Your opinion on spine aligning arrows

[10ringer]

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

You’re right, they use a process called “pulltruded carbon” and there is no physical seem like some manufacturers.


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[Flash]

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.

Nock tuning IS spine aligning, in a way. You are getting to the same result and aligning the spines of the arrows such that they rosuce the same tear. Fletch

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.

nock tuning IS spine aligning, in a way. You are rotating the nocks to align the spines such that all arrows produce the same tear. Fletching a change the spine of the arrow so it would stand to reason that the tuning should be done with them on. I still bare shaft but there’s sound logic in what he’s saying.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

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.

Rotation reversal definitely can happen, but every video I've seen has shown it occurring a few feet after launch, not halfway to the target.

To each his own, but I don't think fletching with or against bareshaft rotation direction has any practical effect.

 

[Bump79]

Nock tuning IS spine aligning, in a way. You are getting to the same result and aligning the spines of the arrows such that they rosuce the same tear. Fletch

nock tuning IS spine aligning, in a way. You are rotating the nocks to align the spines such that all arrows produce the same tear. Fletching a change the spine of the arrow so it would stand to reason that the tuning should be done with them on. I still bare shaft but there’s sound logic in what he’s saying.

We're agreeing - the difference would be doing it with a spine indexing tool or by nock tuning.

 

[10ringer]

Awesome slow motion video, I wish they would do the same video with broadheads.


With a broadhead on you essentially have straight fletching‘s at the front resisting the rear fletchings. So, if your fletching’s are now tasked with changing arrow rotation, it will take longer with a broadhead at the front vs with a field point. No idea what distance were talking here but I’m keeping the arrow rotating the way it’s coming off the bow.
Its all the small things that add up in your favor


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[Billy Goat]

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

Indicator, or thumb indicator.

Also, while easton arrows don't have a seam like many other shafts, that doesn't mean they don't have a weak direction. Only shafts that I see that are truly consistent in rotation are aluminum or aluminum/carbon. They still improve with nock tuning tho. Which makes it seem it might have more to do with matching component fit then anything with spine.

 

[Flash]

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

That can’t be true. Rotating them will change the tear, like all other arrows. There’s a point on the arrow where the spine differs. Easton can’t be different.

We're agreeing - the difference would be doing it with a spine indexing tool or by nock tuning.

some arrows will tune to match not in accordance with the machines determined spine (or so I read). I’d be curious to try them back to back and see the results. Gillingham brought it up on a recent video.

 

[Roosterstraw]

The last set of arrows I bought I had the spine aligned from south shore archery back when Jerry used to own it. (I’ve heard it’s gone down hill since he sold business). I bought a dozen of them and every single one shot bullet holes through paper without having to touch a nock. It was worth it as it saved me time from nock tuning them myself.

 

[Dos Perros]

Spine alignment may be correlated to group size. I think this could be demonstrated, but also acknowledge there could be other factors at play. So, to me, spine aligning is nice, but not as nice as actually shooting your bow. I can tell you from personal experience that nock tuning through paper does actually do 'something.' I can get an arrow to tear one way repeatedly and then make nock adjustments and get it to shoot straight. It's not a perfect process, and if I had access to lots of arrows I'd probably end up throwing some away because they just don't tune like the others. I actually shoot 4 fletch arrows because it gives me one extra nock location, and a higher likelihood I can 'align spines' so to speak. But to me nock tuning is worthwhile, maybe just because it gets me shooting my bow and focused on smaller details like form and anchor point and anchor pressure, etc.

 

[madgrad02]

With a broadhead on you essentially have straight fletching‘s at the front resisting the rear fletchings. So, if your fletching’s are now tasked with changing arrow rotation, it will take longer with a broadhead at the front vs with a field point.

Not necessarily with a single bevel that correlates to the fletching direction, no?

 

[10ringer]

Not necessarily with a single bevel that correlates to the fletching direction, no?

It’s still cutting through wind influencing arrow trajectory. Single bevel that correlates to the fletching direction helps it pass through an animal in the same rotation from flight. Also keeps the broadhead from unscrewing at impact.


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[nphunter]

Curious if anyone has seen a notable difference in group size after nock tuning. I realize you can see a hole change shape by nock tuning a bare shaft but does it correlate to group size with fletching? Obviously it’s not going to hurt but does it actually help at all?

