If you don't like this regimented/form orientated shooting, you don't need to comment. DON'T DO IT BECAUSE I DO IT, DO IT BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE TO YOU. All these form threads are no substitute for a coach. No matter how good any written word is, it can't point and say, “move this here”.
There's a few ways to tune an arrow to a bow and vice versa. They all work and they all have some problems. Some have more than others. We can use that to determine the BEST way to tune.
For this discussion we'll not include wood. Wood on it's own has a great formula and if we're looking at bow from 30 to 60 pound you actually have 30 spines to choose from technically. They really come in 5 pound increments.
Aluminums also come in a pretty wide range of spine. A quick count in a catalog gave me over 20. So if your knowledgeable or have access to someone who is, you can have a pretty good educated guess at what will work.
Carbon is a different animal. In general it comes in .100 increments - .600, .500. .400 with an etc on either side. Those figures stand for deflection. Deflection is determined by supporting an arrow in two spots at 28 inches apart and hanging a 1.94 weight in the center. If an arrow flexes a half an inch it has a deflection of .500.
Go to YouTube and look up archer's paradox. A well tuned arrow matches the paradox of the arrow with flex or deflection of the arrow. The first flex of the arrow as it moves forward, for a right handed shooter is to the right of the arrow between the string and the bow. The second flex will allow the arrow to pass the strike plate and the rug.
We could set up this match by shooting an arrow through paper. The hole left in the paper is a snap shot of what the arrow is doing at that particular distance. And that's the problem – what's it doing at other distances. Think of an arrow fishtailing. By mistake because of frustration, I once shot an arrow further than the recommended 12 to 15 feet and got a perfect hole. Where as at 12 feet I was getting a 3 inch rip.
We could also match paradox and deflection by nock kick. Commonly done with a bare shaft and called bare shaft tuning which causes confusion. The way you should tune is called bare shaft planing (p-l-a-a-a-ning as in plane). I'm not saying you should not use nock kick, but it's very easy to get a false reading an that can drive you nuts. The short formula for a right handed shooter is nock left weak, nock right stiff. The real problem with this method, besides more false reading than other methods, is you have about ¼ of a second to determine the nock kick or you can look at the angle of the arrow sticking in the target. This is impacted by the material of the target and other holes in that material. (a ¼ of a second came from a bow shooting 200 fps at 50 feet. In reality, we're shooting slower and at 20 yards 60 feet, but who's counting? If you are feel free to figure the math.)
There's a number of reasons that impacts or bare shaft planing is the best way to tune. The two main reasons are less or the least amount of false readings and the only way you can tell if your nocking point is too low or it hit the shelf and kicked up making it look too high.
Bare shaft planing is the process of getting a bare shaft and a fletched shaft to impact in the same place. You'll hear people say, “I always shoot fletched arrow, I don't need to shoot bare shafts”. Well, yes you do. A fletched shaft will always impact where or near where it is aimed or pointed. A bare shaft will only impact were it was pointed if it is tuned. If you think of a bell curve with a perfectly tuned arrow at the top and slightly weak being left and slightly stiff being right, a poor shot with a perfect arrow may go where the slightly weak or stiff arrow always goes. That same poor shot with a slightly stiff or slightly weak arrow will be further off center. This gets more important with a broadhead tipped arrow, which acts like a bare shaft and will only impact were it is pointed when tuned.
( This is a tangent directed to the people who don't shoot bare shafts. Most of you. Fletching corrects your mistakes. When you practice why would you practice with something that covers up your mistakes? Pretty hard way to learn if you don't know if you've made a mistake. More on that later)
The best document I've ever seen on tuning, more important to me, THE BEST DOCUMENT I'VE EVER SEEN ON BROADHEAD TUNING is www.fenderarchery.com/blogs/archery-info/basic-tuning. I'd advise printing it out. It's the third printing. The original by OL Adcock is long gone. Back when it was available I was telling people to print it out, because I didn't know how long it would last.
It really is a bible of tuning. In general it says if your right handed and ….................. nope I'm doing a disservice to anyone who hasn't read and understand the document by giving a short description. Know that document and you can answer tuning question instead of asking them.
Next week in Part 2, I'll explain more and add a few things left out of the bible. LOL. I think I'll have to reread it for that!!!
Bowmania
To reference past subjects search by clicking on key word;
**Stance** **Grip** **Hook** **Body Posture** **Head Position** **KSL Sequence** **Set Position** **Set Up Position** **Anchor** **Transfer to Hold** **Release** **Release 2 (Back Tension) **Release and Aiming** **Rhythm Breathing** **Visualization** **Focus/Concentration-Mind/Mental C** **Focus and Concentration Pt 2**
