Perfect, as I am just making my own arrows for the first time. After being inspired by yourselves. You are always a delight! PS I have loads of arrows made by Philip and they are Wonderful!!!!! My son shoots them with aplomb and accuracy. Keep going guys!!!
That was a very interesting 'ramble' . Now I know you are longbow folks, but what about a modern centre cut bow. Would you select by spine absolutely according to the bow draw weight? Also, would the length/height/number of fletches on an arrow affect spine much? Thanks , keep these coming, particularly enjoy when you talk about how things would have been done in the pre-modern eras.
Thanks for another de mystification video. I especially like the way you calmly treat this subject. Yes, spine is important, but it is not MORE important than good, consistent technique. I happen to be the recent, proud owner of a 20 plus year old " Spine Tester, by Richard Head Longbows" I am just starting to build my own wood arrows, and I want to get them consistently within a couple of pounds of each other. I am going to add a second scale to this device which will relate only to me, dealing with my arrow lengths, and pile weights, based on actual paper testing, and bare shafting. It should be fun to develop. Thoughts? Too much ? Better to spend the time practicing my shooting? Thanks again, R
I have really learned a lot from your videos. Although, since I don't have a spine tester and age makes the shafts stiffer but a heavy head makes them bendier, I'm unsure what spine I should buy for my 70" yew selfbow. The bow has 50 pounds at 27 inch drawlength. I add 2 inches to the drawlength for almost all the arrows I make. So I would get 40-45 shafts for 29 inch arrows, considering a heavy head (125-165 grain Top Hat) makes the shaft whippier. I use 5 inch feathers. The thing is, with the 125 TopHat and a 45-50 pound shaft, my arrows range between 8 and 9 gpp. Does lesser spine make the arrows lighter? If thats the case I'm not sure if I feel comfortable shooting arrows under 8gpp and 125 grain is the heaviest head in retail for wooden arrows, apart from the TopHat Adapter and screw in points. My local store recommended using 50-55 lbs shafts, a friend recommended 45-50 lbs and you recommend 40-45 lbs for a 50 pound bow and 28 inch arrows. So now I'm confused and I would really appreciate your help.
Hi, glad you like the videos. It sounds like you are listening to too many people, advice rather than learned experience, in a pickle as it were. My advice would be to try some arrows out in different spines and see what matches, all the spines you mention are in the `ball park`, the ball park is a big place, there is no hard a fast rule for EXACTLY what will match your bow, evryones style is different, everyones aiming technique is different, for all I know you may not be using an English Longbow, it could be a war bow or an American Longbow, all these things would affect the answer. So just go for the approximate and test them out, its the only way you will get a proper match. If you are in the UK and wish to buy the supplies from us you are welcoem to phone and we can talk you through all of this in more detail. Good luck and stop overthinking it.
I’ve watched a couple other videos on spine testers, and of course now yours as well. My question to you is not so much about the poundage of my now ordered arrows, Sitka spruce by the way, but about a bow scale rather. That is to say, would either of you gentlemen know of an accurate one that I might purchase from Amazon Canada? Something equal to or comparable to what you yourselves use in your shop. Any help would be of great interest. And thank you for this video also, I enjoyed it as I always do.😊🍃🍂
@@longbows i’ve been researching on the Internet, and there are a couple available. I may decide to build my own, after more research. Thanks so much for your reply, and your time. Take good care Richard . 😊🍃🍂
What they do not say is if you have a matched set of arrows, ie they are spined within 5lb, they will react the same when shot. If you have some lighter and some heavier, they will react differently when shot, even if they are perfectly safe, but they will not hit the target in the same place even if you shoot them consistently.
Richard Head Longbows No, I am talking here only about spine, heavier and lighter spined arrows, even if they are safe, will not launch the same and therefore not hit the target in the same place. The weight of the arrow is also important but as you say, not the topic of this video.
I think we were at cross purposes, light or heavy arrows to me refers to their physical weight , with regards spine I would generally refer to weak spine or stiff spine . Your assumption of them hitting the target in different positions is correct.
Very interesting, but it leaves me with more questions than answers. I'm new to archery and I'm trying to make an ash ELB, hopefully around 60-70#. I don't have all the fancy scales so I'm kind of doing this by feel. I went to my local hardware store and picked up 2 7/16" pine dowel and I'm making two arrows out of those with no metal tip. I feel like they're stiff enough that they won't snap when shooting my bow if I get that far, but flexible enough to give me a good base line on where to go from there. I might go up to 1/2" down. My question is...I'm I being a complete idiot and on the path to sticking half a broken arrow through my hand???
Hi, thanks for contacting me. Having made many videos I am unsure which one we talk about the dangers of using dowel, please do not use dowel, they are not made from material suitable for arrows, the grains tends to be very poor, please, don't use dowel!!! As you are new to Archery I would not suggest making a bow of around the weight you mention, most students would start with half that at most. I am unsure how you would make a bow of a particular weight without scales, perhaps you have some luggage scales or could borrow some? RU-vid is not the easiest place to talk, feel free to contact us direct, details on our website www.richardheadlongbows.com
@@longbows Kind of awkward but one of your first videos mentions you all using dowels because you make so many arrows. My options are pretty limited at this point. I can drop an email but can you recommend a good archery forum that I can join to post progress on my bow? Some exciting news I braced my bow for the first time today and shot a few arrows at quarter draw just to test it.
Hi, I have never used dowels to make arrows, please tell me which video, I am sure you are mistaken. I am making you a video about the dangers AS WE SPEAK! There are loads of forums on Facebook, take your pic, I cant specifically recommend one.
@@longbows ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gxB4HxUcmRc.html and Richard mentions using dowels again at 5:15 in the same video. Unfortunately here in the US our options are limited by our wallets and what's available at the lumber stores. Here we have all sizes of dowels mostly in poplar, pine and oak. I can't buy expensive shafts off the internet because I'm trying to do this on a tight budget, which is why I'm making my own bow. Would poplar be a better option since poplar tends to break across the grain where as pine breaks down the grain creating a nasty spear?
No, he says "dowel form" not doweling, he is talking to people who know nothing about making bows and arrows, he is using that term so they undertsand what he is talking about, I say again , we do not use doweling (the sort you get in a DIY store) for making arrows. Please watch the video I am making for you, I just finished editing it, I will upload it soon, please wait.
