Perils of Fibre-glass arrows

[Greenman]

As we have a "Have a Go" coming up I thought I had better sort out the Troopers.Eventually managed to find obout 60 scattered around, some of them looked a bit scruffy so I decided to give them the once over. A fairly cursory check of fletching, knocks and points told me we needed to replace about half the points, however I was starting to feel a kind of prickling feeling in my hands,but couldn't see anything so carried on, this developed into a definate "OW", so taking the hint looked at what I was doing and noticed that while the shafts looked fine some of them had splits in them. It turned out that 6 of them had split shafts and that I was getting fibre-glass splinters in my hands and you can't see them, it felt like I had been juggling with a hedgehog, rather painful. So the moral of the story is be careful when checking equipment, it can bite back!

[Kuchipuka]

Owch! You okay now Greenman?

[Greenman]

Originally Posted by Kuchipuka

Owch! You okay now Greenman?

Fighting Fit, thanks, you live and learn (hopefully), it was better I found them than some beginner!

[Murray]

We do not use fibreglass (or, eek, carbon) arrows, for beginners for this reason. Good tip.

[Little Miss Purple]

so to expand on this tip...what is the best way to check arrows? The obvious answer would be to wear gloves, but would this detract from feeling cracks etc. in arrows?

[Kae]

Originally Posted by Little Miss Purple

so to expand on this tip...what is the best way to check arrows? The obvious answer would be to wear gloves, but would this detract from feeling cracks etc. in arrows?

Bend the arrow between both hands away from you. This makes finding cracks easy, you should hear them before the arrow breaks ........ hopefully

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by Kae

Bend the arrow between both hands away from you. This makes finding cracks easy, you should hear them before the arrow breaks ........ hopefully

and away from anyone else. (Probably doesn't need saying, but just in case...)

[Greenman]

Originally Posted by Little Miss Purple

so to expand on this tip...what is the best way to check arrows? The obvious answer would be to wear gloves, but would this detract from feeling cracks etc. in arrows?

I have kept one of the broken arrows, to show the rest of them what to look out for,on the principle that an example is a better warning than a verbal one.

[Greenman]

Been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion that there is a place for fibre-glass arrows,in that they are the toughest arrows we get to play with.For "Have-a-go's" and a beginners first sessions when arrows are bouncing of the walls, ceilings, etc, they are adequate, who wants to spend all their time straightening Ali arrows? Oh ,and we have 60 of them,so got to do something with them!

[wingate_52]

It is only when you buy your own equipment that you start to take a bit more care with it. Must remember not to let the arrow jump onto the the top of the button again. 1 short Fatboy. And the arrow is short as well.