http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvtOHoIrbJI&feature=player_embedded
Used to spine my carbon shafts until I went back to aluminum for that very reason.
New to me but I'm going to check it later to see. Certainly a simple step to putting arrows together.
Its a great idea, i remember being introduced to this a while back and i think its a good idea. I haven't built new carbons in a while.
I think Rod Jenkins plugs up the ends of his shafts and puts them in water. The stiff side will be the side floating at water level.
Hmmmm....I guess I need to add another step to my arrow making process!
what the ______! I thought I was paying the big bucks for consistency in arrows. HMMMM
New to me. But couldn't hurt. The guy in the video said tighter groups I'm all about that!
Never done it with arrows but thats how I find the stiff side of rod blanks when building a flyrod.
Lol.....I'm like Joe, thought they were uniform all around. Just shows how little I know about carbons.
I plug each end with cork and float them and mark them. You can buy a tray used to wet wallpaper at home improvement stores and float your shafts in it.
I have heard of doing that only with the Grizzly shafts,I think it was due to the way they are manufactured.I have never done that with other carbon arrows.
After watching this, I just grabbed some Carbonwoods that have never been done up...they are about nine or ten years old...and I could NOT find the "stiff side". We have some Gold Tip blems in raw shaft form somewhere but my son has them stashed and I can`t find them...I will check to see if I can find the "stiff side" on those.
tried it with my gold tips and at full length i notice it but with arrows that are shorter that i shoot it is less noticeable.
i guess all your doing is finding the stiff side of each shaft though. it doesn't tell you if that stiff side is the same between shafts.
I think that the original grizzly sticks are the only carbon arrows made that do have a stiff side to them. I have spoken personally with some guys from Easton, and Ted at Raptor archery about different shafts and so far the Grizzly sticks are the only shafts made with a stiff side. The people at alaska bowhunting have said that it because a shaft is tapered the material they use will always have stiff side, but I found that untrue with the arrow dynamics shafting.
JamesK,
Interesting commentary. Primos team has for years spoken to how one arrow maker they buy from always spines the Easton ACC for the high side, mark it and then fletch the cock feather at that high point and that it has tightened their groups considerably...
Another friend, who made and sold thousands of arrows made from varied shafting, sold out of his booth on the tournament trail, claimed that almost every maker of CARBON arrows has variance in the spine, weight, and straightness of any given dozen shafts. Across the board... he did find ONE mfg that was most consistent lot to lot.
Having found those variances, NOT finding a stiff side where the wraps of material overlap, would surprise the bejabbers out of me... :)
I never bothered with testing the Griz Sticks when I "torture tested" them years back... as Ed's explanation of how to do it, didn't work for me...Joey's clip, showing the shaft sticking out beyond his cupped hand for balance, makes me want to try again...
Spine testers will reportedly also show if there is a "stiff" side... I don't have one so can't vouch for that.
I recently started testing spine on my Ad Trads on a 360 degree basis. Carbons definitely have stiff sides (according to a friend of mine who is very familiar with their manufacturing). I stripped the fletching, removed the nocks, and spined them on my tester. I marked them all so that the stiffest common spot (.425) contacts the riser, then put the nock back in and refletched according to my marks. I then re-tuned and found a nice improvement....enough so that I'll do this consistantly in the future.
I've always done this, my method is a bit more scientific...I use a spine tester. The most consistant carbon shafts I have ever tested were arrow dynamics. Both in weight and spine from shaft to shaft. The worst were represented in the video.
Being a rod builder, I have always done this with rod blanks. It is critical to getting an accurate casting rod.
I tried it with Beman ICS Bowhunter shafts, with Gold Tips, and with some Carbon Express shafts and could not find a stiff spot on any of them. I think the process of making arrow shafts is quite different from that of making rod blanks. The Grizzly stick may be the exception because, like a rod blank, they are tapered.
I don't have a spine tester, so it may be there are some variances in the parallel shafts as well, but they are not enough to find using the method shown in the video.
This does seem like a good excuse for missing the mark though! Maybe we need to add this to Joe's list. :readit:
It is vital if your shooting griz sticks. The stiff side is very noticable
My Carbon Express' don't have a stiff side. Will someone explain to me why those do? Is it intentional? Not sure I want a carbon shaft that isn't consistant.
I have also found the grizzly sticks and arrow dynamics to have a stiff side.
You could also rotate the shaft 90 degrees to soften it if its to stiff and you do not want to increase point weight.
With any shafts I always bareshaft each shaft to make sure it is flying correctly.
is the average joe going to notice any difference in arrow flight? i'm sure that my "unroll tested" still shafts shoot better than i can.
makes sense though. now making arrows is even more work....
I tested some of my Trad Onlys with the method shown in the video. Couldn't find a noticable difference, but the method seems pretty unscientific...
This is going to be bugging me for a while now...maybe I need to get a spine tester...