Your opinion on spine aligning arrows

[RockyMountainWest]

I know this can be a highly debatable topic. I have heard arguments that spine aligning arrows is crucial so all of your arrows leave the bow in the same way among other reasons that we have all heard of if you have researched this topic. I’ve also heard and seen some videos that most archers aren’t actually good enough of a shot to notice a difference of a spine aligned arrow group vs a group of arrows that aren’t spine aligned. I can’t decide for myself which side of the discussion I agree with. I actually agree with both. The last arrow build I did was with victory shafts so they have the spine aligned mark (which I have learned that the spine aligned mark is usually off by a few degrees) so I went ahead and did my fletchings based on the spine aligned mark. I know you can put your arrow in that fancy device that finds it for you but none of my local archery shops have one. I know others claim you can spine align your arrows through knock tuning which looks incredibly tedious and very time consuming. But maybe it’s worth it? For the sake of trying to build the best possible flying arrow my bank account will allow me to build, I actually will probably do this eventually. I do like the idea of all my arrows leaving my bow the same way. It seems to me like this would allow you to get your bow tuned very well and possibly have a more consistent arrow flight between them all. But then I wonder if I’m even a good enough shot to notice any difference and if all that work is kinda a waste of time. I’m curious as to what everyone’s opinion on this is, and if they have done any testing personally. Thanks

 

[Marble]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I understand it all, I'm a decent shot, but I'm not awesome by any means. I have done the same thing with my victory arrows, but it's not something I'm ever too stressed about. I shot axis arrows for hunting, so there no spine alignment with those.

I do number each arrow. At times, I'll have an arrow that continually doesn't group as well as the others. I'll nock tune that one and try to fix it. If that doesn't work, I may strip the vanes and start all over.

IME, the biggest factor in our ability to be accurate and consistent is ourselves. Guys tend to blame issues with accuracy on everything but themselves. It's rarely the bow for me. When it is the bow, it's usually just a timing issue that resolves it.



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[Kyle C]

I'd say why not do it? It's very easy. Then after you can nock tune them all through paper. Typically in one dozen arrows (victory vap ss) I always have one that is spine aligned but doesn't shoot paper correctly. This is bare shaft btw. Twist knock a little until you get a perfect bullet hole on all of them. I make with sharpie after nock tuned just incase they get twisted somehow before I fletch them.

I havnt found nock tuning to be time consuming at all, but my perception of it verse others could be vastly different.

 

[Billy Goat]

I bought into, got myself a ramline spine tester.

I think it helped, but after buying a shooting machine, still had to rotate nocks. On arrows that come with spine alignment, I ignore those too.

Same thing with bareshaft tuning. I still need to rotate those too.


On a hunting bow, I don't worry about it. If an arrow consistently Flys outside or edges of the group, I'll rotate the nock, it will show more with broadheads, but sometimes can tell with field points. Most of my arrows shot in competition get tuned to the same hole with Hooter Shooter.

To answer the question on what is probably the best thing for an average archer to do without a bunch of equipment...
Look up Tim Gillingham's videos of paper tuning fletched arrows thru paper. He will shoot a group of arrows, in different nock positions thru paper. Find the most consistent tear, rotate all the nocks for that tear. Haven't done it, bit makes sense, don't think it's the same as tuning thru a shooting machine, but it's a good start.

 

[10ringer]

Let me start off by saying I’m OCD at building arrows. If done correctly, there is a huge difference on Broadhead flight with spine aligning. This of course, is taking into account you have the correct spine arrow, proper arrow length, etc. A static spine mark is a good starting point for fletching your arrows but that’s it, step one. It’s dynamic spine that matters most for optimal arrow flight and this can only be done with you shooting. Lots of great information out there on tuning arrows but my favorite is to broadhead tune a new arrow. I start out by fletching an arrow with vanes all the same color. I then screw on a broadhead and nock tune that arrow until it will group with a field point. Start out at 10 yards and work your way back as far as you’re comfortable. Once I have identified the best nock position, I will mark that vane with sharpie and then repeat on the other arrows.
With a broadhead on the front of the arrow you will notice a big difference as you rotate the nock to find the optimal spine alignment. With a field point its much harder to detect.
Good luck!

