People think about many different terms about when they refer to archery arrows. The main terms that come to mind are arrow, vanes, nocks, and broadheads. What is it that makes the arrow fly or spin? The other parts we mentioned play a role in this process, but something else plays a bigger role. The culprit behind this is that is the arrow spine.
When the archery arrow is shot, it gets bent because of all the force from the string that is pushing against it. If you are new to the sport, or just do not pay that much attention to what is happening to your arrow then you might assume that the arrow looks just like it looks when it is idle. That could not be further from the truth, because the moment that you let the string go, it begins to bend and move back and forth while in flight. When we talk about arrow spine, we are actually talking about how much the archery arrow actually bends, i.e. stiff vs. flexible.
Three things affect an arrows spine. The first is the stiffness of the shaft material. The length of the shaft also plays a factor in the arrow spine. The last thing is the weight of the tip, or the broadhead. All of these factors are important to the arrows spine because they affect its balance and flexibility.
This is where things get fun. The stiffness of an
archery arrows is determined under two conditions. These conditions are called static and dynamic. The static arrow spine is determined by hanging a weight at the center of the shaft and seeing how much it sags. The dynamic spine is seeing how much that same arrow bends time after time when it is in the process of being shot.
As we stated earlier, the length of an arrow also affects the arrows spine. When you shoot an arrow, there is force that propels this arrow into flight. If the arrows are longer, they tend to be more easily bendable. If they are more easily bendable then that might mean that there will be greater variation in your accuracy. The dynamic spine will therefore be affected.The tip of the arrow is the final deciding factor on how much arrow spine you will have. If you look at the process that you need to shoot a bow then you can see why the length of an arrow would affect how much it bends. The same can be said for the weight of the tip that is on the arrow. The heavier the tip that you have the more that the arrow will bend. You have to consider all of these factors if you want a consistently accurate shot. If even one of these is off then your shot will suffer, or even worse, your arrow will break possibly damage your bow.
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