3Rivers Archery Arrow Crafting Tips: Spining the Shaft

The arrow experts at 3Rivers Archery show you how to spine an arrow shaft on a Don Adams spine tester.
(Scene from Crafting Traditional Wood Arrows DVD available from 3RiversArchery.com)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• three
• rivers
• bow
• archery
• arrow
• crafting
• traditional
• wooden
• straighten
• fletch
• fletching
• cresting
• jigs
• jigging

[jacksoncole79]

Spine testers are expensive! I am going to just buy dowels put some quickie feathers on and see how they shoot. Is there a basic ruloe of thumb? Like will it shoot left if spine is too weak and right if its too stiff?

[3RiversArchery]

@jacksoncole79 We would not recommend using dowels as arrow shafts. You can risk personal injury. If you can't afford to buy a spine tester and spine shafts yourself, you can purchase pre-spined shafting from your local archery supply store.

[MrCemgok]

if the shaft is spined for a 45# lb bow and i cut about 7 or 8 inches from it will it still be spined for a 45# bow?

[3RiversArchery]

No. As you shorten a shaft, you increase its spine.

[CecilyHeron]

@jacksoncole79 The Traditional Archer's Handbook tells you how to build a spinetester at home, it's quite straightforward. There are plans online too. A homemade one will work just as well. Don't use dowels - in the most polite way, if you're going to take up archery, you must do it properly.