For those in the know...

Taken into account same spine, field point, fletching, length, weight, etc., will a parallel and tapered shaft display different flight characteristics?

I ask, because I have two sets of doug fir that are almost "matched" in stats (as noted above)... but it seems to my untrained and non-trustworthy eye that the parallel reacts "stiffer"...even to the point of impact (as little of difference as it is)

Curiosity is killing the cat, so figured I'd ask those with more knowledge than I

Thanks

JB

Nope, not for my style. My quiver is a mixed bag

No.

Well, I'm going to say it could, but only if you are near over- spine to start with. If that would be the case, the tapered may allow better flight with better arrow passage.

I’ve never owned or shot tapered woods, but the taper removes some weight from the tail of the arrow and this should increase dynamic spine a bit.

MP

I couldn't tell a difference when I tried tapered shafts. Was told by the Surewood folks tapering reduces the spine a pound or two, which, as George said, might make a little difference if you're on the edge of your spine zone. But then if you have say a five pound spine range, you'd have to measure the spine of each arrow to get clearly matched anyway.

Tapered shafts are often said to recover from paradox quicker, and run 20-30 grains lighter than parallels, so they may fly a bit flatter. Again, I didn't see a real difference myself, but some say they do.

You aren't getting the same degree of clearance with the untapered shaft. And, Tapered shafts will recover more quickly.

But for my money when it comes to wood arrows, breasted arrows beat them all.

Adding weight to the rear of the arrow stiffens it. A tapered arrow effectively moves more weight toward the front.

Well, there are tapered and then there are tapered arrows. 1. single tapers will have 8-10" of the nock end tapered. 2. rat tailed tapers will have the entire arrow tapered from point to nock. 3. Barrel taper's will be shaped like an old wooden barrel 4. Breasted taperes will have a short taper 8-10" on the nock end and 12- 16" taper on the point end, with the nock end diameter being smaller than the point end dia. Any of those taperes will over come paradox faster than parallels however the barrel and breast taper are the most efficient and will start spinning on their axis the fastest.

Dr. Robert Elmer made the following observation, as best as I can recall it. "I believe the parallel arrow shaft is a product of modern American technology, as those society's that lived by the bow, ALL used tapered arrows"

Bob

I back taper 11/32 shafts about 10"s. With 23/64 shafts I do a breast taper, 10" from the nock and about 5 1/2" up front. My younger eyes COULD see the difference back over 30 years ago so I've tapered all my shafts since then. As said above, recover quicker.

ottertails:

The taper you describe is backwards of a breasted taper. The short taper should be on the nock end.

The word breasted come from the word chested, meaning that part of the shaft that touches the handle when the bow is at brace height. So the arrow tapers from the breast to either end of the shaft. Most breasted arrows in history had a smaller diameter at the nock end than the point end.

Bob

Tappered to the nock i see no difference in flight or performance over parallel I like breasted shafts shooting ASL's because i find they recover from paradox much quicker Just my two cent

Tapered always allows better flight on the nock end that's so many like it. I also have mixed bag aluminum , carbon as well as woodies in it.

I like a tapper at nock,because i draw from a back quiver ,handle my arrows from the nock and shoot with a Hill glove So the tapper and my fletchings 1/2" from nock give me a good purchase and enough room to properly handle my arrows

Would a twist or two added to the string negate any difference or just mess things up?...Just a question/thought.

Horace Ford always preferred straight shafts

I like the nock end tapered because of the smaller nocks.

IDK, I’ve shot tapered shafts so long now that I can’t remember how they matched against parallel shafts. Consider this though, not too many stick bow guys that are shooting Carbon are shooting tapered Carbon shafts. If you are seeing a substantial difference in flight between the 2 that you mentioned maybe they really aren’t the same spine. Depending on where they were bought the spines could be off by up to 10#....I’ve seen it before.

"Rat tail". That's a New term for me and just in time. I'm about to do that taper on some 23/64 shafts. I've done tail tapering and like it but just gotta try different things.

Being in the draw force line negates any effect of clearance, parallel shafts fly perfect :)

Hal9000: Parallel arrows fly fine, the reason for tapering is they recover from paradox faster. The quicker an arrow recovers the flatter the trajectory because of less friction, resulting in more energy at impact.

Bob

I owe aromakr an apology. Months back when I was messing around with barrel and nock taper shafts I emphatically stated that my tapered shafts were fish tailing out of my longbow, but my parrallels were not. Bob pointed out that the amount of shaft taken off was minuscule--like 1/32 on a side and wouldn't make a difference on nock heights.

Since then the more I thought about it, the more he had to be right. I shot the tapered arrows again against the parallels and same results. Only then did I recheck brace and nock measurements. Well, sometime when hunting I must of bumped the nock up with an arrow on the string. It was higher, of course, but still shot the parallels fine but not the taper. Maybe hitting the shelf. Put a new nock on at 5/8ths and all the arrow shot just fine.

I happily stand corrected. Bonus is I am shooting Bob's breasted formula and really liking them with 23/64 cedars. Thanks Bob from someone who may be a bit hard headed...

aromakr,. thanks for that info. With the 11/32nds, I taper to 5/16 to the nock. With 23/64ths, I also taper the nock end to 5/16ths,,,, the point end I taper to 11/32nds to have a smoother match to 11/32 heads.

The next time I make up a batch of 23/64s, I'm going to try a true breasted taper as you described. Have to make another jig, easy enough tho.

One of Ashby's penetration factors is diameter of the shaft compared to the diameter of the ferrule with an equal or smaller shaft being an advantage. Extrapolating from that maybe a continuously tapering shaft would penetrate better? I think smaller diameter is one penetration advantage of carbon.

Scoop: No apology necessary. not everyone agrees with me and that's fine, but glad you discovered they do work. Enjoy!

Bob

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