Determining Spine of Wooden Arrows

[Joester]

Hi all,
As Equipment Officer of my Field Club, I am in possession of a large quantity of wooden arrows, in a wide variety of lengths and thicknesses.

I have grouped them, but, apart from the fact that some are bendier than others (!) have no clue to the spine weight of the arrows, and hence to what draw-weight bow they will suit.

Is there a good way of rough and ready way of determining this at home ?(e.g. can I measure deflection with a given weight of coins, and relate this to a maximum draw-weight ?)

Suggestions please !

[Windknot]

The quickest and easiest way is still a 'proper' spine tester- I got mine from Ace Archery in the States.

If you search the forums over at Tradgang ( www.tradgang.com ) you'll find a few designs for DIY spinetesters.

Pip Bickerstaff's book The Heritage of the Longbow also has some useful info on this.

[Macbow]

As Windknot says you really need some type of spinetester. I got mine from Filippo Donadoni at www.e-archery.it (54 euros) which is not as easy to use as the ACE but just as accurate.
It does not have any deflection/poundage markings as such. Mine is calibrated to Easton aluminiums ie 1716, 1816, 1916, 2016 ... (Rose City Archery's website has a great deflection chart for cedar which can be cross-referenced to an Easton chart) although I only spine test wooden shafts.A spine tester might be a good club investment if you have any archers interested in the trad side.

[Miner Willy]

Out of interest Macbow how much was the postage to the UK?

[Macbow]

Originally Posted by Miner Willy

Out of interest Macbow how much was the postage to the UK?

I can't remember. Donandoni has a minimum shipping charge but if you get a few things it works out OK and he is quick. I also got him to send me a mixed dozen of various spines that he knew were accurate. The spine tester is pretty basic when you get it but it is easy to set up and really simple to use. I keep on meaning to stain and varnish my base but never get round to it. Of all my arrow tools this is the one that I use the most and it has proved a good buy.

[Miner Willy]

Originally Posted by Macbow

... Of all my arrow tools this is the one that I use the most and it has proved a good buy.

I could'nt agree with you more about a spinetester been the most useful piece of kit. I'm currently fashioning one as illustrated here http://www.jamesmhill.com/Spine_Tester.html

Only problem is that I have a large indicator gauge and it has meant some serious modification to this design. It looks like Frankenstein's ugly sister.!

If I'd seen the one Macbow has I'd bought it, still might!

[RichardH]

Macbow - so have you re-labelled the scale to indicate # then, or do you use a table to look up the values?

On that Italian site they have some very cheap foam targets - you can add a couple of them into the caert and it only adds a few Euros to the total (any more and it goes over the max, though ) Could be good for making 2D 3Ds as per that thread in the Field forum.

On this kind of subject, here's a superb top tip I picked up at the weekend on how to weight match your wooden arrows - particularly useful if you have a heap of arrows and you want to sort them into sets (i.e. the OP).

Speedy weight matching for wooden arrows
Get a section of 4" plastic drain pipe, and put some putty or similar round one end, then squidge it down onto a piece of ply, so you have a watertight seal. Now fill the tube with water, and drop all the arrows in point first. Those of similar weights will float at the same level - so pick out six floating at the same level - bingo - one set. Repeat til all the arrows are grouped into sets

Make sure the arrows are sealed/varnished first though!!

[Windknot]

Richard,

FWIW, I've found wide variations in weight (hence density) in arrows of the same spine. For example: In a batch of 45-50# shafts the weights ran from a low of 350 grains (spine 47#) to 520 grains (spine 48#).

Similarly, if I took every shaft I have that weighs say, 425 grain (+-20 grains) I'd expect them to have at least a 30# spread in spine.

The dunking method is a quick an dirty method of sorting by weight, and not spine.

Hope this helps.

[Windknot]

If any of you guys do get the Donadoni spine tester I'd be more than happy to test a bunch of shafts on my spine tester and send them back to you, so that you can calibrate it.

Every little helps!

[Macbow]

Originally Posted by Windknot

If any of you guys do get the Donadoni spine tester I'd be more than happy to test a bunch of shafts on my spine tester and send them back to you, so that you can calibrate it.

Every little helps!

Yes it does and that is a really great offer Windknot.