arrow length

[jas-legolas]

hello everyone. i am just starting to make my first batch of wooden arrows.just wondering what length to cut them. my draw length is 27 inchs. am shooting of the shelf and was wondering how much to leave over the front of the shelf or cut them of level whith it. will be useing broadheads and fieldpoints. thanks for the help.
jas...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/queensparrow/frolic.gif

[Kimall]

Mate start with them full length and bare shaft tune them cutting a bit off at a time until they shoot nice and you have the length they should be.
Cheers KIM

[Glenn]

What Kim said Jas, thats the best advice you will ever get about determining correct arrow length. When you bare shaft shoot your shaft make sure you have the correct weight head you intend to use on your shaft as the weight of the head will effect your dynamic spine considerably. You have to remove the head and reglue it every time you cut he shaft. I usually use hot melt for bare shaft testing...Glenn...

[jas-legolas]

thanks heaps for that guys. just wondering what distance to shoot them at and how much to cut of at a time 1inch more or less.
thanks. jas.........http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/queensparrow/boxing20smiley.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/queensparrow/fishing.gif

[perry]

When I bare shaft test I like to shoot at 10 to 15 yards initially . Once the arrow begins to impact on the mark back out to 20 yards so you can get a good look at how the shaft behaves . Cut off around a 1/2 inch at a time but keep in mind that its a good idea to keep around 1 inch of shaft ahead of your fingers , especially with broadheads NOTE DONT BARESHAFT TEST WITH BROADHEADS . For a right handed shooter left impact is stiff , right impact is underspined , remember that heavier points make an arrow shoot underspined , lighter points shoot stiffer . You can also adjust spine with tapering the last 9 to 12 inches inches of a shaft [ I taper the last 13 inches or so ] - they recover from paradox faster than parallel so shoot stiffer , barrelled shafts [ tapered each end ] recover faster again so shoot stiffer also . One last hint look for a forward of centre of around 20% this will aid no end in correct arrow flight , tapering is a great aid in acheiving this . It's not unusual for broadhead arrows to require 25 % FOC for best arrow flight . regards Perry

[Kimall]

Ok I do it a little differant as there is a bit of confusion when people say"bare shaft tuning"some are talking bare shaft planing and some are talking something much like paper tuning.I combine both as I find it the most simple and I like things simple.First thing I have found is that with wood arrows if you are out a fair bit in spine when you start then at 15 yrd/mtrs the arrow can be far enough sidways that the arrow will break on impact(very annoying)so I am not really interested in watching the arrow fly at this stage as some people find it hard to watch the arrow and still keep good form(peeking)and you can only tune any bow while using good form.So I stand 2 mtrs from the bail and concentrate on just the form and shoot the bare shaft with field tip in the weight you are going to shoot into a bail or rags or hay,if you can do this without shooting down to much all the better.Thre arrow will mostly likley be tail high or low so move your nocking point up of down the string to get the arrow pointing back level,only move the nocking point in small amounts.When you have got this happening then look at how the tail of the arrow is pointing left or right.If the tail is pointing right of you as a right hand shooter the arrow is to stiff and unless you have acces to heavier tips which is not always easy in my opinion you are better off saving your time and getting some shafts 5 pounds softer.Hopfully the tail will be pointing to the left and this is something we can do something about.One point to make here is never make adjustments on one arrow shoot a group and make adjustment on what the group is doing.If you are starting to get a bit tired then stop and have a rest and come back with good form again.If the arrow is WAY left then you can cut an inch off but it is prob better to take your time and cut off 1/2 inch at the time and you will see the tail start to come across to straight.I have found it is best to leave them a bit soft as when you put feathers on the shaft will act a bit stiffer.As you get them shooting good you can move back and continue making adjustments to the nocking point and the left right.Remember though that if the nocking point is high or low you are wasting time doing the left right so keep an eye on that.This should get you close enough to get you shooting enough to get some really good form going and give you time to do some more research on the other types of arrow tuning on the net.There are some versions where you shoot bare shafts with fletched shafts and make adjustments from there but these rely on very good shooting form and tecnich(SP) for them to work.
Now I am not a Coach or Trad shooting expert and I am sure there other ways of doing this but it works for me and is very simple.
Hope this helps......Cheers KIM

[jas-legolas]

thanks for all the help guys.greatly appriecated. will sit down next weekend and see what i can do.cheers jas............
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/queensparrow/frolic.gif

[pete w]

It is refreshing to read an internet thread with good answers to a question.
Well done Mates.
Pete

[Sparra]

I read Kims post and thought I would see how it goes...my knocking point was way to high and my arrows are tail left by a fair amount...I did this out of my 50# longbow and my 52# recurve and both are the same...The thing I don't understand is that the arrows are spined at 60-65#...With 125grn tips is this normal for them to be so soft when they are spinned 10-15# more than my bow???
Sparra...

[Glenn]

Sparra an arrow has two spines. Static spine is how you buy them from the shop as they are tested on an arrow spine meter, but how much your arrow bends when it is shot through the bow is dynamic spine. Several things will affect the dynamic spine, the weight of the arrow head, FOC and the weight of the shafts. If you have 60-65lb shafts of different weights then they will shoot left or right according to their weight.
If you have two arrows of different weights the lighter arrow will shoot stiffer than the heavier arrow because the lighter arrow will bend less than the heavier arrow when being shot-dynamic spine, even though the static spine reads the same.The more weight you add the front of the arrow the more the arrow will bend when being shot making the dynamic spine weaker. Remove weight from the front of the arrow and this make the arrow bend less when being shot or make it stiffer...Glenn...

[perry]

And on top of that Sparra the degree of centreshot your bow has is a factor in selecting the correct spine , the amount of recurve , reflex , your release etc . Just apply from the previous info and you will get there and learn a lot on the way . A shortcut could be to beg borrow or steal mates arrows and find one that works and replicate it while using the previous guidelines . regards Perry

[Sparra]

Thanks fellas...I have some more V/A shafts comming and will start from scratch with them and see what I come up with....Both bows shoot 55/75 carbons perfectly but both bows just feel smoother and are quieter with woods although the carbons are weighted and are heavier than the woods.
Also some trad shoots only allow woods to be used so I will have to get it sorted..
Thanks...Sparra

[sundowner]

Gents,

Thanks for all the info and tips. I’m working on building those mussels up.

Kimall I think you are spot on with only shooting 3 to 4 arrow per end. As I’m finding I can keep practising and shoot 3 or 4 times more arrow per session with out my form suffering. I also used your blank bail at 2m system of tunning which worked a treat- thank you. I will need to add some more weight up front to soften up the spine a little.

Cheers
Sundowner

[jas-legolas]

thanks for the help guys. spent hours making my new woods(only6). even hand painted them. they looked a million dollars . i took them out to our 3Dshoot on the weekend 40 targets. had an absolute ball they flew pretty well to.(shock horror). just forgot one very important thing need to learn how to SHOOOOOOOOOT.only bought 2 out of 6 home in one piece.http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/queensparrow/reaper.gif oh well s@#t happens. i suppose thats all part of the fun. its back to the drawing board mabee a different colour will help next time.
thanks guys
cheers jas.....
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/queensparrow/frolic.gif

[Glenn]

That's half the fun Jas, breaking them and making new ones. Save the broken arrows, if they aren't broken too far back you can splice a new footing on the front and they can be shot again...Glenn...

[jas-legolas]

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/jas-legolas/brokenarrows002.jpg
this is the result