By the book

[Archeress]

Hi all....ok please humour me here..I make my own arrows. I am by no means an expert and tend to ignore the highly detailed facts and figures regarding a true flying arrow.  But..is there a standard table/guide that will tell you what length fletch is appropriate for certain length arrow/spine/grain of point etc..the whole mix and match scenario ?...

Arrows i make for myself for my 70 # elm are as follows. 

shaft = douglas fir...32 inches shaft...65 pound spine
brass field point.....125 grain
5 inch shield cut tru flights

Bear in mind i only draw about 50 # of the bow out of habit and style. This leaves a hell of a lot of arrow remaining to draw.

My arrows fly damn straight, no fish tailing or instability.  i like my arrows.

I would like to speed up my arrows.. i am thinking of using the same arrow shafts for the same bow..but put 3 or 4 inch tru flights on..and cutting shaft back to say 29 or 30...i am aware that cutting a shaft stiffens the spine.  point is... will it still fly true?.  .i havent experimented much as you can see. 

And now for something completely anal..main reason for speeding up my arrows other than lowering my arc for a 40 metre shot is that an arrow drawn to its full length looks awesome in photos.   

cheers and beers...kel

WHAT SAY YOU ? 

[Pat B]

Have you thought of tapering either the whole shaft or the last 10". That will reduce the physical weight and in the case of the rear 10" it will only reduce the spine weight a pound or two. Both styles have weight forward characteristics too.
Also, for each inch you reduce the length of the shaft you increase the spine weight by 5# so  you will have to allow for that. As far as looks and obviously that matters, shield cut, traditional cut or banana cut feathers look best to me and with heavy arrows bigger fletching will straighten the arrows quicker.
 I prefer longer arrows and shoot 30" arrows for my 26" draw. I think a longer arrow gets around the bow easier.

[lostarrow]

The bigger the fletch, the more drag, the quicker it stabilizes and the faster it slows the arrow . It's all trade offs from there. If you are looking for distance, you want less drag (without compromising stability) . For aerial shooting , you want the arrow to slow fairly quick so you don't have to chase it 200yds.  Don't overdo it on the flu flus though or you won't have enough power to bring down the bird. If your arrows are matched well to your bow  ,it takes very little fletch. I'm actually starting to like the secondary flight feathers after using them on some hunting arrows this year. The shape also makes a difference to a degree. If you leave them  pointed on the back, they make that cool sound like in the movies   but all that fluttering slows it down faster than a banana or shield cut. Experiment with a couple of each style and size you like. If you make your own, you have the benefit of stripping the ones you don't like and remaking them into a style that worked better. And remember , ............. post pics. Good luck!

[Archeress]

Hmm great posts...i was also thinking along the lines of an out of control fish tailing flight because of wrong length, wrong size fletch etc etc. 

I plan to shorten my 32 inch 65 pound spine shafts to 30..so i am guessing it will warp up to 75 pound spine then

125 grain points

4 inch shield fletch

yes i will post pics and try them out this weekend.

[Pat B]

More tip weight will decrease the effective spine weight by 5# for each 25gr over 125gr.
  Can you make a few with different lengths, fletch and point weight and see which combo works best or you.

[stickbender]

     Remind me to never arm wrestle you for pints, especially at the going price of beer in England!

                                                                   Wayne


                                                                           

[mullet]

You need Art Butner!

[Pappy]

If the arrows are spined well the shorter feathers will speed it up a bit and should shoot fine ,as far as cutting them off , then need to add weight to the tip to bring it back in to the spine you want. , not a set rule but most arrows will weight about 17 to20 gr  per inch but it will add 5# pre inch taken off,then you have to add 25 gr.to weaken it that 5lbs.So the arrow is shorter but no lighter,If I wanted to lighten the arrow I would just go with a lighter spined arrow to start with. 
 Pappy

[Badger]

  If 65# spine is working for a 32" arrow then 50# spine will work for a 29" arrow. Your arrow weight will have more affect on seed at target distances than your fletching but going to 4" fletch will help a little as will cutting 3" off your shaft. For broadheads I would prefer a 5" fletch.

[nclonghunter]

+1-Badger

For the appearance you want at full draw, you will obviously need to shorten the arrow. That will increase spine which gives you two options. Get weaker spine shafts (best option, which gives a lighter arrow and increases speed) or use heavier points on current shafts. Heavier points will slow your arrow. The second part of shortening the feathers is they will fly faster, BUT you loose stability if shooting broadheads. If you are only shooting field points then reducing the size of your feather is an option and that again may have much to do with how center shot your bow is. Meaning the more it needs to paradox around the handle the more stabilizing you will benefit from larger feathers and better accuracy.
Since you want a better full draw profile on arrow length, then shorten the shaft and adjust the spine weight and use the same feathers. See if that  gives you what you want. If not, then start reducing feather size if shooting field points only....Good Luck

[artcher1]

These guys pretty well got you covered Archeress. 

If you really want to speed up your arrows then perhaps a new bow is in order. Your bow has obviously been over-drawn for the weight your shooting. But still, using the same bow and using lighter arrows with smaller fletching isn't a sure fire guarantee of a faster arrow. For example, I tested a poplar and POC (26" BOP) weighing 378/380gr w/5" parabolic fletching from a 41# Osage and got a reading of 145 FPS. Then I test two POC (28"BOP) weighing 518/522gr w/5 1/2" high back turkey fletching. Reading was 164/166FPS. 

As you can see, there's a big difference all around. Bow design certainly makes a difference, but also how well an arrow matches the bow.........Art

[Archeress]

Hi Artcher1...nah my bow definately not shot out.  its a single piece of elm..beautiful bow..great smooth release, no shock...just a tad slow..always has been.  Its a 70 # bow but has never been drawn to its full length due to ...well just my target style of drawing to the nose.  i will shorten a couple arrows to 29 and put a heavier point on and plant some 4 inch fletches on....too hot to do anything here at moment..40 degrees here on the coast of queensland.

[aaron]

there's a free program called stu millers spine calculator which lets you input values for arrow specs and tells you how the spine changes.