i'm a carbon shooter with little knowledge of the wood world. any suggestions for a wood shaft and spine range for my 69#@28" (back of grip) bob lee recurve? i'm looking for a finished arrow weight of around 800gr. not sure what the weight of my points are yet. (stone and trade points and normal glue ons)
these may get shot at water buffulo if the points hold up in testing.

maybe you can suggest a point weight for the shaft you recommend?

thanks.

Ozy, I'll make some assumptions here:  You are drawing 28" and your arrows will be cut to 29" BOP.  I would recommend starting with 85-89 lb spine.  For 800 grains you are going to want a hardwood shaft like Laminated birch, hickory, ipe, etc.  You might be able to get it with fir too.  That would be pushing the weight envelope for fir, but it would make a nice shooting heavy arrow.  Adding point weight will help with arrow weight, but will up your spine needs, too.

I think Fletcher has all the bases covered.  Good advice.  You might need to go with even higher spine yet.

yeah the biggest problem is i don't know what my point weight yet. my draw is 28" to throat of grip. my minimum arrow length is 30" BOP.

Clint, you won't go wrong with Douglas fir and a 160 grain point. That combo is working pretty well in Katherine. A good spine to try would be 95/100# if you want a 30" arrow. That will get you about 775 grains.

Clint, Douglas fir shafts from archery should get you to where you want to go.  I have some (that are 260" deflection on my flight rite spine tester) tapered I got from Dave Doran at archery past.  They are 760 grains finished with 160 grain heads and cut to 28" BOP. They shoot perfect from my 73# @ 28" Ferguson R/D longbow. A parallel shaft will add some weight. Dave had mine listed at 110-115". Each bow and shooter is different, so anywhere from 85-115 may work for you.  If you could tell me what aluminum shafts shoots bare shaft and I could get you dialed right in.

Mike

OZ:

For the heavy spine in fir (85-100lb) they fall pretty consistant in mass.  Most will be 500-550 grains full length(32") or 15.6 - 17.1 grains/inch[11/32" diameter].  23/64" diameter may be a little higher.

If you desire more mass you will most likley have to go with one of the hardwoods.  Keep in mind however you will most likely sacrafice in paradox recovery rate if crossing over from the softwoods to the hardwoods.  Paradox recovery rate equates into a straighter flying arrow for a higher percentage of time it is in flight.  This allows more energy going forward and THUMP!!into whatever stops it... per the amount of energy put into it.

Doug fir is the quickest in recovery rate and highest in mass weight of any of the softwoods I have found(my opinion)....IF...and it is a BIG, BIG IF....you can locate and distinguish the good stuff from the bad. Only a very, very small percentage of Doug fir from today's forests will make a quality arrow shaft. Fortunatley it is the species with greatest volume that is still out there and SOMEWHAT available.

Doing some experiments with Western Hemlok at present that look promising and may prove viable in the near future.(similar to POC & Spruce) Keep posted

hope this helps mate
Ta
stump