Bow Tuning

[The Boogie Man]

Archery in it's most basic form ie Bow, String and Arrows may at first seem quite simplistic, yet many Archers still struggle with any consistent accuracy using such a set up. After all they bought the best Bow they could afford, use a well made string of the most modern material, and then ruin it all by buying the cheapest ill fitted arrows. Arrows are the key to accurate shooting, there are other factors at play but the biggest effect on overall accuracy is down to your arrows. Arrows are rated by "Spine", which is a term used to describe the amount an arrow will bend when "Force" is applied to the nock end. On Wooden arrows "Spine" is usually designated by Bow draw weight ie, 40lbs-50lbs 35lbs etc, on Aluminium arrows you will see numbers such as 1916-2315-2016, on Carbon arrows-300-400-500-600 etc. These numbers all refer to the amount of "Spine" (bend/deflection) the arrow has. The degree of spine is crucial to accuracy and safety and this is related to a phenomenon known as "The Archers Paradox". Traditional Bows such as English Longbows/Flatbows/Asiatic recurves are affected more than bows with arrow shelves and centre cut handles because the arrows have to deflect around the handle more. The video below explains this quite well.

So, armed with this information how does the aspiring Archer go about selecting the most suitable shaft for his bow/s. Below is a Spine chart with the corresponding aluminium/Wooden arrows for a given draw length. For example say our Archer has a 29" draw length and shoots a 45lb draw weight bow, we see from the chart that a 1916 Aluminium shaft would be most suited. If wanting to shoot a Wooden shaft we see a shaft spined/rated 50lb would be a good starting point.

These charts should not be taken as "gospel" because there are many factors affecting how your arrows behave, but they are a good benchmark from which to fine tune your shafts. I would recommend buying a spine rated shaft above and below your indicated one, because we are going to "bare shaft tune" our arrows to get the perfect shaft. In the next post I'll explain how to do this.

 

[lonewolf]

that's okay if one is using factory made arrows, but what if one is considering using self made arrows from the wild?

 

[The Boogie Man]

that's okay if one is using factory made arrows, but what if one is considering using self made arrows from the wild?

We'll get to that old Boy, first we need to understand what makes an arrow accurate, and then how to actually make one. Making self arrows in the wild that are any good takes more knowledge than most archers will ever possess, and is highly specialised work. Unless he/she has a lot of experience with such things it will be beyond most peoples abilities.

 

[lonewolf]

well the American "first nations" seemed to do okay, I remember Ray Mears making one on one of his UK series and it flew okay and penetrated a lump of pork.
if one cannot obtain factory made shafts, as per post SHTF then we'd better learn.

 

[The Boogie Man]

That's what I mean. A first nations native learnt from birth, Ray Mears has decades of experience as to what makes a good arrow, you can't expect anyone just to go into the woods with a little knowledge and make good arrows, it won't happen.

 

[lonewolf]

That's what I mean. A first nations native learnt from birth, Ray Mears has decades of experience as to what makes a good arrow, you can't expect anyone just to go into the woods with a little knowledge and make good arrows, it won't happen.

wasn't what I meant mate. obviously it takes time to learn how to make a good arrow so we need to learn now and not wait until "the off". I have a stock of factory shafts but they wont last forever at some time I will need to make my own and doing that blind wont work.
anyway I bow to your knowledge and experience.

 

[The Boogie Man]

wasn't what I meant mate. obviously it takes time to learn how to make a good arrow so we need to learn now and not wait until "the off". I have a stock of factory shafts but they wont last forever at some time I will need to make my own and doing that blind wont work.
anyway I bow to your knowledge and experience.

Sorry mate, I get you now........I'll do a post looking at this in depth when I've gone through the basics of arrow dynamics.

 

[lonewolf]

thanks mate, looking forward to reading your obviously superior knowledge on all things archery.