 

[N2TRKYS]

I don’t waste time spine aligning or nock tuning my arrows.

 

[CMF]

Let me start off by saying I’m OCD at building arrows. If done correctly, there is a huge difference on Broadhead flight with spine aligning. This of course, is taking into account you have the correct spine arrow, proper arrow length, etc. A static spine mark is a good starting point for fletching your arrows but that’s it, step one. It’s dynamic spine that matters most for optimal arrow flight and this can only be done with you shooting. Lots of great information out there on tuning arrows but my favorite is to broadhead tune a new arrow. I start out by fletching an arrow with vanes all the same color. I then screw on a broadhead and nock tune that arrow until it will group with a field point. Start out at 10 yards and work your way back as far as you’re comfortable. Once I have identified the best nock position, I will mark that vane with sharpie and then repeat on the other arrows.
With a broadhead on the front of the arrow you will notice a big difference as you rotate the nock to find the optimal spine alignment. With a field point its much harder to detect.
Good luck!

Sounds like a good plan and doesn't need the spine tester deal, especially since it sounds like most are turning the nock afterward anyway.
So, then you replace it with a different color fletch or just use the sharpie mark to know which way to nock? How do you select a broadhead that you are confident in to do this?

 

[Mighty Mouse]

IMO attempting to spine align arrows is a waste of time for 99.9% of archers. Fletch your arrows any which way you want then nock tune them through paper or by shooting broadheads.

 

[Flash]

Check out gillinghams Instagram. He has a good post on spine aligning bareshafts and it being a waste of time as they didn’t tune the same once fletched. I’m not one for refletching previously fletched shafts so I’ve decided that I’m not at the level where I can discern between 1 degree of spine alignment…just send it.

 

[Bump79]

I’ve also heard and seen some videos that most archers aren’t actually good enough of a shot to notice a difference of a spine aligned arrow group vs a group of arrows that aren’t spine aligned.

This is my experience. Secondly - there's more to an arrow than just the spine. I find that nock tuning to get groups in line is easier than spine aligning each shaft.

 

[hiker270]

The club I shoot at indoors in the winter has a 20 and a 30 yard range. I can tell you that spine indexing arrows would not make a bit of difference in the accuracy of most of the shooters.

 

[5MilesBack]

I know others claim you can spine align your arrows through knock tuning which looks incredibly tedious and very time consuming.

If you like to shoot.......then it's not an issue at all. I shoot at a vertical line from 40 or 60 yards to do my nock tuning. It's easy to hold on a single plane like a vertical line, and know if you executed a good shot. If the arrow isn't splitting the line, then turn it and try a different orientation and see how the impact changes. It's pretty easy to see when an arrow consistently hits 3" off the line and then after some turning it's suddenly hitting the line like the other arrows. You can do this with BH's as well, but that can be a lot of shooting and tearing up a target. I've found that doing it with FP's first is generally good enough to get BH's hitting the line too.

 

[10ringer]

Sounds like a good plan and doesn't need the spine tester deal, especially since it sounds like most are turning the nock afterward anyway.
So, then you replace it with a different color fletch or just use the sharpie mark to know which way to nock? How do you select a broadhead that you are confident in to do this?

I leave the fletching on and just mark them. For a 3fletch I mark up the cock vane enough to easily identify it. On my four fletch arrows, I black sharpie the top of the nock. If I accidentally clip it upside down, I can’t tell the difference in the way it shoots, but the mark is there for peace of mind.

For tuning purposes ONLY! I use a large 2 1/4 inch fixed blade. The large blade will exaggerate any flaws in the arrow and will speed up the tuning. Obviously shoot one arrow at a time or far enough apart you won’t mess up fletching’s. Once I’m satisfied, I switch over to my Hunting broadhead and shoot 40 to 80 yards and establish the pecking order.

