Trad Gang

How many of you use a spine tester ? I have it in my head I want one, I'm hoping it is just an impulse thing I am going thru. I almost bought one online today, but in my old age I am trying to stop the impulse buying. I looked at the one hanging at the kustom  king Display at Comptons for 3 days and held off ! Just curious on the gangs thoughts on this. I guess I should add I build my own ceder shafts.
Dan

That was about the second piece of equipment I bought, after a fletching jig. I can't think of doing anything with arrows without having this vital tool.

Helpful, aren't I?      :rolleyes:
Killdeer   :D

Yeah, I'm with Killie on this, if you make wood arrows, you need one.  It's not an impulse, it's an epiphany!

I, like you, thought I needed one and finally bit the bullet and purchased one last fall. I read where folks said that if you make your own arrows that it was a must have. I checked the spine on just about everything I had and then the new wore off. I haven't used mine for a while.
This is just me, but to me, it verifies what I already suspected, kinda like my chrony when I was doing alot of reloading.
Just my 2 cents.

Wow ! It looks like I can tell myself it's a need (not a want) I searched the classifieds here earlier and didn't see any, I take it you don't see to many used ? Thanks guys !
Dan

QuoteOriginally posted by BCWV:
I, like you, thought I needed one and finally bit the bullet and purchased one last fall. I read where folks said that if you make your own arrows that it was a must have. I checked the spine on just about everything I had and then the new wore off. I haven't used mine for a while.
This is just me, but to me, it verifies what I already suspected, kinda like my chrony when I was doing alot of reloading.
Just my 2 cents.

That's what I am afraid of BCWV, I too have a chrony gathering dust LOL

Just make your own.  Get a board and add a couple dowels 26" apart.  Get a 2# weight.  Find some arrows that shoot well out of your bow and spine test them.  Mark the spot on the board.  Then you'll know.  All that deflection, dial indicator hocus pocus just confuses me.

QuoteOriginally posted by John Scifres:
Just make your own.  Get a board and add a couple dowels 26" apart.  Get a 2# weight.  Find some arrows that shoot well out of your bow and spine test them.  Mark the spot on the board.  Then you'll know.  All that deflection, dial indicator hocus pocus just confuses me.

Hmmmmmm.......  I was going to make one, but then I realized after buying the indicator and other odds and ends I might as well put the money towards just buying one. Your method would be very reasonable, good posts guys, don't know if your making my decision any easier LOL, I'm leaning towards buying one, but it is early in this post yet, I'm going to sit back and read your thoughts on this, Thanks !
Dan

dan d,
I use the chrony on my bows now!   :D

I say if you're shooting anything except aluminum, buy one. It really opened my eyes to the inconsistency of a lot of carbon arrows. I highly recommend buying a Spine-O-Meter from Braveheart Archery...miles better than the Ace I tried.

Craig

just do it !  :nono:    :nono:

You mention that you build your own cedar shafts.
If that means that you are making the shafts from cedar boards, you're going to want a spine tester.
But if that means you're buying pre-made cedar shafts and then making them into arrows, that's a different story.
There are  a bunch of reputable vendors who will sell you hand spined shafts. If you get those you don't particularly need a tester of your own. But if you buy machine spined shafts and you want the best arrows possible, then you'll want to spine test them yourself.

Guy

I am buying cedar shafts, don't know about the reputable dealer part, I have kinda been buying from all over the place and I guess that's what has me concerned.
Dan

I have a Spine-O-Meter and it's outstanding!!

You can test the spine of  carbons, aluminium, and wood all on the same tester...

You would be suprized on how many shafts are miss marked when it comes to spine.....

One of the must have tools if you want to know for sure what you have....

I made one, cost $0.  It gets passed around to my friends around here.
 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/reddogge/Archery/IMG_0575.jpg)

If you want good consistent wood arrows, get
a spine tester (and a decent grain scale too).

