It might be just me but wood arrows seem to be less critical to spine. for example it seems like you can get by with more using wood. Is this crazy or am I correct.

Maybe its me but out of my bow/shooting wood seems less picky of spine/release etc.

I totally agree. Lots of misconceptions in that regard, too many "regurgitaters" than learners. For example, you will hear self bows need a lot less spine, not true. I have a set of 53# cedar arrows cut to 29.5". I shoot those exact arrows out of my 45# selfy, my 48# Grizzly, my 50# plus Toxocraft curve and my 50# straight glass bow. All of these bows are cut differently from center. Yet they all love the same wood arrow. Weird.

Do they fly good out of that Ogemaw, Pearl? :^)

Yes they do. They fly out several I didn't mention. Its all about form and execution. I thought I knew the in's and out's of archery quite well. Then I got into primitive archery and it all became crystal clear. That form of archery will teach you in a hurry what matters and what doesn't, and it carries right over to glassers.

I love wood and have been shooting it pretty much exclusively since the late 80s. This year I bought some carbons just to see what all the excitement was about. I have to admit, they shoot pretty sweet too. I don't know if I'll hunt with them but a fun change of pace!

I agree, especially of you get/make them back tapered.

Also Bamboo seams very forgiving to me. Maybe I just got lucky.

Pearl would you elaborate on the differences learned from Primitive Archery. I have my first self bow and am having a blast making arrows with self nocks and different fletching styles. A two fletched bamboo with self nocks seems to be working well for me. Thanks. >>>----> Ken

You touched on it yourself 2 bears. Selfbows, self-nocked two-fletched arrows and such. Folks tend to complicate things for a variety of reasons. The simplicity and effectiveness of some primitive archery gear can help put into perspective all the more that's needed to be equally effective.

Ken, you answered your own question. Self nocks on boo shafts and 2 fletch are flying good because they can and do, not because you are using a self bow. That is exactly what I was referring to. When you break things down to their simplest forms you realize they are just that, simple. The type of bow in your grippers is irrelevant.

Of the two materials I've shot (wood and aluminum), I WAY prefer wood. Aluminum requires more finer tuning to the specific bow. Wood is more versatile IMO. I have shot cedar and doug fir mainly.

Picking up on what TK said, if you think about it, with Al, they went hog wild with spines and options. With wood, which has been around a long time they never did. Could be a lot of reasons, but the simplest might be that you don't need a lot of spine options with wood.

At one point I was living in an apartment, and I would practice my releases shooting into a bag about 7 yards away. Wood was by far the material that stabilized the fastest. But it could have been the most optimal spine, rather than the material, but it really made an impression on me at the time.

Thanks Jeff and Pearl. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I enjoy the experimenting but most of all the DIY. I have always been a hands on kind of guy. Being on SS made it a little more important. I seldom have to buy any thing these days and I am shooting more. >>>----> Ken

Try to make a bow like this with carbon or aluminum :^)

Funny, I think the same thing about Carbons. But of the three (carbon/wood/alum.) I'd say carbon and wood seem to be the more forgiving than aluminum.

Heavy fiberglass bowfishing arrows fly well out of a lot of different bows :)

And as one who has shot aluminum, and wood for a very long time, I see neither as being a problem. Matter of fact, aluminum is about the easiest I've found to spine in my experience, so I think it's a wash.

Holy smokes Jeff D. I don't know hardly anything about self bows but I know enough to know that you are a pretty good bowyer to get a shootable bow out of that crooked stick. That is cool.

I'm hopeful, but she ain't a bow yet, Ken. She's fought me longer and harder than that crazy girlfriend I had back in the day. I hope things end up more amicable this time :^)

Simple don't always mean easy.

Jeff-that is a super nice bow! is that Juniper? I love my woods-I do prefer bamboo though with the Horn bows and any other bow without a shelf (off the hand shot)

The one on the left is yew and will be an English longbow... the one on the right is osage.

Side profile on the osage makes it look more like a potential bow! Good luck on the finished product Jeff.

Jeff if that was my stick I'd pail a snake head on one end and a rattle tail on other end.LOL

yes I wood say wood is forgiving but it is best to try to keep straight as you can by checking ones your shooting and being careful taken out of targets. You just can't rip them out like carbons or alum.

Take care of your woodie's and it will take care of her.LOL

I pretty much agree limbwalker.Quality carbons like Easton' Axis are very forgiving.Moreso than the wood's I've tried.I'll take wood over GT carbon's though.

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