Hey guys! I recently ordered some cedar shafts from 3rivers and they seemed to be to stiff right away. I went to bare shaft tune them and the nock was to the right of the point at full length.(right hand shooter) Now I checked my draw weight on a bathroom scale with a notched stick on top so maybe it wasn't accurate? It said it weighed in at 55#@26" so I ordered 55-60 spline arrows and was shootin 200 grains up front. Where did I go wrong?

Where is George?  

Lee,
I won't offer my 2 cents right now, but I'm sure you'll get alot of help soon.

What kind of bow, what is your draw length? I can't imagine your arrows are too stiff with 200 up front and full length.

Draw length is measured to 1.5" past the deepest part of the grip (most use the back of the bow instead of 1.5") to the string.

a lot more goes into what a bow will digest then the weight.   What design is the bow, how close too center is it cut, what string material?

Mike

BTW it's spine, not spline.  Spline is a splice.

The bow is a hackberry self bow and its a little off center shot like most self bows and has a really short brace height, like five inches.

Selfbows usually like from 5-15# spine under the wieght.

You may be over spine and hitting the bow with the tail of the arrow.

Try a 45# if you have one.

Mike

Son.....it's spi...., I say it's spine...not spline.  

George

I knew that was coming.
You beat me to it.

John

                             

Killie, remember our fireside chat????

Oh my gosh! We've got "spelling police" here now!   :eek:        Wow, I see a lot of arrests/citations being made in the future.            

I just ran your setup with my calculator w/ a 27.5" arrow and Mike is right on with a 45 # spine.
Tommy

It sounds like you are getting a false "stiff" reading but will need more info to know better.
Chuck

Not sure what "full length" is on your shafts but you may be over spined at 55/60 even with 200 up front. I shoot 60/65 29" BOP (throat of the nock to the back of the point) cedar arrows with 175 up front that fly well from my 59# @ 28" osage self bow. My slightly lower draw wt (55 # 28) yew self bow likes 200 up front on the same arrow. Bow performance has a lot to do with the dynamic spine (what actually happens to the arrow when shot vs the measured static spine of hanging a 2# weight on the shaft and measuring deflection).

For an average performance self bow spine numbers are close, but more likely to be at or below your draw weight, sometimes 5-15 below as Mike said. But this is usually with about 125 grns up front and arrow cut to about 29" BOP. I would think your arrows if 30+" BOP with 200 up front would be weak enough for even a low performance bow that pulls 57#. The extra inch of arrow length and extra 75 grns at the tip should reduce dynamic spine by at least 10#.

A more accurate bare shaft test for self bows is where does your unfletched arrow hit compared to where it points? Hits left - too stiff, hits right - too weak (for a righty).

That's not spelling, that's grammar.

Killdeer~ Keyboard Police    

I think I'll go knock and aero know.

Behave  

Ha thanks guys and for the spelling citation!

Dynamic spine Shaun? Crap! I just built a spine tester too! LOL I'm obviously going to have to call the guys at Mythbusters and see where I can get a high speed camera.