The post I responded to said

" Since the IC carbons are made with various angled, perpendicular, and parallel weaves, over this time, those layers basically shift. This affects the spine of the arrows, and basically they “bend”."

I posted to say this is not true- the graphite layers never shift. I also contend that the inherent strength of a graphite arrow is much greater than people believe. If you throw out your graphite arrows after a year or two because you think your spines have " degraded" from being shot too many times- you are wasting your money. A graphite arrow shot into fairly soft targets would last a lifetime if treated properly. But hit one rock, whack the arrow sideways into something, or shoot into abrasive targets repeatedly- and all bets are off.

We got it figured out on the other thread. We' ve got a difference in terminology going on. What archers call ' spine' refers to how much flex the arrow has. That' s not the technical definition of the term.

I have to agree with most of what JeffB posted. I definitely see variations in straightness, and possibly spine, from most of the carbons on the market. There is also a marked difference between marketed versions. The catalogs, discount stores and Marts seem to be built to different specs in most cases. In other words, the discounted prices seem to promote discounted quality. I even see this among the Pro Shop versions where cost most always appears to be the determining factor of quality.

Couple the fact that that the arrows vary so much to its importance in the scope of things. An poorly tuned bow will be consistent in its transfer of power to the arrow. That consistancy will ' push' the arrow the same every time. The arrows, on the other hand, if it isn' t straight or spined consistently, will have totally unpredictable flight paths once they' ve left the bow. If one has very consistant arrows, like the ones JeffB mentioned, then the points of impact will be consistant in spite of a poorly tuned bow. I' m not condoning poorly tuned bows. There are too many other factors that have to be considered when a bow isn' t properly tuned. I' m just saying that the better the arrow, the better the flight/point of impact.

One more thing. It' s hard to see this on black carbon arrows; but, watch out for cracking just behind the tip. We' ve seen longitudinal cracks on the wrapped carbon arrows when using dies to check for this phenomenom. I' ve reported in the past about cracking around the nock end of the arrow. Now I can report cracking at the tip end - and this is more prevalent. One customer' s arrows were only used on our Morrel targets in the shop for about a month and had not yet seen 3D or hunting situations.

One customer came in tonight and asked me to check about 4 dozen arrows for straightness. He has always been an ACC user but was convinced to try a dozen of the better wrapped carbons last year. After one season, the ACC' s were 80%+ straight; whereas the wrapped carbons were 80%+ NOT straight. This guy is a professional guide and shoots a lot. He stated before he left the store for me to advise him if the wrapped carbons ever got anywhere near as good and durable as the ACC' s. He said that he would much rather prefer to pay the price to get the better flying arrows.

Buy what you can afford. But remember that the arrow is a very important part of the archery formula.