Don't do it!

[nek4me]

Like others on here I have been closely following the wood arrow threads and want to switch over when my 2016's are up for replacement, if not sooner. The best advice I've seen so far is get a set of shafts or finished arrows hand matched for spine and weight - or a test set if unsure of spine needed.

I came across a set of shafts I purchased about 20yrs ago and said what the heck give'em a try. Don't remember the source but recall these were Chundoo and cheap. Don't remember the spine ordered either but guessing 50-55 based on the 52# bow used at the time. I had sealed and weighed each and noticed the weight range was more than 50gr - not a good sign.

I chose a shaft marked 438gr, straightened it a bit, and made a 28" BOP arrow with 125gr field tip and grain towards the shelf that ended up with total weight of 540gr (40gr more than the 2016's with 145gr tip) and took it to the garage for a test drive. To my delight it shot just like the 2016's over the 5yds I use for working on form. So I made up two more from shafts marked within a couple grains of the first one and thought I may be into wood sooner than later.

As you probably guessed I got lucky on the first one as both shot like crap at just 5yds. Without a spine tester I'd be wasting my time and components trying any more of these. So follow the advice given on here. If you are thinking of trying shafts not hand matched for spine and  weight to save a few bucks - don't do it!

[M60gunner]

Learning the "old fashion " way. I commend you. There is a line between, shall we say, frugal and not to smart. I am not prefect and have gone the "not to smart" route more than once. It just took me longer than yourself.

[TOEJAMMER]

If you don't have a spine tester you can put two nails 26 inches apart on a board/wall or some such make a weight 2 lbs out of anything and mount the good shaft on the nails, hang the weight from the center when the shaft is mounted on the two nails.  Mark the spot on the wall where the weight has caused the deepest bend in the shaft then do the same with the other shafts.  Those that hit the same mark should be the same spine.  Those that bend deeper are lighter spine and those not reaching the mark are heavier spine.  Might be able to salvage some of those shafts.

[ChuckC]

If you have some shafts that already work, you can make a tester almost any way you want and just compare the bend.  

Realize though, that most of the testers I have seen use a system that magnifies the amount of deflection so you can actually see it.  

By that I mean, it may deflect .200, .250, .300, .350, .400 and you just might not see that much difference in the direct deflection ( there is not that much difference between those numbers).  That is why you have that wire pointing to a set of numbers and why it is offset so that 1/4" on movement at one end shows as, heck 2"-3" of movement at the other.

Back to the point.  The numbers don't have to mean anything except as a comparison.  If you have an arrow that works, compare the deflections against that, whatever it is.

[Gordon Jabben]

I'm surprised, the spine of wood shafts just doesn't seem that critical to me.  I do use 5" feathers and I'm not a great shot so that may have a lot to do with it.

[nek4me]

Gordon,
The two that didn't fly well did the same thing so are probably close to each other but not to the good one. Putting something together to test the remaining shafts and compare to the good one is the next step. I have been checking out various designs on the web and the ideas here are even simpler. There's 7 or 8 left in the bunch so it will be interesting to see what I have for a comparative spine range, if not actual.

[Gordon Jabben]

Nek4me, I have a set of eight cedar arrows with five inch feathers that all weight the same except one which is about 40 grains light of the group.  They are spined 52# to 92# in five pound increments and I made them so new archers could see which spine weight shoots the best for them. Often it's surprising how good the groups are at twenty yards for archers with these arrows and it's really hard to tell exactly which spine shoots best for them. Large feathers can make up for a lot of variances in the rest of the arrow.

[LostNation_Larry]

Sometimes you can see the arrow "kick" even with large feathers.  It takes a long time to hand spine shafts, but my customers appreciate it.  Just had one of those requests this week where instead of a 5# spine group they wanted a 3# spine group.