 

[Drewby]

I spine aligned for the first time on a set of arrows I'm building and the difference between the non aligned arrows was noticeable enough for me that I found it worth it. they shot fixed blade broadheads perfectly too, which pleased me to no end.

 

[Billy Goat]

Curious if anyone has seen a notable difference in group size after nock tuning. I realize you can see a hole change shape by nock tuning a bare shaft but does it correlate to group size with fletching? Obviously it’s not going to hurt but does it actually help at all?

Yes, scorewise. I'll see an improvement in indoor and outdoor scores from having my arrows tuned to the same hole.

To say noticeable difference, I'm talking 1.5" maybe slightly larger group at 40ish yards, getting them down same hole, or very close to same, cutting edges. Depends on the setup. Some bows just shoot better than others.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Awesome slow motion video, I wish they would do the same video with broadheads.


With a broadhead on you essentially have straight fletching‘s at the front resisting the rear fletchings. So, if your fletching’s are now tasked with changing arrow rotation, it will take longer with a broadhead at the front vs with a field point. No idea what distance were talking here but I’m keeping the arrow rotating the way it’s coming off the bow.
Its all the small things that add up in your favor

Sounds plausible, but I'll believe it when I see it. I still think the arrow will be rotating in the direction determined by the fletching within a few feet, broadhead or not. I gave up on clocking after seeing two different bareshafts rotate in opposite directions out of the same bow.

 

[Jwamja]

Last season, I bare shaft nock tuned all 12 of my new arrows. I had them fletched in accordance to the nock alignment that produced a bullet hole tear for each shaft. The arrows flew incredibly well and I had no flight problems. This year I purchased 6 new arrows and did not bare shaft mock tune them. Instead, I had them fletched in accordance to the factory spine alignment mark on each shaft. These arrows fly like a dream and produce bullet hole tears every time. In my experience, I would definitely recommend spine aligning your arrows. It will only help you achieve consistency in the long run. Bare shaft nock tuning won’t hurt your consistency, but I’m not convinced that it makes that big of a difference for shooters like us.

 

[5MilesBack]

The last set of arrows I bought I had the spine aligned from south shore archery back when Jerry used to own it. (I’ve heard it’s gone down hill since he sold business). I bought a dozen of them and every single one shot bullet holes through paper without having to touch a nock. It was worth it as it saved me time from nock tuning them myself.

Jerry spine-aligned a dozen shafts I bought from him a few years ago, and marked that spot on every shaft......which was also different on several shafts than Victory's spine-align marks. I fletched them according to Jerry's marks and then nock-tuned all the arrows after fletching. After nock-tuning, both Victory's marks and Jerry's marks are all over the place from where they nock-tuned (i.e. shot the best).

Curious if anyone has seen a notable difference in group size after nock tuning.

YES. It's pretty frustrating when you shoot a group of arrows over and over and one or two of those arrows are always outside of "the group". Then a quick turning of the arrow on the nock and bam.....they're now consistently hitting inside the group.

But sometimes the nock is the actual problem. If the flyers don't fall into the group after trying several arrow orientations, change the nock out and try it again. Whatever it takes to get all the arrows hitting the same spots consistently.

 

[Bump79]

But sometimes the nock is the actual problem. If the flyers don't fall into the group after trying several arrow orientations, change the nock out and try it again.

This is an excellent point. Nock fitment is huge as well - if you're not fit isn't correct that causes all kinds of issues.

 

[bowhunthard88]

This is a deep dark rabbit hole. I personally find, as someone who has a passion/interest in the technical side of this, and makes a living at doing it well (I believe lol); that every little piece of the puzzle improves the overall picture.

From the base question: is accuracy improved? I do not believe that is always the case, even from some of my personal builds. However, I do believe that a proper in-depth arrow tune increases the consistency and accuracy of fixed-blade broadheads in relation to field points.

 

[Hoythews71]

I float arrows because it’s something I’ve always done. Quick, fairly consistent, and it gives me peace of mind knowing that I did my due diligence in building my arrows. Does it make a difference? After nock tuning, probably not, but it’s easy and is going to continue to be a step I take just for my own OCD sanity.


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