pappy, i'm guessing that when arrow maker's first set up a spine tester standard, 26" is what they went with. don't know why. any two pound weight will test the spine of an arrow. 1/2" of deflection equals 52# spine, or is it 51#.
here's my formula for guessing what spine arrow to start with:
-add 5# for every inch over 28" and subtract 5# for every inch under 28".
-subtract 5# for every 1/4" the bow is away from center cut.
-add 5# for every 25gr. over 125gr. for point weight, subtract 5# for every 25gr. under 125gr.
cane and shoots arrows are tapered, so the spine is calculated different for them. for tapered shoot or cane arrows, i subtract 5-10# spine. depending on how much taper they have. the taper is what makes cane arrows so forgiving because when the arrow leaves the string, it's closer to center than at full draw. this makes them much less critical of spine and release.