Nock alignment & runout on wood arrows

[LYONEL]

Which way should the runout on wood arrows face towards the nock or away? Pictures would be appreciated, thanks guys.

[Fletcher]

The pointers on the top of the shaft should point to the target.

[Orion]

Best and most concise description I've heard yet. Suffices for a 200 word explanation.  Do what Rick says.

[Grey Taylor]

Just don't shoot four fletch. Then you've got a 50% chance of loosing your arrow upside down.

Guy

[Sal]

The best shafts have no runouts, those are hard to come by.

[Orion]

True, Guy, but it doesn't make any difference.  Any run out, if there is any, and most times there is, should be on the point end of the arrow.

[ChuckC]

What if you shoot left handed ?
ChuckC

[freeman]

Chuck, left or right doesn't make a difference. The runout will be on the top or bottom of the shaft. Run out should point toward the point and be on the top side of the arrow. Theory being if it does break the rear portion of the arrow will go in the same direction, ramping off the front half of the arrow and over your bow hand and not down into it.

[freeman]

That is unless you were talking about shooting a right handed arrow out of a left handed bow. In which case it would be upside down...

[ChuckC]

Exactly. . .
ChuckC

[58WINTERS]

Buy some premium Surewood fir shafts.  Run out is not much of a problem if you get the premiums. Almost non existant in the shafts I've ordered from Bob Marshall @ Surewood.

[LYONEL]

Thanks for your help guys.

[Wolfshead]

Originally posted by 58WINTERS:
Buy some premium Surewood fir shafts.  Run out is not much of a problem if you get the premiums. Almost non existant in the shafts I've ordered from Bob Marshall @ Surewood.

X2 for Surewoods I have not seen a run out on my orders and I have been trying really hard to find some....  

[Zbone]

"The pointers on the top of the shaft should point to the target.
 
Posted by Orion (Member # 2759) on April 09, 2013 10:43 AM:
 
Best and most concise description I've heard yet. Suffices for a 200 word explanation. Do what Rick says."


Yep, gotta agree, simplest explanation I've heard on the subject....

[David Mitchell]

Originally posted by Fletcher:
The pointers on the top of the shaft should point to the target.

Totally agree and one further thought along that line--that means there are left hand and right hand arrows.     Arrows made up so the pointers on top of the shaft point toward the target will be on the bottom pointing right at your hand if anything goes wrong and the arrow breaks along the grain line if you shoot them on the other side of the bow with the normal cock feather out arrangement.  Let's say if Fletcher made me some arrows as he normally would for a right handed shooter, when I put the same arrow on my left handed bow, the pointy ends will be on the bottom facing forward (toward my bow hand).  I locate the nocks on my arrows to keep the little pointy devils on top should an arrow blow along grain lines at release.....Hope I made myself clear on this  :rolleyes:

[Grey Taylor]

Originally posted by David Mitchell:
Totally agree and one further thought along that line--that means there are left hand and right hand arrows.      Arrows made up so the pointers on top of the shaft point toward the target will be on the bottom pointing right at your hand if anything goes wrong and the arrow breaks along the grain line if you shoot them on the other side of the bow with the normal cock feather out arrangement.  Let's say if Fletcher made me some arrows as he normally would for a right handed shooter, when I put the same arrow on my left handed bow, the pointy ends will be on the bottom facing forward (toward my bow hand).  I locate the nocks on my arrows to keep the little pointy devils on top should an arrow blow along grain lines at release.....Hope I made myself clear on this   :rolleyes:  

And that is exactly my point about four fletch. Everything being equal four fletch users are shooting their arrows dangerously upside down half the time.
But we never hear about their arrows exploding and driving into their hand.
Which leads me to wonder if anyone has ever seen an arrow splinter along the grain lines like this? I know I haven't.
How many custom arrow makers ask their customers if they are left or right handed? I do, but I've seen it stated here on TG that it's a silly question.
All the arrows I make are to the above standard. I do it for uniformity and because it's what people expect. But I'm not convinced it's as necessary as it's stated to be.

Unfortunately, I'm leaving for a shoot in an hour or so so I won't be able to follow this until I return next week.

Guy

[David Mitchell]

Grey, I totally agree that it's probably an extremely low probability that an arrow will fracture along grain lines, however, an ounce of prevention never hurt!    Have fun at the shoot.

[Orion]

Guy:  I've only had one arrow break on the bow in 50 years of shooting, and I think I cracked that arrow on a glancing shot previously.  Received a pretty good rap on my bicep, which turned black and blue, then yellow.  Long story short, very few wood arrows break regardless of grain orientation, because we know a lot of folks don't pay any attention to grain orientation.

Another reason I put the pointers toward the target is that the straightest grain, which is less susceptible to bending/warping, is then on the nock end of the shaft.  So, that end of the shaft is straightest to begin with and stays the straightest. It's no fun trying to straighten a bend in the fletched area of the shaft.

Of course, because the grain is also straightest there, it should also be strongest and less likely to break there.  Maybe overkill, but doesn't take much  work to orient the shaft appropriately, and it provides an extra margin of safety.

Oops.  We're getting close to that 200 word explanation.  

[Hot Hap]

Well I have seen it happen along growth rings. The person who got me started in archery in 1958 had an arrow separate along a growth ring. The arrow went through his forearm and came out the back of his wrist. I wasn't there when it happened, but saw the two pieces of the arrow the next day. Tom and I took them to a local sports store and the gentleman there told us that the riffs on top of the arrow should be pointing away from the shooter. He said that would give the shooter the most protection in case of a shaft separation, but it wasn't foolproof, that you could still have it run through you arm or hand even if it was assembled correctly. He also said that the most problems came from shafts with dark growth rings. To this day I discard them.
Hap

[R. Combs]