If you want a good  accurate  spine tester, get a Spine-O-meter.

It's not impulse, it's just smart arrow making with the proper tools, 'nuff said.

I echo everyone else. I wouldn't try to make wood arrows without one. Gary

Ace has an accurate meter for less than $100.  It's not as fast as the bigger Ace meter or the Spine-o-meter, but gets the job done well.  Spine is critical to good arrow flight and performance.  If you are only making doz or two a year and get your shafts already matched you can do without, but if making lots and for different bows, a spine meter is a very good tool to have.  Another great wood arrow tool is an arrow spinner to check for straightness.  IMO, the best by far is the Pine Ridge Arrow Inspector.  It is the one I use and I keep them in stock.

I used a self made that worked great,then I bought a Spine-O-Meter very accurate dial.I was surprised how badly matched were some carbons.
A must have item for accuracy.

Ditto with all on the must have item.

Just make one, they are simple to make and work as will as a bought one.  Save your dough and use the savings for something else.

It is much easier to make good wood arrows with a decent tester. I bought the Spine-o-meter several years ago.
It is a great tool and essential to making good arrows. Nothing wrong with a home made rig-used one of those for years too.

I bought Bearpaws Electronic Spine Tester, and is highly satisfied.

Easy to use and it gives me the possibility to short out the cedars to same weight.

It is a tool that serves you well when you are making your own arrows.


Margly

Whump Sez; well this is the scoop--wood shafting of any kind will have a weak and a stiff side. I shot wood for years and I  always set my cock feather to the stiff side to try and maintain some form of consistency, [after I built a spine tester.] The closer the grain of the wood the less problems I had with stiff,weak orientation, but the longer grain woods showed enough difference that it sometimes required turning the cock feather to the inside to make a shooter out of a wild flying arrow. After I made and started using a spine tester it took a lot of guess work out of arrow building. I always hated having to mark arrows for cock feather in or out [ before the tester ] and it just added to the confusion in a hunting situation. If you are building arrows now free of confusion then I wouldn't mess with it, but it is a good tool to take head slapping out of arrow building.  Hunt Safe.

Well, I have managed to make it through 50 years of archery without one and do not consider them a "must have" item.  I know if I had one I would become obsessed with the spine issue and I have absolutely no problem getting good flying wood arrows.  Same with the chronograph--lots of people are quite happy with their bow's speed until they shoot through one and get a number in their head that they start to obsess about.  Archers did well for thousands of years without all that stuff.  Just me, but I try to keep this thing as simple as possible.

You can make a simple and fairly accurate spine tester in about 10 minutes and calibrate it with aluminums.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/fliksr/Random/tester.jpg)

Make one of the arrow supports fixed and one like a cam so you can adjust the arrow to the "zero" line.  Find a weight you can hang from a binder clip, put in the first aluminum and mark where the bend in.  Repeat until you have everything you need.  There's a chart floating around what the aluminums spine out at.

Simple and accurate to within a # or two.

I guess you were looking to get talked into it - if you are just flinging arrows you don't really need one. It helps a great deal if you want better and more consistancy in your shafts. Life was more simple buying 1-2 dozen at a time - with the spine tester it will MAKE you duy 100 at a time, sort through them and have several terrific groups which shoot the same. Make sure your going to stick with wood shafts before buying it. They are great products.

I make one with a dial indicator and its really easy to do.Wish I used photo bucket I'd show you how. However you can build one for less than $35 thats as good or better than any of them. Frank

Ok,

B/W lvr that is just a straight up tease! :-)  To load your pictures go to Imagelinky.com use the browse buttong to select your pictures. upload then by hitting the upload button.  Go to the third line under the picture.  Copy the entire thing and paste it in your thread.  Simple as eating pie to load your pics.  If you have questions send me a pm.

