I made this device in about 25 minutes one night when I was out in my garage (can't smoke cigars inside). It isn't much for craftsmanship, but for the first time in 2 years I can actually group some of my arrows shafts together, most of which have been given to me without clear spine weight information. I simply measure the difference in deflection from the horizontal piece of wood. The broken arrows stuck in pre-drilled holes are set at 26" apart, a number I think i read here once. The piece of wood with a hook is 2 lbs. It is amazingly consistent, and 3/8" seems to equal 10lbs. of spine. I just thought I would share, I am new to the wall.

a better view, maybe? I have notches on the arrow for different spines.

Now thats my kind of spine tester.

Good idea. Us cigar smokers are getting kicked out everywhere. Bue--.

Good point! I almost answered yesterday with a similar suggestion as there's no reason to go without checking relative spine of your shafts just because you don't have a fancy spine tester. Just compare the bend of a shaft that shoots good in your bow to any other. The ones that bend the same or close will shoot the same. Check the bend against the grain of course.

That's great! I love simplicity.

The only other variable to cause a change would be weight, if they weigh the same and bend the same they should shoot the same. I suppose the small balance beam hand weigher would suffice for around 10 dollars.

Rookie.... Great and simple....we should all be as ingenious...Bowbender

I've got a similar system, only not so fancy and sophisticated. I put two shafts across an open drawer about 2' wide, about 2" apart. A couple of small notches in the sides of the drawer keep them from rolling. One shaft has known spine. Then I balance a small paint can evenly over the two shafts. If it leans toward the unknown shaft, it's weaker in spine than the known shaft and vice-versa. By comparing with a few known-spine shafts 5 lb apart, I can quickly deduce the spine within 2-3 lbs.

Would that be a Carlos Torano stogie, by any chance?

This is great! I was thinking about this the other day since I do not have a spine tester yet but have a bunch of arrows that need testing and sorting. Thanks for posting this.

Great idea rookie. Much cheaper than some of the marketed testers. By the way, what is the spine on that fat ceegar?

3/8" = .375" This is about 70# BBP

That's a great idea. Is there a chart/formula out there that would give you your spine? If my shaft is flexing a 1/4" my spine would be, etc.

That's a great idea. Is there a chart/formula out there that would give you your spine? If my shaft is flexing a 1/4" my spine would be, etc.

26 divided by deflection in inches = bow # ie. 26 / .375 = 69.3# bow Lamont

Thanks for support. This stuff is all fun. I like to have my kids help me paint the arrows. This stick is a Puros Indios Rothschild (Robusto), one of my favorite "go to" sticks, great for the $. Stickhead, last night I smoked a Torano 1916 Cameroon Robusto. I love these spicy cigars. I have lots of favorites, actually...

Nice.....

Great idea.

-Ken

great idea. If you want to check your arrows against a known deflextion, there's a spine chart on Foxfire Archery that gives the spine for aluminum shafts. For example, a 2016 shaft spines 61#. Just match the deflection for a 2016, and you have roughly 60# shafts.

Great idea and great thread. Thanks Rookie. What is the distance between the pegs? Is it 26" Footed shaft, would you, please elaberate a little on that formula you put up?

You saved me $100! Thanks.

Great idea, its simple and inexpensive

nomo The broken arrows are simply stuck in holes I drilled in the side of an old desk, spaced at 26 inches. This distance, and the weight of 2 lbs for the deflection, came to mind from reading other do-it-yourself plans for spine testers on the web. I wasn't sure I remembered them correctly when I made it, but it seems to be consistent, and produce a measurable amount of deflection in arrows spined up to around, well, way higher than I would ever shoot. I put a couple of finish nails in the support arrows as an after-thought, which helps to keep testing arrow from rolling. Works even better with a knocked arrow as I can slide the knock on one of the finish nails insuring the grain is turned correctly towards the resistence. I am a short draw, 24-5 inches. I buy low spined arrows (40-45) and cut them down to a tolerable length and useable spine. This will help a lot. Thanks to all for the compliments. I wasn't sure if I was going to get run for my crude creation or not.

Great idea Rookie just one more thing you might think about. Drill a hole in the top of the board near the hook. Then take a section of the broken arrow that you use to check the deflexition with and and glue it in the hole. Then just make a mark on the broken shaft and you have your set mark above the mark heaver below the mark lighter. You would just have to rotate the board enough so that the broken shaft would clear the arrow and be next to your stright edge you have screwed to the top of the desk. This is what you call a KISS spine checker. I think I can even make one of these. Way to go

Hope this works. Spine deflection chart.

Here's the rest of it to 77 lbs.

That is great!!! Been thinking of making a spine tester and this is better than anything I have come across!!

May even start smoking a cigar again!! LOL

Thats awesome. Gonna have to make me one now. :)

Rookie you can also get cheap veneer calipers with a depth gauge sometimes at your local Lowes or Home Depot that would give you deflection down to 1/100th of an inch. Just hold it in place of your arrow depth gauge. Probably no need, but thought I'd mention it. Anyways, great idea! -Ether

Well you may have created a monster Bro. this is why no one gets rich in traditional archery. We get obsessed with making are own stuff as much for the thrill of seeing it work as for saving $. I will be over after 12pm Saturday to head to K-zoo. The photos are sized better here than the ones you sent me at work.

Later - Bob Urban

Cool! I learned something new. Just got out of the woods about an hour ago. I was with my Brother and friend and we were discussing this very thing, an inexpesive spine tester - Thanks!

Rookie, how did you weigh the board to know that it is exactly 2 pounds?

Guys, you need to realize that 1/16" is only .0625. Go look at the chart Bowman 0202 submitted and you will notice that it is very difficult, if you have a smattering of spine weights to group them in 5# groups.

If you look at a comercial spine tester you will notice the deflection device contacts the arrow close to the pivot point. the other end is longer so that a little bit of movement at the contact point creates a great deal of movement on the end that reads off the spine weight.

Rookie. Mount sometype of deflection device on your bench and you've nailed it. (you will need some arrows of none spine to mark off your scale!!) also, replace the board with a 2 pound steel weight from walmart (steel will not change it's weight depending on humidity).

Cold Trail- I didn't get it exact, actually. It was 'darn close', and I figured it may not produce deflection reletive to another pre-determined scale, but as long as it produced a bend, didn't break the arrow, and I used it consistently, I could develope my own reference for known spine weights and go from there. Should I be more precise? I do have a postal scale I used which is good for this size and weight (1/2 lb. to 5 lbs. or so), though it isn't accurate enough to weigh arrows.

MattH Good thought on the steel weight for consistency over time. Thanks, and thanks to all for the other advice and info. You all are great. Makes me want to light up a cigar and reflect...

You could also use a protractor to measure the deflection...

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l282/poekoelan/IMGP0122.jpg

I have it worked out to AMO standards from 20 to 100 lbs.

HI guys, I'm the father of Rookie and Bushbow. Makes me proud that they are into archery and can build there own things, Have Fun at K-zoo Saturday.

nomo, not much to elaborate on in the formula the 26 is the distance between the supports that you hang the 2 # weight on. The conversion tables are available and can be used to make your own graph in you want. Any of the archery books/tables you find give you this formula, you can even google it up as "arrow spine formula". footedshaft

Dial indicators can be had for around $20 last time I checked and the quality is fine for this kind of application. I use a good one (Mitutoyo) because I already had it. Accurate and readable to .001 inch--equal to way less than one pound of spine value.

Reparrowman

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