Eddie. I would like to know more details about the circumstances of your arrow mishap. Was it a home made arrow, from a dowel, poor grain, etc.? Back in the 90s all I ever used for my kids bows was 5/16 hardwood (generally oak) dowels. They went through so many arrows, I really couldn't afford cedar. I never really worried too much about spine for their arrows and it didn't seem to affect their aim as my two older boys were both state champion 3d shooters. Granted, this is when they were 10-12 years old they were shooting low weight bows, probably 25 to 35 lbs at their draw, but it never occurred to me to look for straight grain. Was I just lucky or does the grain only really matter on heavier draw weight bows? I ordered 100 of those birch dowels like Lee did and went through the batch and spined and straightened them all. The grain is not that great on most of them and a few broke during straightening. After reading your post, I'm am not sure I trust them, now and have put them aside until I get more info on the subject. I have another post up on some douglas fur shafts I am spinning up and I haven't tried any pine yet.
