Great replies!
If I' m understanding Bucky Fuller right, he tells us to leave a nerds point of view. Master bowyers, as other experts too, are often "to business as usual- minded".
As posted above, there had been hundreds of topics and discussions focused on designs, capablities of woods, strings, shooting techniques, arrows.....................etc. I guess Bucky Fuller's method is to look at first at the whole thing, not its details. I think this is hard to do, cause we all are educated to become or to be specialists.
There are a lots of great bowyers, well and clever done bows and perfectly matched and beautiful looking arrows out there, why not to try to outperform Tim Bakers 200f/s challenge?
I try to focuse on the exceptions. Some month ago I came across a chrono- test during the weekly training of a primitive archery community. There was a 70lbs osage longbow vs. a 48lbs BL- bow, same arrow, the BL shots the 270grs. arrow at 174f/s, the osage at 158f/s. I checked the BL- bow: a very well done flatbow, parallel limbs, skinny not to long tips( modified molly), so far nothing special. But the BL itself looks to be extremely dense, very dark latewood. The bowyer told me this BL was the the hardest BL stave he ever had come across.
What makes a stave better than another stave of the same wood? I guess we' ve cared to less of the indications of real great staves.
Steve, I know of Alans outstanding arrows, but I' ve never had a number, this "big fat 100 yards" is indicating a very weak spot.
Did you know the spine of Alans arrows?
By the way, whats the highest possible spine with wooden arrow- shafts?
I' m still thinking that the capablities of an arrow- shaft should be better defined by spine/mass. The term arrow- spine tells not to much about the weight of a shaft?