Clay

I made the same exact one as Reddoge for 25 cents. The cost of a photocopy to enlarge the dial printout. Plans for free on the internet. Materials found around garage. 2lb lead weight(old lead shot and wheel weights) in a soup can with a wire hook. Weighed at post office to be sure of weight. Spine chart free on internet - Rose City Arrows.

Works awesome! Dead on accurate!

Thanks for all the replies ! Now to study them and decide which one to make ! I didn't think I would be building one, but it is defiantly a money saver.
Thanks again.
Dan

Dan when you get it all figured out Can I borrow it...LOL

QuoteOriginally posted by lpcjon2:
Dan when you get it all figured out Can I borrow it...LOL

LOL

I thought bare shaft testing replaced spine testing?

Dan D,

I have a spine tester that I am not using and would sell it to you if u r interested.

I have plans to make one one day but I've been kinda lazy in my own home projects with all the other stuff I've got going on & with 2 lil ones my own stuff gets harder & harder to do.

QuoteOriginally posted by dan d:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by John Scifres:
Just make your own.  Get a board and add a couple dowels 26" apart.  Get a 2# weight.  Find some arrows that shoot well out of your bow and spine test them.  Mark the spot on the board.  Then you'll know.  All that deflection, dial indicator hocus pocus just confuses me.

Hmmmmmm.......  I was going to make one, but then I realized after buying the indicator and other odds and ends I might as well put the money towards just buying one. Your method would be very reasonable, good posts guys, don't know if your making my decision any easier LOL, I'm leaning towards buying one, but it is early in this post yet, I'm going to sit back and read your thoughts on this, Thanks !
Dan [/b]

Dan, I made my own in about 4hrs. one morning in my garage, and made it out of scrap lumber that I had laying around. I'm like you and wanted a spine tester, but didn't want to foot the expense for one, mainly because I'm laid off for quite some time now and money is tight.

You can do this, it's really not that hard. Also, like John said....you just need to know what your spine is for your bow or bows and duplicate that spine. I feel like mine is a "Must Have" item that I wouldn't be without when making my own arrows. It makes about as much sense as a reloader making ammo without a good scale.

Here's the link to the one that I built. It's in PDF format and you can print it out, which I would strongly suggest. The directions read more complicated than it really is. Basically, you are just building a half a wooden box with 2 ends, a notch in the center of the ends to cradle the arrow shaft and a simple pointer to guage your spine. Use what you have around your house or garage and use your imagination. Good Luck!
>>--->  http://marshal.ansteorra.org/archery/files/aob2003/spinetester.pdf


Here's a couple pics of mine.

(http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/SpineOMatic001.jpg)

(http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/SpineOMatic002.jpg)

(http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss115/earljeff/spinetester2006.jpg)
You can get yourself a Dial indicator from Harbor Freight for less than $20. and the rest isn't hard to build.

Arrow4Christ,
What is the big differences between the Ace and Spine-O-Meter ? What did you not like about the Ace ? I am needing to get a spine tester too and would like opinions. Thanks !

I like to hoard arrows, got dozens of wood arrows that shoot good and a few that don't. So I build a spine tester and play with the arrows that shoot good. To my amazment the spine ran from 590-740 on like three dozen good arrows. But it is fun to play with on a rainy day...........James

I always thought spine testers are like boats:  I'd rather have a good friend with a spine tester than own a spine tester.  

That said, every once in a while I still get the urge to buy a spine tester!

RonP

QuoteOriginally posted by ArrowCrester:
Dan D,

I have a spine tester that I am not using and would sell it to you if u r interested.

Hello Bob, I just sent you an email thru the forum, saying I'm interested.

Wow, miss a few days around here and a lot happens ! This post was dead for a few months and it came back to life !

I am going to study them latest pics, good stuff here !
Dan

I made one following Jim Hill's plans.  Very easy and cheap to make and very accurate.  I use mine all the time.  Here is a link to the plans.

http://www.jamesmhill.com/Spine_Tester.html