Maybe the subtitle should be "why I am coming to like aluminum more and more" OK here's the deal. Maybe I'm a bit too trusting but I ordered a dozen shafts in the 50-55 spine range from a dealer who shall remain unnamed. Being too naïve I made up the dozen arrows and shot them some. Out of some of my recurves they were  just OK and in others abissmal.Same for my longbows.Being nasty weather here today and not much going on I decided to go thru all my woods and spine them. Spine them ad mark the weight right on them. Of the dozen mentioned above I had 2 that were in the 50-55 range. One was 55 and one was 54, of the rst they ranged from 57- 69 # 4 were well above 60# (69 and 67). Yes I know I should have spined them before making them up but what if I had ? What would I do with them ? Send them back ? Doubtful. Why can't the dealers be more accurate in their spine ranges ? Is it that time consuming for them to spine them accurate ? It is their product by the way, isn't the job on them to some degree ? What are some of you finding on this matter? Am I the only one ?

The dealer must have gotten them mixed up.  Before they got so expensive, I once received a thousand from the Nocking Point and I'm sure they came directly from Rose City and they were very accurately spined.  Going through a hundred or so, I don't remember having a one out of the 5# range so I just didn't test the rest as I was just going to break and lose them on squirrels anyway.

That doesn't normally happen. There had to be a mix up on the dealers end. I always spine my new wooden arrows and every time they were within the specified spine range.

Sorry to hear that, Tim.  It's things like this that make folks think that wood arrows are crap.  I don't expect electronically spined shafts to be as perfect as my hand spined shafts, but any more than a couple pounds off should go back to the supplier, even after being made into arrows.  It just isn't acceptable.

Proper spine is critical to to good arrow flight.  Yes, hand spining takes time, is rather boring work and adds to the cost of shafts, but to me is worth it.

I have been lucky with my purchases of shafts. Granted, I have never made large numbers of arrows, but when I pay attention to the grain when I put on the nocks, they perform well. Flinttim, has this been a pattern of events or a single bad batch? Did you bring this up with the manufacturer? They ought to be willing to replace such a poorly matched set of shafts with product that matches your original request. I am sorry to hear this happened to you, because wood arrows can be so much fun.

I've had it happen too, thats why there are only a couple places I'll buy my shafts from.

Try... RMSGear...

... mike ...

QuoteOriginally posted by mcgroundstalker:
Try... RMSGear...

... mike ...

what mike said

Wow - 50/69 spine range from a "50/55" set? That is pretty wild.  I'd call the supplier and describe the situation; at least to hear what they have to say about that... might be a better response than you expect.

I certainly respect not wanting to mention any names, but I wonder, as I'm sure most of us do, where they came from. Curious though, what type of wood these shafts are? I'll be surprised if they're doug firs.

Keep us posted if there's any news.

QuoteOriginally posted by FerretWYO:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by mcgroundstalker:
Try... RMSGear...

... mike ...

what mike said [/b]

X3

They will also match the weights if you request it.

My experience over the past 5 years with wood shafts has driven me away from wood arrows.  The price is comparable with carbon and the quality is very poor.  When I was shooting competition I needed top quality wood arrows for many of the classes I shot but as I no longer compete, I have no driving need.

Good Luck finding what you expect.

Mike

I think this issue is mostly on the dealer but still partly on the shaft manufacturer.
If the dealer is selling matched shafts then it is their responsibility and promise to go through each shaft to spine and weight it. Shafts within the specs are then bundled together.
If the dealer is not selling matched shafts then you're going to get whatever they grab and bundle together. Those shafts can easily be a long ways apart in their specs.
On the manufacturers end it behooves them to be as accurate as possible with what they send out. If a dealer orderes 300 50/54 shafts then I'd expect pretty much all of those shafts to be within 50/54 spine. If they aren't then that's going to affect what the dealer sends out to his customers.
I know a couple shaft manufacturers I've dealt with that hand spine every shaft they produce. That means there is a knowledgable and responsible individual properly orienting the shafts on their spine machine to get reliable and consistant results. I also know of a large manufacturer that spines their shafts on an automatic machine that most certainly does not properly orient the shafts on the tester. When I've checked shafts from that company there is no way they could be called matched and many were far outside the specs that they were sold at.
There are good wood shafts out there. I've used quite a few dozens that had straight grain from one end to the other, were matched in spine as well as matched in weight. But I've gotten those matched groups by going through each shaft to spine and weigh it before grouping it with other shafts for the best results.

Guy

The last FEW HUNDRED I bought from surewood were within the 5 lb range I asked for. I double checked every shaft, as I bought my own spine tester.  I bought my own spine tester so not to have the problem you described.  Now weight matched. That's another story. They can be a hundred grains off. But I did not pay for that service which is offered. I sort them by weight myself.
It's a bummer. You shouldn't have to buy extra tools like I did. But I did it because I was curious to know how it worked, not cause I didn't trust the wood distributor.

The only wood I buy these days is from Surewood or Forrester and their stuff is spot on. You should not be getting those variances from anybody. Let the seller know even if you do not return them.

Surewood has never let me down.

I've only purchased from Surewood twice, as I use mostly carbons now.  Both times the product was exactly what I expected and in fact, I never straightened a single shaft, they came that straight.  I will buy from them again as soon as I have more need for wood shafts.
ChuckC

I'm finishing up a dozen of the Surewoods. He tapered them for me as well. Nice shafts.

My 2 doz Doug Fir shafts from Surewood Steve were the best quality shafts I have seen in years.

I sort my shafts into true two pound groups. The only dealer who does this RMSG. Any where else you will have to buy in bulk and sort them yourself. The 6 pound groups adopted as industry standard is too much variance for archers of average skill.

QuoteOriginally posted by wingnut:
My experience over the past 5 years with wood shafts has driven me away from wood arrows.  The price is comparable with carbon and the quality is very poor.  When I was shooting competition I needed top quality wood arrows for many of the classes I shot but as I no longer compete, I have no driving need.

Good Luck finding what you expect.

Mike

That was my exact experience until I ordered some Surewoods.  Restored my faith in wood shafts.

I shoot both wood and carbons.  I have recently started playing with bamboo...  A whole new learning curve.