ALLOY ARROW ADVICE

[pdccr]

I have ordered some full length feathers and plan to make a fair few arrows including some flu's so i think the chopper would be a good investment. I used to cut my own but they always made such a mess with turkey feathers and they were never straight

[hue]

Hiya Kevin

so, you've given me food for thought! always happy to learn something!
i would've thought that 4 fletches would've had too much drag, but obviously not.
and you felt that you shot better at the masters, with the conditions you had, than a lot of the sighted chaps, with the setup you have!
time for experimentation, methinks!
thanks Kevin

Hue

[Coach]

and coach, please explain? to use a bad quote

Hue

Explain what ? Why the numbers dont give you an exact spine ?

Pretty simple really ,, people cut arrows , use different weight heads etc etc . It will give you a ball park figure to start with , but then comes the fine tuning and bareshafting etc .

[longbowinfected]

The more friction from feathers the quicker they slow up.
The lower the profile the less of a sail in a crosswind.
I do not have to worry about total length of feather rules.
I started doing this with clout arrows then longer distances for Fremantle shoots.
This is primarily for light arrows say Jazz 1916, Plat Plus 1913 around 414 grains with the 145 grain points and light timbers around 410-430 grain mark.
They have to be low and short.
The advantage that you get from using thinner cross sectional profile arrows alloys and especially timbers [5/16 rather than 11/32] pays dividends because there is much less friction.
You will note that no matter which feathers are facing the wind the effect is the same.
They track straight but at an angle about 15 degrees but they need the heavier points. If you use 125 grain points they fly too high and quickly. With my setup for 49# they come out a bit lower and my gaps are related to points on the target butt for 60, 50, 40, 30.
Ian Stokes and I have independently come to the same conclusions. As he is a more talented archer he takes greater advantage.
It is really taking compound bow aproach and applying it to trad.

The only few to beat me at the distance at the masters were Mick Turner a freak with a faster barebow recurve and high tech arrows, Steve Farrell, another freak using standard longbow but d/r and faster with normal arrows, and Ian Stokes with the same set up as mine. Ask Brumbies Country how effective Stokesy's rig is. Ian and Bob Sheahan have noticed that recently I have really improved my scores at 30 & 40 even in severe wind and rain...partly due to the gear and an extreme amount of practice.

Kevin

[hue]

and coach, please explain? to use a bad quote

Hue

Explain what ? Why the numbers dont give you an exact spine ?

Pretty simple really ,, people cut arrows , use different weight heads etc etc . It will give you a ball park figure to start with , but then comes the fine tuning and bareshafting etc .

that's what i was getting at also Jeff. the tables are a guide only. how they are finished is not taken into account. that's an individual thing with a great deal of experimentation and hard practice, but they give you a broad spine range - somewhere to start. that was known to me 18 years ago when i first started shooting compound - so, in essence, we agree!

[hue]

one question Kevin

do you fletch straight or helical?

Hue

[longbowinfected]

A very slight offset of 1 degree.
I like using fletching tape but it wil not work straight laid.
Because it is almost straight laid I also tie the feathers.
I find the front tying acts like winglets on large aircraft wings and preturbates the air....also handy if shooting off the hand.....might work well with Horse bows and ELBs
It all works marginally better with wraps.
Smaller push in arrow nocks improve the release as well as spacers between fingers on your tab.

Kevin