Fletching

[Nomad]

hey guys. ive been considering starting to make my own arrows out of ceader but have a few Q's for the gurus .

1) i hear that arrows are supposed to be spined (is it about 20#) short of the bow poundage. im not sure of the exact figure.

2) to find what poundage the arrow is spined at, a 26" lenght of the arrow is measured out and the poundage is the weight it takes to bend the arrow (1" or is it 2"???)

3) when putting the cock feather onto the arrow, how do you line it up with the spine???

cheers, Jake

[Jaydo]

G'day mate, im no guru, but ill answer your question

firstly arrows, like anything vary from person to person, and how you shoot, bow setup that sort of thing,
ideally you start at your draw weight/draw length, then go up from there, its easier to tune the arrows if they are overspined than underspined,

im pretty sure arrow's are spined at 28 inches, not 26,

spining is done with a special jig with the arrow shaft placed over two points with a weight on the middle, this weight bends the shaft, which when using a spine indicator, gives the spine reading,

i'd stick with buying pre-spined and matched arrows, untill you get more confident in your arrow making,

your cock feather of the arrow sits at 90 degrees to the nock of the arrow,

[hillbilly WA]

Theres no time to learn like the present mate!
I reckon you should buy some pre-spined arrows and then you don't have to worry about spining, and then buy your parts and all you need to do is put them together, you won't have totally tuned arrows but you'll get the same as what you'd have if you bought them already made.
Good luck, ask questions on the forum for anything you need to know while making them and, remember... pics!
Carl

[Jaydo]

you won't have totally tuned arrows but you'll get the same as what you'd have if you bought them already made

I disagree mate, you can properly tune arrows to your bow by getting pre-spined arrows, in fact i do it all the time, its all about the bareshafting, and if your so inclined the papertuning (yuk)

i am of the opinion that it is better to be a little overspined than underspined, especially if your a hunter, as it means you can shoot a bigger broadhead, yet not have a damaging affect on FOC ( foward of center)

by shooting a heavier point, in effect your weakening the spine, and you bareshaft to find at which point weight, length, weight of the arrow, where it flys pretty straight,

fletching will fix any minor problems, ...

[Blinkybill]

That advice is good Nomad. Buy pre-spined and weighed shafts first, then if you want to go the whole wak and spine them and weigh them you can. Its by far easy enough to find pre spined and weighed shafts. Im pretty sure when you spine shafts, you sit the shaft on two points 26" apart and then hang a 2# weight from the centre and then spine measure will tell you the spine.
Another thing to take into account is the bow your shooting. I use shafts 5-10# below the draw weight of my horsebow but I think its different for longbows... or maybe not as I dont own a longbow.
Hope this helps,

Ben