Wood Vs Carbon Arrows?

[bofish-IL]

Some really good information here.

[30coupe]

The only real difference I have noticed with wood vs. carbon is the woodies take longer to make and break easier. If anything, they tend to be more forgiving than carbons, for me at least. If you can shoot 3.5" groups with the carbons, properly spined wood arrows should be about the same, assuming your nock and brace height are correct.

[sagebrush]

I think the spine and the nock taper are the two biggest things to watch. I have not seen a lot of difference in how they fly when their physical weight is different. I can shoot ones that are off by 25 grains and not tell any difference at all. Of course your nock set and brace height must be right also. Gary

[James Wrenn]

Carbon or aluminum are going to be better matched than all but the very best wood arrows.I agree however that much difference at 20 yards sounds like your wood arrows are not matched well to the bow.

Bareshafting is best done at longer ranges.If you are capable of shooting those groups there is no reason not to bareshaft at least from 20yds.More is even better.Up close is a waste of time and can give you false results on what you think is happening.jmho

[Eric73]

Okay the issue was two fold as I found when I got to shoot this weekend. One the nock set was set for the carbon arrows and not the 11/32 wood shafts. The other was spine. I have a new Black Widow recurve and it is nice but the Manual states that would arrows are to week to shoot through there bows and you have to follow this equation to get the correct spine range. The equation shows you need to use only 80# to 85# out of a 55# re-curve at my draw length and I believed it and was shooting those. After the issues I had I brought dozens of my arrows for different bows and found the 60# to 65# shot great I was getting almost the same group as with the carbon. With a occasional odd ball but that may have been me as much as the Arrow. Thanks for all the help It really helped me narrow done the possibilities. I had originally thought it must have been just me doing something and i am glad to find out it was just paying more attention to what the manual said than what I was seeing.

[Guru]

Good for you Eric....it's all about getting out there and seeing what "works for you" bud.

Manuals and "calculators" are good starting points...but shooting/ testing yourself is the bottom line....

[hawk4570]

I love to shoot wood and have better with arrows I make than the ones I have ordered, but also get a lot better groups with carbon. I think one thing is they have a smaller diamiter making them more of a center shot

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Guru:
Good for you Eric....it's all about getting out there and seeing what "works for you" bud.

Manuals and "calculators" are good starting points...but shooting/ testing yourself is the bottom line....

curt said it all.  period.

i LOVE making and shooting wood arrows, but the plain truth is that they require good knowledge and care in building, and matching for flight afterwards.  they shouldn't be used by newbies as they are inferior to synthetic shaft materials in terms of trueness consistency.  they require constant attention during shooting.

but i'll never stop building, shooting and hunting with 'em.    

[Dirtybird]

Hey Jim, I've got to stop shooting in the garage at twelve yards.  These arrows are to expensive to be splitting them every couple of shots.