Some time ago, I started to wonder if arrow spine is really as important as we think today. That must sound rather provocative, because spine is generally regarded as the most essential feature for a good arrow flight.
Here´s why I started thinking about spine. In old archery literature until well into the 20th century, I never came across our today´s definition of spine. I often found that the arrow must be stiff in order to withstand the high acceleration force of the bow. Therefore, the arrow must have a certain weight, as a shaft that is too light is not stable enough. In general, the main focus was put on the weight of the arrow, which was measured in shillings and pences. The arrows were generally accurately matched in weight but there was no word about spine mentioned. There is an interesting article from 2015 on investigations of arrows from the early 19th century. It seems that they exactely matched in weight but the spine could differ.
Link:
http://www.bow-international.com/features/traditional/a-mystery-revived-2/The earliest mention of "spine" I found comes from 1927. The spine was seen as the spring of the shaft that is needed to go around the handle of the bow. But there´s nothing mentioned about a measurable value.
Link:
https://www.archerylibrary.com/books/duff/bows-and-arrows/docs/vii-4.htmlHere´s L. E. Stemmler´s definition of spine in 1942: "Spine—That quality in an arrow that permits it to get around the bow and straighten itself efficiently. Spine is not stiffness alone, but some other elusive quality." Stemmler matched the arrows by shooting arrows of the same weight at a distance of 55 yards using the same point of aim. The groupings were bundled together.
Links:
https://www.archerylibrary.com/books/stemmler/essentials-of-archery/docs/common-archery-terms.html https://www.archerylibrary.com/books/stemmler/essentials-of-archery/docs/matching-arrows.htmlArrows were weight matched in order to hit the target at the same hight for every shot. In addition to that, a given weight of the arrow shaft should have about the same stiffnes. For sorting out the arrows more exactely, groopings were made by testing the arrows. It seems that these methods were accurate enough for a precise arrow flight. The very good archers from the 19th and early 20th century, like Horace Ford and also Howard Hill are the best proof for it.
Today, the arrow spine can be measured exactely. The advantage is that arrows with the same parameters can be made efficiently. For sure, a huge divergence in spine will cause a difference in arrow flight (that´s why the arrows were sorted). But do you think that the exact arrow spine is really as important as it is seen today?
And does anyone know, when the modern definition of spine came up first?
I´m very curious about your thoughts.
Best wishes,
lonbow
You can read this old literature on
https://www.archerylibrary.com
