Ever bend wood arrows just by shooting them?

[longbow fanatic 1]

I have some 60-65# Doug Fur with 160 & 190 gr. tips. I also have 55-60# Doug Fur shafts tipped with 125 grn heads. I'm shooting a 50# recurve and notice the 55-60# shafts fly fine and stay straight shot after shot. The 60-65# shafts bend and have a noticeable wobble after I shoot them. After I shot them a couple times and re-straightened them each time, I wondered if anyone else has experience the same thing? Ive since replaced the 60-65# arrow tips to 125s, but haven't shot them yet. Can 35-65 grains difference (160 &190 grain tips) on my 60-65# shafts really cause the arrows to bend like that or am I hallucinating? The only other difference between these two groups of arrows are the fletchings. The 55-60# shafts have 5" three fletch. The 60-65# shafts have 5 1/2" three fletch.

[McDave]

Usually mine bend when some yahoo shooting buddy bends them when he is pulling them out of the target.  It wouldn't be charitable or Christian to say he is doing this on purpose, so let's just chalk this up to an "act of God."

[longbow fanatic 1]

LOL, Dave. Could it be his tactic because you're outshooting him?   :big laugh: I'm trying to pull the arrows out carefully, but who know. Perhaps I'm slightly bending them while pulling them from the target. It was surprising to me that it was always the same shafts which were bent.

[Shadowhnter]

I have to agree with Dave...most likely happening pulling them. I shoot those same kind of shafts with 300 gr heads out of 44, 45, and 48 lb bows, and they dont bend from just shooting.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Thanks guys. I'll be more careful pulling them. This is my first foray into wood arrows, so I have little experience with them.

[Russ Clagett]

Never bent any, but I sure have broke a bunch and lost even more!

[longbow fanatic 1]

Originally posted by Russ Clagett:
Never bent any, but I sure have broke a bunch and lost even more!

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Never and rarely break them, been shooting them for ten years now. My bows are in the 50's and shoot 200g up front, twice Ive watched deer running off thru the woods were I hit the far shoulder and didn't get a pass thru and the arrow was smacking branches and small trees as they ran. Got to the deer and no bent or broken arrow      

Maybe I'm just lucky but I believe in them 100% if I do my part.

Tracy

[longbow fanatic 1]

Thx, KS!

[LBR]

POC always stayed the straightest for me.  Hardwoods (ash, maple) were the worst...shoot, straighten, repeat.  Douglas Fir was somewhere in-between, as was chundoo (lodgepole pine).

[Orion]

As others have said, pulling them from the target incorrectly is the most likely culprit. Use two hands and pull straight back. That being said, there are other possibilities.

Could be the arrows that are bending are way underpinned.  One doesn't always get the spine one orders.  Though that's highly unlikely if they're Surewood shafts. They've been right on on any I've ordered.

Also possible that you severely stressed those shafts with glancing shots.  Not enough to break them, but enough to weaken them.  When that happens, they will continue to bend/soften until they break.  Depending on how much they're bending, they may not be safe to shoot.

It could also be due to moisture getting under the finish.  Again, some good angular whacks can crack the finish without breaking the arrow.  Or, it's possible the finish is thin and/or wore off on those arrows.

Finally, if you've been shooting those shafts for about 5 years, it's possible some have just softened up over the years.  I usually break or lose mine before that happens, but back when I could still shoot and didn't break or lose as many arrows as I do now, I did shoot a few until they softened.  Of course, some of the other factors I mentioned may have been at work as well.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Originally posted by LBR:
POC always stayed the straightest for me.  Hardwoods (ash, maple) were the worst...shoot, straighten, repeat.  Douglas Fir was somewhere in-between, as was chundoo (lodgepole pine).

I had the complete opposite of that and completely gave up on POC's after many years of fighting them. Ash and maple were even worse. IMHO

Nothing better then shooting a nice well built set of wood arrows though. Love them!!!

Tracy

[Jayrod]

Originally posted by K.S.TRAPPER:
 

Originally posted by LBR:
POC always stayed the straightest for me.  Hardwoods (ash, maple) were the worst...shoot, straighten, repeat.  Douglas Fir was somewhere in-between, as was chundoo (lodgepole pine).

I had the complete opposite of that and completely gave up on POC's after many years of fighting them. Ash and maple were even worse. IMHO

Nothing better then shooting a nice well built set of wood arrows though. Love them!!!

Tracy [/b]

I will second what Tracy says if you by good quality shafts such as Doug fir you won't shoot anything else!!

[longbow fanatic 1]

Thanks everyone! Great info here!

[IndaTimber]

I'm going to bet on pulling from the target. My 2 year old is my constant buddy and loves to shoot with me, she also likes to pull arrows from the target so I get a bent one every now and then!!! However, it is more than worth it.

[LBR]

I did buy good quality Douglas Fir.  They weren't awful, they just didn't stay as straight as POC.  Keep in mind this was several years ago, and even then getting good quality (straight, tight grain) POC was getting difficult.  I haven't bought any in years, so I don't know what's on the market now.  I still have enough old POC to get me by quite a while.

For reference, I managed to win the Howard Hill twice, the Jerry Pierce twice, GA State Championship once (and placed second once), and a few other tournaments with wood arrows.  Killed a few critters with them also.  I'm not an expert, but not a beginner either.

[bowhuntingrn]

One other thought that occurs to me. Could the heavier tipped arrows be penetrating the target deeper making them more difficult to pull? Thus causing you to put a little extra umph in when pulling? May be a silly thought, but just crossed my mind.

[TxAg]

Originally posted by bowhuntingrn:
One other thought that occurs to me. Could the heavier tipped arrows be penetrating the target deeper making them more difficult to pull? Thus causing you to put a little extra umph in when pulling? May be a silly thought, but just crossed my mind.

That was the first thing I thought also. I don't have any experience with wood arrows yet, though that's about to change.

[jhk1]

I think it can also depend on how they've been straightened.  I used to straighten wood shafts by bending the area to be straightened over the heel of my hand, which stretches the fibers on one side of the shaft.

The other common method is to use a roller (ACE roller, or just a metal pulley) or one of those brass hook straighteners to compress the fibers on one side of the shaft.  I just use a little metal pulley that I got for less than $2 at Menards.  If you go the pulley route, get one where the "groove" in the pulley wheel is a little bigger than the diameter of the arrow shaft-- if you get one where the arrow shaft fits into the pulley groove nicely/snugly, it's too small.  Err on the side of getting a pulley that looks to big instead of too small.

My experience has been that the compression method (roller or hook) seems to work better to get the shafts straight with less fiddling around, and it seems to me like they STAY straighter without having to keep re-tweaking them.

[LBR]

Side note:  to make pulling easier, carry a bar of soap.  Rub a little on the arrow point, up a few inches.  Makes pulling from the target much easier.