problem with breaking arrows

[alanesq]

I have always had problems with my arrows breaking (usually just behind the pile) - usually if it hits something hard or there is a side wind but sometimes for no obvious reason
not having any other longbow archers in my target club I don't know how normal this is ?
The club I shoot at uses a rugby field so leaving bits of arrow behind is not an option but finding a missing pile can be pretty much impossible :-(

I was just wondering if other people have this problem / what the best way of stopping it is
I guess footing the arrows would help? but I think this is beyond my skill/patience levels but is there any easier way of doing it (e.g. special tool?)

or is there something can be wrapped around the wood to hold it together when the arrow snaps etc. ?

or failing that anyone know a supplier of very long piles (which would be easier to find)

[robtattoo]

What're you gluing your piles on with?

I find, personally, that if I use araldite I tend to snap more arrows, whereas if I use hot-melt I'll lose the occasional pile but keep the shaft intact.

[RichardH]

Have you looked at those Top Hat points - the ones that screw on to the shaft? They do some extra long ones. Pricey, though!

[Greenman]

I found mod bods caused a lot of breakages, whereas fieldpoints survived a lot better, but look ugly. Preferred the aesthetics of the mod bod so have stuck with them.

[gino]

It's a silly question Alan but I have to ask, how are you pulling your arrows out of the ground/target?

I know when a few people in my club get lazy they "lift" the arrows out of the ground instead of pulling them which doesn't break them but weakens the shaft near the point, doing this a few times would easily cause a few breakages, it already has for our arrows....

[Raedwald]

It sounds about right - almost without fail (well, ok, the one that split into three IN the target) breakages have been, or have started at, the pile (I use field points).

I always wondered if it was down to stresses on hitting things if the hit isn't straight (so the shaft flexes and the pile doesnt).

Interesting about hot melt vs areldite - I use areldite......

[joelondon]

Thanks to Robs reccomendation I have never broken an arrow at the point end, have broken arrows all down the rest of the shaft but not on the point join, I taper then use hotmelt, i then heat the point to seat it pushing into a wood block as it cools. for me it seems to work as a suspension of sorts, fine I will leave a point in a tree every now n then, but pick the arrow up intact with a cone of glue at the point end, and generally retrieve the point intact to put back on.

i heard that some people with the Robodear at liberty will have an arrow with the point barely attached so on impact the shaft will pop out under the pressure and save the shaft, I guess the hot melt has a similar theory behind.

cheers

Joe

[Mad Archer]

The type of pile can make a difference. I believe that the piles that require a conical fit will produce an inherent weak spot (where you create a shoulder just behind the pile). Does anyone have direct experience of this?

I use taper fit brass piles and glue them on with Araldite. They do break behind the pile, but only after a lot of use which wears away the varnish and lets moisture in (especially shooting into wet ground).

In answer to your question about whether other people found the same problem, I did meet an archer who deliberately made his arrows a bit long so that when the piles all broke off he could make a slightly shorter set.

[teknohippy]

You're not shooting them into OB's boss are you?

[Kae]

I think one of the problems with wooden arrows is the fact that the shaft is cut or compressed to fit into the pile leaving an inflexible area that is thinner than the shaft (where the soft wood goes into the metal pile). This is where they tend to break.
I think, for that reason, that footing the arrows with a hard wood should reduce this problem.

I use tapered points and hot melt glue.


Kae.