Flight characteristics of Bamboo Arrows

[zeNBowyer]

I  have  been  honeymooning  with  my  bamboo  arrows  all  this  week after  jumping  head long into  the  wonderful  craft of  bamboo arrows, shooting  every  chance  I  get  between crafting  arrows,

     Evaluating  what  kind  of  performance I can  get  from  boo,
sometimes  they  are  spot  on, always  hard  hitting,   always very  satisfying  to shoot,
and then  some  shots  are somewhat   erratic,

     I  compared  them  side  by  side   with my  carbons,  shooting  smooth,  fast,  and  accurate,
the  bamboo  on  the  other  hand , while  always  more  satisfying  and  at  times  exhilirating to  shoot,  are not  as  stable  in  flight,  and  there  seems  to  a  be some  real  variance in  shots, some  are  solid,  very  accurate with  some  erratic  and off,  though  the  groups  in  general are  pretty  fair, usually  low, an  expected result  of the  bamboo  being  much  heavier,

Wondering  how you  guys do  with  your  bamboo  arrows, is  this  this  a  general  characteristic  of  bamboo  arrows  in  general or are  you  guys  getting very  stable and  consistent  arrow  flight,

zeNBowyer


Here's  a  fascinating vid  of  a  korean musem  of  bamboo  arrows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK_Q96BKsdA

[knightd]

Sounds as your set of arrows are not matched all the same..

[Pat B]

With carbon arrows everything is the same, no matter how you orient them on the bow. With boo, and other natural shafting, there is one stiffer side. Generally speaking the sides with the nodes are the stiffer sides and one of them will be stiffer than the other. That stiffer side goes against the bow.
 On some arrows that you have chosen the stiff side, one or 2 will not shoot the same. Flip these "odd ball" arrows over(cock feather in) and they generally shoot fine. You have to find the "best" side of each arrow. I generally put a drop of glue, as an indicator, at the nock end like with indexed plastic nocks. I like to feel the correct position of the arrow while concentrating on the target instead of taking my eye off the target to position the arrow.
  Also, when working with natural materials like boo or hardwood shoot arrows, there are some that just won't fly right no matter what. These arrows I generally add a spiral wrapped flu flu and a nutter for the point and use them for squirrel or small game arrows. The flu flu will quickly adjust the arrow's flight and at the short distances I shoot these, they work just fine for this.
  You are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy! Welcome to the world of OZ(primitive archery)! 

[zeNBowyer]

I  can  see there  is a  lot of  craft  in  sorting,  spining  and  selection of  good  bamboo  arrows, which  is  fine  by  me,
but  you  guys  seem  to  be  saying  that a  good  set  will  fly  straight  and  true with  a  good  set,
I wasn't  sure  if you  could  make  bamboo  consistently  accurate,  with  the profile  and natural  characteristics  of  bamboo,
thanks  appreciate  the comments:)

[knightd]

Yes you can make a very consistant set.. It just takes a bit more time than carbon..lol.. Pick out the ones that are flying true and match some to them.. weight,spine so on so forth,..

[zeNBowyer]

Thanx,
   Was  wondering if  there  was  anything  different  about spining  bamboo shafts,  since they  are  thick  toward the  nock  and thinner  toward the  tip

[Pat B]

The natural taper is good for 10# less spine so a 50# spined cane arrow will shoot like a 40# spined arrow. For each inch less than 28" you can reduce the spine by 5#.

[knightd]

Pat is giving you great advice. You will also find that some times 65# spine shafts can be shot off bows from 45# to 70#..

[Dano]

"Was  wondering if  there  was  anything  different  about spining  bamboo shafts,  since they  are  thick  toward the  nock  and thinner  toward the  tip"

When I used to make em, I used the smaller diameter for the tip, giving you the natural taper you need.

[Pat B]

That's backwards from how I make them. I put the point on the big end and the nock on the small end. weight forward.

[zeNBowyer]

i  was  wondering  about  orientation  of  the tapered  end,  but  I  thought the  small  end  might  be  too  thin  for supporting  a  nock

[zeNBowyer]

Pat  that  was  a right  on  tip,  i  had  one  erratic  arrow so  i  rotated  the arrow 180  degrees  and  it bamboo  shot  spot  on,
   so  it  looks  like  some orient taper  forward  and  some  orient  the  taper  backward

[Pat B]

Rotate the shaft 180 not flip it 180!

[zeNBowyer]

How  about  everyone  else-large end  of bamboo at the  tip,  or  nock?

[CraigMBeckett]

Large end always at the point so that shaft tapers back to nock.

Craig.