I am picking up a longbow this week. But want to stay traditional. I have scads of different alum arrorws over the years. And a few doz of carbon arrows.

I would like to get to the point of shooting good wood arrows. I really don't have time to make my own. But worried if I invest too soon, I won't find the arrow that shoots well and be out a bunch of money. Think I should just try some alum or carbons first?

Whats the min wieght I would want for a 45# draw? My carbons wiegh around 400gr. Think thats little light?

In order to answer that, would need to know a couple more things. Using a arrow chart guide, there is a difference for Compound and recure/Longbow in selecting the proper arrow. Many folks just look at the Weight and choose the arrow that way, but there is more to it than that. Also need to know the Draw length and Broadhead or field point weight in order to anser that, as without a known length, you can over spine the arrow and have poor preformance or undersping the arrow and have poor preformance and worse yet, a Arrow that will splinter upon release.

I guess most of us use arrows that run 8-12 grains per pound -some go lighter and some go heavier -with 10 ggp about average. Try one of your carbons and see how the bow feels in your hand. You put too light of an arrow on a longbow and it will let you know about it. You'll swear the handshock running up your arm to your jawhas made a couple of teeth swap holes. [8D]

With wood and aluminum, you need to get within 5 pounds of the spine your bow likes with the tip weight you want. With a 20 pound spine range, carbon really won't do much to tell you what spine your bow would like though. You'd be able to narrow it down a lot better with aluminums.

Check out the spine chart at Arrows by Kelly. It seems to work really well for most folks. http://www.arrowsbykelly.com/Spine_Charts.htmlBut again, just like all arrow charts, it's only a starting point. The only way to know for sure is to experiment with different spine arrows. Usually won't be more than a couple of sizes either direction from what the chart calls for.