How important is straightness really?

[Holten101]

I have  a problem. I want to make make shoot arrows that are consistant in performance. I feel I have tried it all....measuring spine, weighting and straightening hours on end....I just cant get say, 3 arrows that perform close to what I get from bought doweled shafts.

Im at the point of giving in to bought dowels:-(. I have soo many shoot arrows now, but not two are the same....even arrows that seem to be in the same ball park spine wise, give wildly different results downrange. Looking down the shafts I can see some undulation, but overall they are "straight'ish". Will it help much to remove these inconsistancies/undulations....or should I focus more on spine and getting the spine orientation right (shot shafts seem to have funny spine behaviour)?

I use Hazel, Dog wood, wild rose and Kolkwitzia amabilis....I seem to get the best results from the latter.....Hazle are second.

Cheers

PS: Its very important to me to use local species, so cane and boo is out of the question.

[RBLusthaus]

Are you orienting them with the the larger dia end of the shoot as the point end? 

[twisted hickory]

i don't have any probs till i push the limits of spine. at 45 yds i do notice but at 20 its not a problem. make sure the stiff side of the shaft is oriented the same on all shafts. my best arrows are nearly dowel straight.
greg

[Thesquirrelslinger]

You need them decently straight. Also the arrow would need to be fairly consistant in weight.
Most of my arrows are fairly curvy-bent. The best ones are pretty straight. arrows that are bent don't show it till 30 yards or so.

[Holten101]

Are you orienting them with the the larger dia end of the shoot as the point end?

Yeah ofcause.... http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,28018.msg372848.html#msg372848 these are some of the first I made.

Getting weight AND spine in the same ball park takes alot of shoots....but it still dont seem to do the trick.

Cheers

[RBLusthaus]

Sorry  -   just thinking out loud for you.

I find the best way to match spine and weight is to match spine, then sand/scrape to match the weight.  Admittedly harder to match the same distribution of weight along the shaft this way, but I pretty much ignore that when making arrows and just go with total shaft weight. 

Maybe try adjusting your point weight?

I know some guys that ignore all that mumbo jumbo entirely and just make and shoot a ton of shafts, then they sort them into groups by how well they fly and from which bow - - not taking any note of spine or weight.  Just some thoughts for you. 

Russ

[artcher1]

I think each shoot shaft is about as different as each selfbow . A couple of sayings I live buy when making these type arrows. First, the more perfect the material the perfect the arrow. So cut only the straightest. And make each shaft match as close as possible (would have to write a book here). And get to know each individual arrow very well. I use different colors myself.

Second, each shoot arrow has a certain potential, and that potential can change in other bows. So find your best arrow/bow match. Good luck .........Art

[twisted hickory]

I agree with Art. I made 5 arrows that weighed only 2 grain from one to another. Out of the 5 3 of them were spined perfect for my 50 lb bow. The other two shot great out of my 64 lb bow. The stiffer ones shot very slightly to the left at longer ranges. With the 64 lb bow they were perfect. The weaker ones out of the 64 lb bow shot very erratic and like 3 to 5 feet to the left they were dangerously underspined I think.
There is a bit of variation in the wood. I do think one thing that is important is orienting the stiff side of the shaft on all the shafts the same direction.
Greg

[artcher1]

Like I said earlier, individualize your arrows. Know which ones shoots the best, and out of which bow. I can teach you how to field tune your arrows for better grouping, but that'll limit those particular arrows to one bow............Art

[dmenzies1950]

With shoots I pretty much do like Russ said, Match the arrow to the bow. I have a huge selection of bows, so I find which arrow shoots best out of which bow. It's not very scientific, but shoots aren't like straight shafts, and don't react like them.
You just can't get shoots that are perfectly straight, nor do they have to be. Straighten them the best you can and that will be good enough. Just my opinions.
                    Dale 

[Fred Arnold]

I try to keep my shoot arrows close in weight as possible. When straitening them I spin test them on a simple device I made. As long as the nock and point line up and spin true the slight wrinkles won't much matter.

[Holten101]

Thanks all.....I have a new batch of shot arrows "cooking". Ill finish them all, and then start putting them through bows and see which does what:-).

Cheers

[richardzane]

this is a great thread.
I've definitely noticed each of my shoot arrows has personality. using barred turkey fletchings helps to recognize individuals pattern.
like people, some are more extreme than others. one of my new shoot arrows consistantly falls low and to the left.
I don't weigh anything and only "test spine" by hand and by shooting...
Once its character is known, a good arrow performs well. I don't even have to think about it, i just recognize the arrow as I put it on the string, and
my mind adjusts for it. Some of these character arrows are actually the more reliable ones i'd take hunting...once i get confident enough on my OWN skills!
my best shoot arrows : viburnum arrowwood ,hazel, wildrose in that order...and i also am trying to only use local stuff,(though i just planted red osier) and no cane grows here.

[artcher1]

Richard, if you're a right-handed shooter then your arrow that impacts low/left, will, if flipped over, should impact high and right.  It can be field tuned in for a left-handed shooter, but not for yourself.

I think a lot of you guys are making left-handed arrows ...........Art

[richardzane]

HA!! maybe thats it...   
i'll try the flip over for a test

I know there are a handful of my shoot arrows I'd select for a hunt because i think i know them pretty well.
but some arrows? I'm still not sure if its the arrow.....or its just me! 
 i'll get such a nice tight 4 packed circle in a paper plate at 20 yrds,
 then its as if i just intimidated myself! and the next shooting is like: "what the...?"  1 in the plate and three on the edges, or drifting.
its the inconsistency that makes me think it's likely just me!