Wood grain run off?

stringstretcher · February 18, 2012, 06:37:00 AM

What do you consider not acceptable for use with grain run off in wood shafts? Is there a point at which you say don't shoot this arrow? Or do you not worry about any grain run off in you wood shafts? I would love to see some pictures of arrows that you shoot, that has a lot of grain run off?

Mike Vines · February 18, 2012, 07:01:00 AM

Charlie, what I do with a shaft before I turn it into an arrow is with both hands, grab each end then bend and twist. If there is the slightest crack sound, it gets broken, if there is no noise, I use it. I don't just do it once, I then spin it a little and do it again, then repeat a few more times. I hope that helps.

stringstretcher · February 18, 2012, 08:10:00 AM

Thanks Mike. Hope to hear from a lot of other people as well as to what is or is not acceptable.

lpcjon2 · February 18, 2012, 09:24:00 AM

I have noticed on a few shafts that had run off, that when I stained them the end of the run lifted,you can feel it when you steel wool it.

Like Mike said you have to check them and bend them.The amount of force the arrow get hit with during paradox is a lot. so dont be shy when flexing your shaft.

snag · February 18, 2012, 09:59:00 AM

I believe in and do the "twist test" on all the wood shafts I build arrows from.

There can be a little grain runoff as long as most all the grain travels the full length of the shaft. If you have the majority of the grain runoff the last 2 or 3 inches you know which end to cut off when cutting to length and tip tapering! By doing this you just turned a not perfect shaft into a great shaft.

stringstretcher · February 18, 2012, 05:10:00 PM

Any other woody lovers want to chime in?

meathead · February 18, 2012, 06:40:00 PM

I don't want to much runout. I like to bend each shaft a little too. I really put it to shafts that I suspect may have issues.

Steve B. · February 18, 2012, 07:13:00 PM

Its a safety issue so lean on the conservative side. When in doubt, don't do it.
I shoot only hardwoods and I've found a corresponding difficulty in straightening the shaft if there's a certain amount of runoff. So that shaft becomes a sacrificial arrow of somekind. Still, I do the flexing, like the others, and I almost try to break the thing.

So it sounds like the concensus is to flex and twist it considerably and move on.