BobCo19-65

I have been reading a lot of opinions on the common belief that arrow failure somehow has a relationship to arrow spine. For example, there was a thread not long ago that has a fellow with a carbon arrow that had shattered coming off the bow and had a picture of fragments going through his had. It seemed a lot of people believed that the cause of this was an incorrectly spined arrow.


Do you think that a fat, the walled carbon arrow with a spine of maybe 300 resist failure to a thick walled skinny carbon with a 400 spine?

Do you think that a 2512 fat thinned walled aluminum with a spine of .321 be much that tougher and resist failure that better then a 2020 with a .426 spine?

I wonder if there have been any tests done on arrow failure. What do you think?

pdq 5oh

I'd say it was more likely a cracked arrow. I don't think an under spined arrow would explode at release. It just wouldn't group well. Often times cracks are hard to detect. People need to be more vigilant re: checking carbon arrows.

Arthur P

I agree with Phil. Unless the arrow is severely underspined - like a kiddy arrow spined for 20 pound bows but shot with an 80 pound bow w/high performance cams - it's not going to blow up on release just because it's underspined. No way. An arrow that blows on release was most likely damaged OR was flawed from the factory.

I've had wood arrows explode on release. I've had fiberglass arrows blow up on release. I've never had an aluminum arrow blow up. Because of my experiences in my younger days with wood and fiberglass arrows, I learned long ago to check my arrows before putting them back in my quiver, so I've never had a carbon blow up in the bow, but I have seen 'em do it. Fortunately, none of the instances I've witnessed have resulted in anything worse than extreme string rash on the bow arm. One guy had a nice black, blue and purple welt on his bow arm, from the middle of his bicep clean to the heel of his hand![:-]

Guys who refuse to accept that their beloved carbon arrows can be dangerous are living in a fantasy world and could very well be posting their own pics on the internet someday. Don't let their unbridled and misplaced enthusiasm for carbon arrows mislead you and confuse the issue. IMO, it's not a spine issue that's causing arrow failures with carbon, it's undiscovered damage or factory flaws.

Doesn't matter what material your arrows are made of, carefully check each arrow before you shoot it. Every shot!

TFOX

I do agree that the spine was most likely not the reason that the persons arrow exploded on release BUT arrows are becoming more and more dangerous these days with the extremely thin walled shafts that are out there.Some of the fat shaft carbons are just plain scary how thin the wall thickness is.This will definately cause an arrow to fatigue quicker and damage easier,resulting in exploding arrows.Even aluminum arrows are subject to this but not as likely.

Straightarrow

I've been amazed at how difficult it can be to see a crack in a carbon arrow. I check mine by flexing them whenever I have reason to believe one hit another or missed the target, and I still miss a crack every now and then. I also shoot a stiffer than recommended spine and feel good about my decision, if for no reason other than increased safety. As a hunter, I'm more inclined to use the narrowest diameter shaft (thicker wall) and stiffer than recommened. Guy looking to increase speed and "hit lines", can have those fat, lightweight arrows.

ijimmy

I will agree with the rest , the arrow was probably damaged , and I believe the thinner walled fatter carbon shafts are more prone to damage , less durable , than thick walled [2020] alluminum shafts are .

Bigpapascout

I will also agree that the arrow was probably already dammaged before it was shot from the bow.

Bauer

I saw one carbon arrow blow up and go through a mans arm. It was not a nice site to see. I have and will always use aluminum arrows