Arrow Spine...myth or fact?

[BlackWolf2626]

A buddy of mine just told me about arrow spine. He claims that if I check for the spine and shoot with the "spine" up, I will shoot better. Is this a myth or fact?

Do any of you "spine check" your arrows?

[brucelanthier]

Some arrows may be a bit stiffer on one part of the shaft as opposed to the rest of the shaft. That part, if you know where it is, should be up. If a good quality shaft is used then this will likely not be a problem.

Tell your buddy that the spine is the overall stiffness of the shaft and not a spine like a backbone where it would just be stiff in a small part of the overall diameter. Like I said, good quality shafts will have a uniform spine (stiffness)in the overall length and diameter of the shaft.

[BlackWolf2626]

Bruce,
Thanks. Is that true with arrows that are not the most expensive? If I buy a mid-grade shaft, will the "spine" be more of a consideration?

[JimPic]

I spine test every arrow I get just to check for consistancy(you'd be surprised to see how inconsistant some carbons are).Shooting with the "spine" up really doesn't make a differancewith modern arrow materials,ie carbon,aluminum.Wood shafting is a differant animal,though.So don' worry about what your buddy says and just shoot

[brucelanthier]

For me it would.

A good way to check/find the stiff side of the shaft is to shoot through paper at a 5-6 yards. Note the tear in the paper and then rotate your nock 120 degrees (to the next fletch) and shoot again. See if the tear in the paper changes. If it does then you may have a non-uniform spine and you can set that arrow aside. Do this until you find a shaft that doesn't have a change in the paper tear when the nock is rotated. Use that shaft to tune your bow. After you tune your bow with the good shaft then get your "bad" shafts and shoot them throught paper, while rotating the nock after each shot, until you get your best (least) tear. Then you can likely use that shaft.

[BlackWolf2626]

Thanks, I'll try it.