Humidity changes affecting wood arrow tuning???

[Joshua Long]

I am really for a loss on this one.  I had my longbow dialed in through July/first part of August and now shots are consistently hitting left with greater variation up/down.  We had high humidity during that time and has since lowered considerably.  The arrows in question are POC and I shoot right handed.  

I also shot these arrows in my recurve which is less picky and they did the same thing.  The Surewoods that I normally shoot from my recurve have not shown any effect from the humidity change.

So can I get away with blaming the weather?  

[Mike Vines]

If it were me, I would blame a small critter and take out my frustration on them.

I had a hard time with cedar getting and staying straight (not to mention an allergy to the dust), so I switched over to all douglas fir direct from Surewood Arrow Shafts, and never had a problem with anything since.  Always stay straight, I don't even have to straighten them when I first pull them from the stack.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

No. Humidity and intense monsoonal downpours will not affect an arrow's spine, providing the arrow is properly sealed. I wrote of Geoff Arnold's experience in the 1960s, in TBM, out at Victoria River Downs, when he shot at a donkey, and was appalled to see the terrible cork-screwing flight of that arrow all the way to the donkey's spine, dropping it on the spot. He learned his lesson about sealed arrows then. Basically, the arrow never recovered from paradox.

[Joshua Long]

Ben,
I checked both set of arrows the POC have been shot considerably more and have scuffs and abrasions.  They need re-sealed I would say.

The Surewoods are practically new arrows fully sealed.

Thanks,

Joshua

[Bjorn]

Spine check them and see if there is a change. I have not found weather to affect arrow shafting and I have left sealed arrows in water puddles just to check them out. In the summertime the arrows I use for 3D are mostly unfinished-just apply the fletch directly to the bare wood.

[Don Stokes]

Joshua, it's highly unlikely that it's the weather. Sorry.      

There's no such thing as waterproof, but changes take place so slowly in reasonably well sealed shafts that I've never noticed any effect due to changes in humidity. I live in Mississippi, and we are famous for our humidity. Also, POC shafts are all heartwood, which is saturated with natural chemicals and is very slow to take on moisture.

[Art B]

Spine will change if you let 'em get hot/warm. Was it pretty hot when you was shooting? Arrows lay out in the sun?  Or you had 'em in a dark/black quiver exposed to the sun.......Art

[lpcjon2]

Do I see a can of poly being bought in your future? YES. And check how and where you store them.

[Joshua Long]

I don't have a way to spine test, but that would be the ticket to find out.

My house is not humidity controlled so they get natural variations in humidity.  They are stored upright in cut down blueprint tubes.  

I shot those arrows first today in mild mid 70's weather.  

Yes, I will need some poly.

I checked the bow over and the brace height is the same.  

All I know is my point of impact has shifted 6" to the left at 20yds with expanded groups.

Thanks for all your input.

Joshua

[Benny Nganabbarru]

You're storing them fine. Good wooden arrows can handle anything the Territory can throw at them. I lost an arrow in a tree at school, and by the time the kids found it and knocked it down, it had endured a few months of monsoon, heat and humidity. It was perfectly straight, and still flies great.

Has anything changed with your shooting? New string? Was it a gradual change, or a sudden change? Have you been coming to full-draw? Have you been tired or ill or stressed?

[Joshua Long]

I can't say anything has changed with my draw that I can detect.  Same string. I guess it has been a rather sudden change.

I attended a 3d shoot in July and shot great.  Now the last two weeks everything has changed.  I know my confidence has taken a hit, but I am keeping my normal form.

I did change my target going to 1" black dot down from a 1-1/2" black dot.  I also have been wearing my contacts more to shoot rather than my glasses.

[Bjorn]

For me changing between contacts and glasses can make a big difference.........glasses give me better vision but with trifocals some of the sight pictures are weird.
With contacts I don't get that. If you have been changing back and forth that may be the answer.

[TommyBoy]

Yep they can do that - even if they are sealed well.  In the dog days of summer in Missouri (July/Aug) I usually go up 5 lbs in spine. The heat just makes the shafts a little more "noodley".  Seems like you got them dialed in for the summer, but they might be a little too stiff for you now.  Try changing out your points to something a little heavier and you should be fine.