I used to shoot all my arrows through paper, but now reserve that for tuning a bow. A lot changes when you add fletching’s to an arrow, so shooting bare shafts is also an unnecessary added step but is great for tuning a bow.
This process I found gets you closest to what we all desire in a timely manner, optimized Broadhead flight.


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[10ringer]

If you like to shoot.......then it's not an issue at all. I shoot at a vertical line from 40 or 60 yards to do my nock tuning. It's easy to hold on a single plane like a vertical line, and know if you executed a good shot. If the arrow isn't splitting the line, then turn it and try a different orientation and see how the impact changes. It's pretty easy to see when an arrow consistently hits 3" off the line and then after some turning it's suddenly hitting the line like the other arrows. You can do this with BH's as well, but that can be a lot of shooting and tearing up a target. I've found that doing it with FP's first is generally good enough to get BH's hitting the line too.

You’re absolutely right, for those of us who love shooting this isn’t tedious or time-consuming!
It’s fun and you learn a whole lot about your equipment and your shooting abilities.

Great pointer on shooting the vertical line!

If everyone spent more time tuning their actual hunting arrows with broad heads, they would be miles ahead. And best of all, there would be a lot of injury free animals when people realized their effective range isn’t where they group field points + 20 yards.


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[Dennis]

I tried Spine Aligned shafts followed by bare shaft nock tuning. My results showed that spine aligned shafts only showed a marginal correlation to nock tuning results.

 

[Bump79]

If you like to shoot.......then it's not an issue at all.

I completely agree, I tend to just group tune. Or what I call it anyway.

After my bow is completely setup - no vane contact, balance, axis, etc. & generally my broadheads are grouping with field points then I move on to nock tuning. Where all my arrows are numbered and I just generally keep track of the fliers. I shoot a bunch of groups and arrow 4 tends to be out of group then I twist the nock and shoot a bunch more groups. Turn it again if it doesn't group and if it still doesn't then it doesn't make my hunting quiver. It's really not complicated.

Another way to think about it - Sirius Archery charges $2.5 per shaft or $30 per dozen. You can buy a 3 more good shafts like an Easton Sonic arrows for the cost of just spine aligning these. I generally think about things in the best bang for my buck though - not absolute premium. I go with the law of diminishing returns.

Lastly - in my opinion things like spine aligning, vane direction & the like are step 25 in importance. Maybe further down. If you're worrying about those things and your bow isn't decently balanced.. then you're way off track. I've seen guys having this conversation and they don't even know what 3rd axis of their sight is. I guess what I'm saying is check yourself before going down a rabbit hole. Not saying the OP doesn't have these squared away but a lot of people seem to get wound around the axle over little nit picky stuff like this.

 

[Marble]

Sounds like a good plan and doesn't need the spine tester deal, especially since it sounds like most are turning the nock afterward anyway.
So, then you replace it with a different color fletch or just use the sharpie mark to know which way to nock? How do you select a broadhead that you are confident in to do this?

There is probably a name for it, but on each nock there is a small "nipple" or raised dash you can feel with you thumb while indexing an arrow. That's how I nock my arrows. This is also a good practice to tough and squeeze your nock while shooting them to test for any damage to a nock.

To make a visual marker, I number the top or rop right vane.

There is probably a technical name for the thing on the side of a nock that someone here knows.

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[CowboyD]

Easton arrows are made in such a way that the spine is consistent not matter how you turn the arrow.

 

[10ringer]

Lastly - in my opinion things like spine aligning, vane direction & the like are step 25 in importance.

A whole Nother canna worms, but once I found out my arrows rotate left, my groups tightened up by fletch left offset.

On a long shot, you can see somebody’s arrow knuckleball about halfway to the target. If your arrows naturally come off the string left, and you have a right helical fletching, midway in flight, the arrow stops rotating and the fletching eventually switches rotation to the right.


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[10ringer]

Take a bare shaft, mark a point on the shaft and shoot it 5-7 feet away into a target. note the direction of rotation. Try it as many times as you want, it will rotate the same way every time.


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