make sure he knows the proper terminology from the start. I've seen to many experienced shooters on this site and others continue to use the term "SPLINE", when it has no relevance to archery in any way. Again, like I said before, just one of my pet peeves.      No offense meant to Pintail, or anyone else. I had been meaning to start a thread on this topic anyway, but this one came up, and I couldn't hold back anymore.  

[aromakr]

Pintail:
To answer your question. "Spine" is a standard, its like any unit of measure.
its measured by placing a shaft (if wooden) the edge grain points up, on two supports exactly 26" apart. Then a 2# weight is placed on the shaft 13" from either support and the amount of bend in the shaft is measured in thousands of an inch. This measurement can then be converted to pounds of bow weight by dividing that figure into 26 that sum will equal the bow weight for that shaft.
Here's the hard part. For that sum to be correct the arrow "MUST" be 28" long, any longer or shorter and the spine will be different. The rule of thumb is, for every inch longer than 28" the spine will weaken 5# and for every inch shorter than 28" it will stiffen 5#.
For this standard to work it must have a standard bow in mind. That bow the shelf will be cut 1/8" less than center and will be drawn to 28". So if your shaft spined .520 and you divide it into 26" it will equal 50# when cut to 28" and shot from the above described bow, that weighs 50#@28"

Is that clear as MUD? hope you understand it not difficult.
Bob

[pintail_drake2004]

Aromakr that is clear as mud but i appreciat all of the info yall have given me. I figured that we would buy some shafts, not sure which kinds possibly ramin (sp)? dowels. I would like to know however what tools i will need to make some basic arrows.
Again thank you for the help.
Pintail

[Jason Lester]

Pintail,

   Check out Eastons spine charts for aluminum arrows. IT will give you an idea on what the wood arrow should measurure on a spine tester. It is important for good arrow flight.

It is nice to know when your making a set of arrows that all the shafts spine the same so you'll get the same flight from all of them.

[poekoelan]

If you are going to use ramin dowels, you will need a spine tester. You will also need a grain scale, fletching jig and taper tool. If you using full length feathers, you will also need a way to cut and and shape them.

Those are the basic tools you will need.

[Eric Krewson]

Ramin dowels will be crooked and many different spines and weights in any you select from a bin at the hardware store. You need to get started with a matched set of good arrow shafts before tackling dowel arrows. There is a learning curve in arrow making so after you get the basics down and buy the necessary tools you can move on to making arrows from dowels.

If you make dowel arrows from a random selection of unspined, unstraightened dowels of unknown weights you won't have two that hit in the same place when you shoot them.

[aromakr]

I totally disagree with "snailskin" the Easton charts are way off, since the changed the spine standard several years ago. They measure the shaft between 28" centers and use a 1.91# weight, that makes the spine way too stiff.
Bob

[Jason Lester]

aromakr,

   I wasn't trying to say Eastons charts are right. All I was saying is it gets you an idea of what the spine is will do for you. It seemed that pintail had never worried about spine and I did not want him to start making arrows and totaly waist his time. Anyone can make a "set" of arrows and end up with 12 different spines and they all fly differently. The best way to test spine is the way stated above. However Easton (or who ever's) charts quickly shows a breakdown to get you in the ballpark.

BTW I didn't realize easton spine checked differently. Not that I pay alot of attntion to it. Is that posted some where?

Thanks

[pintail_drake2004]

Is there any specific wood dowel yall suggest for a first timer? I bought a couple of bow blanks from Dryad Bows, they should finish out ~60-65lb at 26".  Is there a special kind of wood for arrow making?

Thank you for all the info.
Pintail