Wood arrow tuning question

EHK · February 13, 2012, 11:01:00 AM

I should be receiving a couple of new bows in the next week or so, and I'm about to order a Surewood test kit. I've read some conflicting information on tuning wood arrows and was wondering what you wood experts do for tuning. Do you bareshaft tune, just like you would with aluminum or do you shoot fletched arrows of different spines and just see how they fly?

BTW, the aforementioned bows are:

Holm-Made Osprey - 44# @ 29"
Holm-Made River Runner - 47# @ 29"

So, figuring a 30.5" shaft, any input on spine/point weight for a starting point on either bow would be appreciated.

lpcjon2 · February 13, 2012, 11:03:00 AM

Try paper tuning and forgo the bare shaft tuning.

Rick Richard · February 13, 2012, 11:06:00 AM

What distance should you be from the target when paper tuning?

Orion · February 13, 2012, 11:07:00 AM

I don't bare shaft wood. 55-60# 11/32 shafts should work for the lighter bow. May also work for the heavier one. May need to go up another five pounds for the 47# though. This is assuming a 125 grain point.

cedar · February 13, 2012, 11:08:00 AM

Not familiar with Holm-made bows but if you are talking recurves, I would try 60-65 spine, longbows I would go 55-60. I do mostly paper tuning. If your wood arrows aren't perfectly straight, I feel you will get misleading info with bareshafting.

lpcjon2 · February 13, 2012, 11:10:00 AM

Ten to fifteen feet(corrected) should work. Make a frame from 1x3's and get some sheet paper from the craft store and staple it to the frame. place the frame in front of your target about 3-4 ft.

lpcjon2 · February 13, 2012, 11:27:00 AM

Tail right = to stiff
tail left = to weak
tail high = move nock down
tail low = move nock up

EHK · February 13, 2012, 12:11:00 PM

thanks, guys. that's helpful.

emt137 · February 13, 2012, 12:27:00 PM

Center cut of the bow and type of string also affect the spine range you will need.

Cookus · February 13, 2012, 05:19:00 PM

I'm curious... Does anyone advocate bare shaft tuning with woodies? I'm finishing up some test shafts myself...

guk · February 13, 2012, 05:23:00 PM

i have a holm-made osprey 48@29 the 60-65s with 145gr point fly great for me. these are surewood at 550grs.

Shedrock · February 13, 2012, 05:33:00 PM

I paper tune. 12-15 feet is the proper distance for paper tuning, not 15 yards.

lpcjon2 · February 13, 2012, 05:37:00 PM

I did type yards, my bad thanks Shedrock...LOL

Shedrock · February 13, 2012, 06:10:00 PM

No problem sir, I have many typos myself.

macbow · February 13, 2012, 07:19:00 PM

For a really fast frame for paper tuning I use a large cardboard box and cut about a 1 foot plus square out. Then tape newspaper over the cut out.
Ron

Fletcher · February 13, 2012, 11:15:00 PM

Like the others, I recommed paper tuning for wood arrows. I use a PVC frame and newspaper and find being closer, like 6 feet from bow to target, to give me more visible results.

bowslinger · February 14, 2012, 01:54:00 AM

I have bare shaft tuned arrows crafted from Surewood Shafts (test kit)and have had good luck, but paper tuning should work just fine.

gringol · February 14, 2012, 08:48:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by Cookus:
I'm curious... Does anyone advocate bare shaft tuning with woodies? I'm finishing up some test shafts myself...

I don't think many people do that. I did it recently because someone suggested it, and I didn't like the results...lots of broken shafts. Woodies don't like flying sideways into a target.

I learned later that the type of wood also has a significant affect on the apparent spine. Some woods recover much slower than others. In general, hardwoods are more sluggish than cedar, spruce, etc. Therefore, shafts with the same measured spine will fly quite differently when bareshafted. You can correct this with fletching, so paper tuning will be better for you. Larger fletching will be better for more sluggish woods. This is the fun part, you get to try a lot of different things for your bow and your shaft and fingure out what works best for you.

snag · February 14, 2012, 10:21:00 AM

I've bare shaft tuned cedar and douglas fir. Really doing paper or bare shaft will work. I think paper tuning is easier for most though.

lovethehunt · February 14, 2012, 11:55:00 AM

WOW! The timing in this one. I just got done with 'rebuilding' some old cedars that were to short, my draw grew with strengh building, by footing them with walnut and tapering the last 10 inches. I shot through paper this morning and found I am now a touch weak and my nock is to high. The nock part is easy to fix, I use tied on nocks. I am going to try a 145 head from a 160 to see if that helps with the weak. I only have a 1/2 inch tear to the left.