short draw arrow spine

[donnieonetrack]

I'm having problems getting the correct arrow spine with my short draw bows.

48" bow, 55# @ 22"

Arrows 25" long drawn 22".

Should I go over spine or under spine?  Both seem to hit fine but have a lot of bow slap.

thanks,

Donnie

[knightd]

 Are they 25" to the back of the point?? If so Try some 40#spine if you are shooting off a shelf and 35/40 if shooting around the bow..

[huntertrapper]

Longer arrows are easier to get back on track after being shot off the bow...short is harder to keep straight on path

[El Destructo]

Longer arrows are easier to get back on track after being shot off the bow...short is harder to keep straight on path

Thats exactly what I use on all of my Short Bows...Longer and weaker spined Arrows...

[JackCrafty]

I get bow slap too....but then again I tend to use arrows that are a bit overspined.  I also shoot with the bow perfectly vertical.

The most quiet short bow I've built (46" NTN) was a narrow hophornbeam bow made from a sapling.  It's a little less than 1" wide at the handle and it fires arrows like a rocket launcher.  It's also the hardest bow for me to shoot accurately...go figure.

I wrap my handles with soft buckskin or chamois to dampen the bow slap.

Good question...looking forward to the responses.

[billy]

HEy Donnie,

Try shooting longer arrows, maybe 28 or 30 inches even.  I have a very short 36" Hupa replica bow that I made a few years back and I found that a 34" rivercane arrow flew the best off of it.  It didn't have any bow slap and I was surprisingly accurate with it at 15 yards. Those shorter bows just seem to work better with longer arrows. 

I saw a short Pitt River bow in the Smithsonian a few years ago, and the accompanying arrows were about 33-34 inches long, so the natives also knew that long arrows work better on short bows.   

[donnieonetrack]

Thanks for the responses,  I  took a cane shaft spined at 95# and bare shafted it this weekend.  I scraped the shaft between shots and when the shaft flew straight it spined 40#.  That's a 25" arrow drawn 22" with a 55# bow.  Changing the point from 160 grain to 100 grain didn't make much difference.

thanks,

Donnie

[JackCrafty]

Donnie, when you spined the arrow, what was the span?  Was the span 22" (draw length) or 25" (arrow length)?  Also, what was the deflection?  I assume you used a 2lb weight? Thanks.

[knightd]

Dang I got one right for a change!

[donnieonetrack]

Patirck, I added a longer point to the shaft so I could spine at 26" with a 2# weight.  I don't remember the deflection but can check when I get home.  The same arrow shot very well out of 5 of my short bows ranging from 35# to 55#.

The bow you made really liked the arrow.

I'm not sure but your bow seems to shoot a lot harder than before and I'm thinking about hunting with it this year.

From now on I will ask Knightd for spine advise!!!!!

take care,

Donnie

[JackCrafty]

Donnie, glad the bow is working well.  Juniper seems to like humid climates.