Archery From A to Z

A wise man once said to buy your arrows first and take what money is left over to buy your bow. Too often the reverse is true but read on and see why proper arrow selection is the most critical part of your equipment. Arrows through the years have changed only in the materials from which they are made. The basic design is still the same; as straight as possible, spine (stiffness) selected according to the bow weight, and length adjusted to suit the archer. The basic parts of an arrow are the shaft, the fletching, the tips, and the nocks.

Shafts

Arrow shafts are made from a variety of materials. Wood for centuries has been the predominate choice. In recent history, the choices have increased. Shaftment is now available in wood, aluminum, fiberglass, carbon, or in combinations of these materials. The largest manufacturer of arrow shafts in the world today is Easton Technical Products. Its founder, the late Doug Easton was manufacturing yew-wood bows and cedar and pine arrow shafts at 17 years of age. He crafted his first cedar arrow in 1922. In 1939, Doug Easton began to market aluminum arrows. Beginning with a one inch diameter piece of aluminum tubing and drawing it down to size using specialized machinery, Mr. Easton was able to make shafts to a specific wall thickness and diameter. Drawn and manufactured in this way, Easton's shafts were extremely straight, uniform in size and spine, and remarkably consistent in mass weight. Consistency like that was hard to find in a wood shaft and aluminum shafts quickly became very popular with target archers as well as bowhunters.

Fletchings

Fletching is the "wings" attached to the rear of the arrow shaft that help stabilize its flight. The traditional fletching is feathers. Modern day arrows may also be fletched with plastic vanes or Mylar. Fletching comes in sizes from just over one inch on certain target arrows to 4 or 5 inch fletching used on hunting arrows to 6 inch and even full length, uncut feathers used for flu-flu arrows. Fletching may be applied to the shaft straight, with an offset or wrapped around the shaft (helical) either to the right or to the left.

Tips

The business end of the arrow, the tips or points, are as varied as the people who use them. There are tips for target shooting, field shooting, small game hunting, and big game hunting to name a few types. Some tips can be used for more than one type of shooting. Tips attach by one of two ways to an arrow. Some tips are of the "glue-on" variety. These tips slip over the outside (common on wood arrows and some types of carbon arrows) or in the case of aluminum and some carbon arrows, the tips slide inside the hollow tube of the shaft. The second method of attaching tips to arrows is by using a threaded insert. Inserts glue on or into an arrow just like glue-on tips. The advantage to inserts is tips can quickly and easily be changed from one type to another by unscrewing one tip and screwing in another.

Target tips are generally conical or bullet-shaped and are somewhat sharp pointed. This is to make a clean hole in a target face and aid penetration from the (usually) lighter poundage of a target set-up. Target tips are available in various weights to match the balance of the arrow to the bow.

Field tips are a little more tapered with a shoulder near the back. Field tips are more rugged, generally designed to limit penetration from (usually) higher poundage bows and also come in various weights. Some field tips can also be used as small game tips especially when combined with some of the add-on accessories that impede penetration or grab onto fur, feathers, or grass and prevent the arrow from becoming lost. Field tips of the steel blunt variety can confidently be shot over rocky terrain or at hard dry earth and you can be reasonably confident of recovering your arrow undamaged. Rubber blunts can be used on tree stumps, cans, and smaller birds. Zwickey Archery makes Judo Points, Condor points, and Scorpio add-ons that have spring arms that grab grass and weeds and refuse to bury under the sod.

Small game heads are usually blunted either totally or in part to shock or stun small animals and birds or have some type of penetration limiting feature that either keeps the arrow from passing completely through the game or severely limits the arrow’s ability to travel very far past the animal. The smaller, less destructive design also keeps from damaging succulent meat.

Big game heads are commonly known as "broadheads" due to the wide blade design. This type of head is designed to cut through hide and flesh and penetrate as deeply as possible or pass completely through a large game animal. Broadheads come in 2, 3, 4 or more blade designs in varying widths and weights. Fixed blade broadheads can either be of the replaceable blade design or resharpenable design. Some hybrids have replaceable blades that are durable enough they can be resharpened a few times before needing replacement.

The newest designs are mechanical. That means the blades are folded back or recessed within the body of the tip until contact is made which releases the blades. This results in a more aerodynamic arrow that can be more accurate than fixed blade broadheads. Because of the lower profile this type of broadhead is easier to tune. Mechanical broadheads are still the subject of some friendly arguments around the campfire among dedicated bowhunters. Some love them others don’t even think they should be legal. Like many other choices in the choosing of archery equipment, there or pros and cons to be considered when deciding if mechanicals are right for you. Mechanical broadheads aren’t for everyone. Because of the energy dissipated when the head opens, mechanical heads usually don’t penetrate as well as the more traditional broadheads and the greater the cutting diameter of the head, the greater the loss in penetration. If you shoot a bow delivering 50-55 foot-pounds of kinetic energy, you could safely hunt deer. For larger game such as elk or bear, you will need upwards of 65 foot-pounds of kinetic energy in order to take full advantage of the mechanical heads.

Arrow Links

	Flex-Fletch Products
	Easton Arrow Charts @ Martin Archery