Tuning arrow one at a time.

[stringstretcher]

I would love to hear and have you explain how you go about tuning one arrow at a time to get the perfect flight.  Don't hold back now, please explain you complete process.  Cutting lengths, sanding down, adding weight, moving Fletch orientation and on and on.  Do you bare shaft? 

[artcher1]

I don't know about others Charles, but I have the spine/point weight figured out to begin with, and after applying a finish and fletching, there's little more to do except check for flight potential. I've mentioned this many times, but I reckon it's worth repeating. Any natural material arrow will have a certain potential, and that potential can, and often does, change from bow to bow.

If you've noticed, I like to tie/wrap my fletching on shoot arrows. There's several advantages to this. Helical/offset can be adjusted for better flight. If any arrows do crook, it's mostly on the fletching end. Easy to remove the fletching, straighten the shaft, and re-wrap.

As far as bare shafting, there's never a need, IMO, if you have your arrows right to begin with. It's a matter of finding and shooting the best matching arrows to any particular bow..........Art 

[tattoo dave]

Well, I try and keep it simple as possible. I have a mess of arrows lying around. Some of them are spined, some not. So I tend to fletch up 6-12, shoot the snot of them, and pick the 3-5 that are suited best for each individual bow to hunt with. I also practice with hunting heads, stone or steel. That way there's no guessing how a field point will fly compared to hunting head.

Tattoo Dave

[Mohawk13]

Same. I build My arrows one at a time. All spine within 3-5 grns of each other. Finish, fletch, test shoot. If all is good, goes in the quiver. Shot multiple times through sprng/summer, survivors have hunting tips applied, test fired 3-5 times before the hunting season....and off to the woods I go. Have used the same process for the last 30 years, never any issues and never an empty freezer....But do what works for you...Happy Building

[Pat B]

With sourwood(hardwood) shoots and cane I only spine check for the stiff side of the shaft which goes against the bow. I also make arrows one at a time. Once seasoned most of the shafts of the same size seem to shoot similar and as long as they shoot well they make good arrows. I leave my arrows long for my draw(29" to 30" for my 26" draw). The natural taper of the shoots or canes helps them get around the bow easier.

[artcher1]

When you start discussing best possible arrow performance, whether by calculating or by actually shooting the arrow to come up with best flight, you need to evaluate both bow and archer first. Just like arrow potential, bows and archers have to enter into the equation. If bow and archer aren't able to accurately evaluate arrow potential, you're more or less flying blind with arrow making.

Just my opinion here, but I'd say build you bows for best possible arrow flight first, tune the archer, and then evaluate the arrow's potential. Something to shoot for (pun intented), isn't it ..............Art


 

[NorthernArcher]

I'm with Art. You're best off knowing the length, spine, and point weight before you start.  If you don't know the required spine for a given bow, you'll have to experiment to find it.  You can start off with an arrow that you know is too long and shorten it in increments until it flies true.  You'll gain ~5# of spine for every inch you remove.

When it comes to reproducing that arrow, it REALLY helps to have a spine tester.  They are simple to make, and invaluable to have if you are going to be making your own arrows.

[snapper1d]

I will run a bunch my wood through my Veritas dowel maker so I will have a good bunch of shafts.I use a make shift spine tester so I can group them together as far as spine and weight.Then I will sand to smooth down some and put on field tips.Cut all to my draw length.Put on a nock  with it orientated with the grain lines towards the bow.I will bare shaft shoot it.Then chuck the field point in the drill and sand then shoot it and so forth till I get it shooting perfectly in my bow.Then hang up and i squirt a little lacquer in my hand and rub in on all shafts.Well I better back up a little.After I get the one that shoots perfectly I will put it on the spine tester and then chuck and sand each shaft till I get each and every one of them to the same exact spine as the first perfect one and then on to the lacquering them.Then fletch and paper tune.Usually this is not needed because they will all be shooting perfect.You never know how well your arrow is performing till you paper tune.It will really show your problems.XPrWRF