Spine weight of arrows

[PZ123]

Hi everyone,

I have just received delivery of my ELB yesterday and am looking to make my first set of arrows. I have a 46# @28' bow. A bloke at the club said he would help me make my first set of arrows and has recommended I by shafts spined at 35-40#, however when checking Merlin Archery's spine chart it recommends 50-55#. I called Bowsports and they recommend to stick to shafts spined to my bows weight (40-45#). I would really appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

Pete

[djthompson]

think the chap at your club is correct - you go for 5-10 lb less spine weight at your 28" draw.

Merlin figs sound odd - as that's higher.

FYI I shoot 55-60lb spine weight arrows, draw length 28.5" and my bow's 60#

Rgds, D

[HOTHOUSEDOG]

Yes, go with 5/10# lighter than your bow. Where your shooting an ELB the arrow needs extra flex to bend around the handle and still fly the direction you pointed it. If you go to youtube and search archer paradox there is a great video showing this in action.

[gwynn]

agree with the above - for a Longbow you spine your arrows about 10 lb less than the bow.
or, you could buy different spines, three of each and find which suits you and your bow

[steve58]

Also depends on the string material, you want a higher spine for fastflight than dacron. The weight of the pile is also a consideration, as is the size of the fletchings, the actual length of the arrow, and whether you shoot with a glove or a tab. As an example, I draw 53# @ 28" (and use the pile as a draw check, so the arrows are 28" plus pile), shoot on a fastflight string and use a tab. At the moment I'm shooting 100 grain piles on 50# spine shafts with 3" low profile fletchings.
In the past I have found that a 50/55 spine with 125 grain piles and a 4" fletch worked fine too. There are a lot of variables and it's a lot of fun building different arrows and learning by experience. Personally, I found that until I got a reasonably consistent shot together it was hard to assess what worked better.

[PZ123]

Thanks for your quick replies!

[PZ123]

Thanks Steve58,

I know that I'll need loads more practice before I really know whats going on. Atleast I know a bit more than I did a few days ago, and this should get me started. Hopefully I'll meet you all in the field one day!!

[iori jones]

Thank you Steve 58 for your comment about string material affecting arrow spine. Am I right in thinking that a dacron string would produce a different reading on a bow scale than a fast flight? After all if you strung a bow with a piece of elastic you woluld be testing the strength of the elastic, not the weight of the bow! So how does this affect our interpretation of the spine charts if at all? What are todays spine charts based on,(what string material that is) and if, as is probably the case, they are based on fast flight how do we (the ones with bows that can"t handle fast flight) make the necessary adjustment when selecting our arrows?
Iori Jones

[steve58]

Originally Posted by iori jones

Thank you Steve 58 for your comment about string material affecting arrow spine. Am I right in thinking that a dacron string would produce a different reading on a bow scale than a fast flight? After all if you strung a bow with a piece of elastic you woluld be testing the strength of the elastic, not the weight of the bow! So how does this affect our interpretation of the spine charts if at all? What are todays spine charts based on,(what string material that is) and if, as is probably the case, they are based on fast flight how do we (the ones with bows that can"t handle fast flight) make the necessary adjustment when selecting our arrows?
Iori Jones

Not sure about how dacron vs fastflight would affect a bowscale never thought about that! This link may be a help provided you can tune out the American hunting context, Arrow Spine
There is LOTS of similar information in this part of the forum! A search should produce enough material to confuse you big time... I can't provide more links at the moment because my computer had a big belly up moment and I am still trying to find all the missing links etc.
My impression of the spine charts in eg Quicks catalogue is that they are based on a Dacron string and 100 grain piles as far as longbow goes, but other will soon say whether this is a good guess.
My advice, track down HiForce arrows (always very helpful to me) or any other well reported maker (Little John arrows are in my part of the world and John's a good chap) and ask the experts.
Or build a "rough guess" set, get your shooting going and then go from there. All good fun!

[jaselpool]

As already stated above you should be looking around the 5/10 less formula. Most charts are based on 28" draw and 125gn piles fitted.

There is a chart on the wooden shafts section of my shop if you want to take a look:

The Longbow Shop - traditional longbow arrows and archery supplies

I can recommend an initial setup if you'd like to PM me with any questions

Jase