Kip

I have read that you should build your arrows so that the woodgrain is horizonal when the nock is on the string, and ready to shoot. What happens if you have the woodgrain vertical? I just realized that I made a boo boo when I nocked 3 of my arrows. They seem to fly ok, but what is the downside? Does it make them weaker?
I got another dozen ready to be built. I'll pay attention this time when I glue the nocks on.

john nail

Not a big boo-boo, but they won't be consistant. Probably see a lot more lateral dispersion.
The bigger concern is safety--when an arrow breaks on the release(very rare) it will go with the grain. If you have the grain pointing up, it should go away from your hand. This is a very good thing. Not into your hand--a very bad thing...

Your life is made of time, not money.

Edited by - john nail on 02/03/2003 15:06:40

Arthur P

The strongest spine of the arrows is across the grain not along it. Those 3 arrows will probably shoot different from the rest.

The way I like to make up my arrows is to orient the shafts so that the edge grain is against the side plate of the bow and the points of the grain runout pointing forward along the top side of the shaft. That will make the points aiming back along the bottom of the shaft. Reasoning is that if an arrow breaks as it's released, hopefully it will break along the grain line and the pointed back half of the break will be forced to go UP, away from your bow hand.

Of course, in 48 years of shooting wood arrows, I've had exactly 3 break while being released and each time it was my fault for not checking to see if they were cracked after hitting something hard. But each time I was thankful that I make my arrows like I do.

<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>I gotta start typing faster. John must've posted the instant I hit the reply button.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Edited by - Arthur P on 02/03/2003 15:10:18

Kip

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I got ahead of myself when I was building them. I did notice that 1 of the arrows is very inconsistant, but the other 2 dont seem too bad at all. I guess I can do more &quot;experimenting&quot; with these 3. <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

john nail

A word to the wise if you're just starting arrow making: If you try to save money by buying &quot;seconds&quot; shafts or get some from a cheap vendor, don't be tempted to make up the ones with grain run-out or an obvious split. They are the ones that will hurt you. Use 'em for tomato stakes.

Your life is made of time, not money.