Arrow straightness vs helical fletching

[hayneda]

I have always wondered how important arrow straightness really is for those that shoot wood, and use relatively large helical fletching, as is generally used for hunting arrows.  Seems to me, using, say 5" helical fletch allows a lot of sins, so to speak, with arrow straightness, or lack thereof.  I've seen some pretty visually crooked shafts fly reasonably well.  What's your take?  For good quality woodies with helical fletching, is straightness (compared with AL or carbon) really a red herring?

[McDave]

I would never use crooked wood arrows for anything that mattered,  just because.  But I generally keep at least one damaged or crooked arrow that won't straighten in my quiver for long distance fun shots because if it gets lost or broken so what.  I too have noticed that they fly pretty darn well and more accurately than I would expect.

[reddogge]

I just grabbed 6 expendable POC wood arrows for an upcoming rabbit hunt and several had bends in them I straightened them as best I could. To me it's always a PITA working with them. I hadn't used these since last year at this time.

[macbow]

I like my wood and bamboo arrows as perfect as I can get them.
Overall if the tip and nock end spin good In between doesn't matter as much..

[Kris]

" Seems to me, using, say 5" helical fletch allows a lot of sins, so to speak, with arrow straightness..."

You are correct, and 5 1/2" helical is even better in this regard.  You can get away with more than you'd think, provided all else is in-tune i.e. brace height, nock height, arrow tuned to bow, correct spine, et. al.  The more fletch surface area you use, the more you can "cheat" an arrow to shoot straight.  For anyone into tuning though, this is NOT where it is at.  You compromise performance when over-correcting for other short comings.

You can have your cake and eat it too!  Shoot straight arrows but don't neglect non-perfect woods arrows for practice...you just might be surprised.  Learn the process of straightening.  Use your best wood arrows for hunting.  Howard Hill said this as well.  

Select quality shafts from the get go to build confidence, then you'll never be in doubt.

Agree with macbow above.    

Good Luck!

Kris

[Bjorn]

If you buy the best shafting available straightness is not an issue. Why go to the trouble of making an arrow from a crooked or otherwise imperfect shaft whether for practice or killing?  

[TOEJAMMER]

Exactly what macbow said.

[snapper1d]

Yep what macbow says! A crankshaft with all its crookedness would shot strait because of the center line in it being strait.Kind of like bamboo arrows.each space between nodes are curved the opposite directions but the overall length has a strait center line.

[Flying Dutchman]

No matter how big your fletching is, an wooden arrow should always be straight. You can check this by spinning them on the palm of your hand, it shouldn't wobble. Wobbling means not only a poor flight, but also that the arrow will loose its energy very fast, especially with big fletching.
You can straighten your woodies very easily and quick with a big screwdriver, contact me if you need more info about that.
I always check my arrows on straightness before a shoot. If there are any that wobble, I straighten them.
Big fletching is more forgiven for a bad release or a not well tuned arrow.

[snag]

"Overall if the tip and nock end spin good In between doesn't matter as much.."  Agreed with Mac. Wood is very forgiving unlike carbon and aluminum. That said as I make arrows I hand straighten them and check for straightness throughout the process. But I do have some arrows I've made for myself that were stubborn in the middle but the ends spin true. They fly as well as the straight ones. It is often what lays between our ears that we think matters the most...reality is something different.    

[Sockrsblur]

The first "primitive" bow shoot I went to was at Hawkeye. Looking for one of my MFXs behind a target I found an arrow that still sits on my desk today. its bamboo, self nock cut simply into the hollow shaft, large wild turkey fletching with an aggressive helical,  glue on heavy steel point. feathers and nock both reinforced with some kind of unrefined string and glue. I never held anything like it. I marveled at it.

More to the point the shaft was not that straight. Yikes I thought... I had to shoot it through my 50lb longbow... and my jaw dropped as that beautiful fletching spun right into the middle of my bag over and over. I'm not sure I would have believed it if I didn't hold it and  see it.

The arrow was not very refined, not perfect and that made me feel like I could build them too. To the person who lost that arrow... I owe you a great big thanks!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

There are those who walk through life that enjoy simplicity to its fullest, and they can live quite comfortably with "Close enough".  A lot of guys have a blast with building self bows from snaky looking staves, and build primitive arrows to match that are far from straight.... These same guys go harvest game with these set ups all the time too...

On the other side of the coin you have others that are interested in the best flying arrow they can get, and appreciate high performance bows made from exotics woods and composites...

For some archers a pie plate sized group at 15 yards is "Close enough" ... others aren't happy until they can get 3" groups or less at 30 yards, and shoot a 50 cent piece at 15 yards consistently......

Red Herring????  Naw.... i think we can safely keep dead fish out of this topic....

What ever blows your kilt is much better.

[ny state land]

Bjorn nailed it. Ask David Wallace if he thinks straightness is an issue. I did, to him it was paramount. So Kirk has a good point as well i guess its what your after.

[snapper1d]

In the days before we had carbon,aluminum,
fiberglass and wood shafts cut by machines that made them perfect there was shoots and bamboo that was no where near perfect but people made arrows that were not perfectly strait but some archers were as good as some we have today that shoot perfectly strait carbons.I agree straighter the better because crooks and bends can create drag and slow arrows down but balance is the key here.As I said earlier a crankshaft could fly strait because it has a strait center line to it and its balanced.If it were not balanced our vehicle engines would fly apart or be the biggest vibrators around.