Question: Is there any real advantage of 11/32 vs 23/64 shafts? I see there is a price difference.

Not really as long as they are correct spine. I never saw a need for them myself since the 11/32 can cover even the highest bow weights. Many guys buy them and barrel taper them. Just another choice pretty much.

Other than being able to barrel taper them and a larger variety of 11/32 points. really not much difference as George said.

Bob

No......

And the 23/64 are @$1 per arrow cheaper.

Because the 11/32 start as 23/64.. I don’t like the big fat arrows, even when barrel tapered.

Years ago in an interview one of the shaft makers commented about how the shaft is turned to 23/64 first. If they had imperfections then down to 11/32 and agin to 5/16 if not acceptable. But these days it seems like us old guys are the only ones using wood. And using our low weight draw bows we don’t need fat shafts. I used 23/64 from my 80# BW because I couldn’t get the 11/32 in 85#-90# spine. Actually went with 3/8” Ramin dowels for stump shooting. They spined about 100#’s.

I have some tapered 70-75# that shoot OK with 160 grain heads, 66/67# bow. Now have a bunch of 190-250 grain heads that will need 75-80-85# shafts, I'm sure.

Advantage? Yes, the 11/32 look nicer. I guess someone could figure out that 11/32 penetrate 2% deeper.

Otherwise 23/64 are good. If you are used to looking at carbons they might look fat.

M60, I'm 57, am I old?

Advantage? Yes, the 11/32 look nicer. I guess someone could figure out that 11/32 penetrate 2% deeper.

Otherwise 23/64 are good. If you are used to looking at carbons they might look fat.

M60, I'm 57, am I old?

23/64ths looks more like a spear than an arrow to me. -1 I made many dozens at about that width when I first started doweling my own hickory shafts a couple decades ago. They were generally way too high in spine weight but that was on me. -1 And WAY heavy like 850 grains. That's too heavy for #55 recurve but I didn't know it at the time. The advantage is they don't break. +1

11/32, now that makes into a nice looking wood arrow, of reasonable spine for mid weight stickbows. +2 But VERY heavy in hickory. -1 for guys that shoot 10gpp. Very tough +1 in hickory. Not so much in Doug Fir and Cedar break readily. -1

Off topic. The arrows I make for my wife's #25 recurve are about 5/16ths. Now those look like arrows. +1 Those actually don't look all that tough but made out of hickory they are tough +1 and fly slow enough to catch. -10 haha

How much larger in diameter is 23/64 than 11/32 ?

1/64”. Nothing

Yepper....

It seems sometimes that higher spines 80+ are available more so in 23/64 depending on the vendor and type of wood.

14% stiffer, and 9% stronger, based on dimensions. Of course wood is not consistent.

^^^ That's a fact.

Removing 1/64th lowers the spine on any individual shaft. Take a 23/64ths shaft and spine it. Then sand it to 11/32 and spine that. The spine is gonna be lower. I've doweled hundreds of hickory, doug fir, and cedar shafts, and spin sand them down to particular spines or spine groups.

I never notice the 64th of an inch either way

It’s funny, though…

I’s swear that the difference between 22 and 23 64ths can be seen from 10 feet away…..

And I kind of like those chubby shafts, for the same reason that I like a SXS shotgun; they just seem to line up quickly and perfectly. Of course I also like an 18/64” or even a 1/4” nock because they are so slick between the fingers….

So maybe there’s an up-side to that bulk on a quick shot?

I'll be shooting tapered shafts, and have heard some encouraging things about spine differences between the two.

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