# What does spine aligned mean, and its importance.



## minnie3

Reading a thread in the women's forum last week, I read a recommendation for a certain arrow Victory HV 500 for 3d and the fact that it was spine aligned.
I followed that post with my question "what is spine aligned? and is it important?
no reply from the poster unfortunately. I was keen to learn a little more as I'm not familiar with the term spine aligned

So perhaps could I ask here what is spine aligned?
is it important? what is its significance?
how would we know if our carbon shafts were spine aligned or not?
are victory VAP's spine aligned?
is a spine aligned carbon shaft any more critical to a 1000 spine arrow for a target recurve than it would be for a 400 spine hunting arrow?


OK, Thanks and happy shooting.


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## Huntinsker

Spine aligned arrows are supposed to have been tested so that the stiff plane of the arrow is oriented the same way arrow to arrow. Victory is supposed to line up their decals with the stiff plane but I'm not personally sure if they actually do or not. I think Ontarget7 tested them one time so you may send him a PM about it.

Where spine alignment really helps is in shafts that are less consistent around the circumference of the shaft. Say you get a middle grade shaft vs a high grade shaft. Typically the high grade shafts are more consistent and don't show a big difference from the stiff to the weak planes of the arrow. The lower grade shaft may however show a difference of a couple hundredths of in their deflections so if you had one with the stiff plan up and another with the stiff plan laying sideways, they will react differently coming off the bow. However, if you take the time to align the stiff planes of the lesser grade shafts, they can perform better than they would if you didn't align the spine planes because they come off the bow "behaving" in the same way.

Having the shafts spine aligned isn't really more critical from one venue to another if you're looking for as much accuracy as you can squeeze out of your equipment. For a hunting arrow it helps a lot because fixed blade broadheads will typically perform better when the arrows are as consistent as possible. Target shooters may not see it as much because they're shooting field points which are much more forgiving but the ones that want the most from their stuff still spine align their shafts.


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## minnie3

Hey thank you Huntinsker, wasn't aware of any of this.
Something to find out a bit more about.


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## edthearcher

they do make a spine tester but they are quit costly, you can also float an arrow in the bath tub the stiff side is suppose to go down, you can do a search and make your own, some believe it,s the only way prior to fletching and some also scoff at it. I personly dont believe in it, but that just me


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## Arrie

Check what they do to find the weak side of the arrow. Good and funny clip to watch.
https://youtu.be/hPnV-5XZ3i8


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## minnie3

Thanks Arrie, watched the first 12 minutes where they tested for the weak ends and side, marked ,then cut.
Familiar Australian accents there.


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## bleingang

I always do a spine test with a micrometer on my arrows prior to fletching so I can get consistent flight. I bought some Victory VAP TKO's and did the "spine aligned" testing on them and out of 3 dozen only two were actually where the spine was when testing. So the answer is NO, spine aligned did NOT match the label on the arrow. But that is no big deal to me as I said I always spine test my arrows prior to fletching. I have the same process for all arrows I build to get the consistency in the arrows. 
1st visually check each arrow ( I had one that had a minor crack on the nock end that was new in the box)
2nd spin test the arrows to see which end to cut that has more wobble or cut from both ends (I don't care about the manufacturer label and where it falls to get a more accurate arrow)
3rd cut the arrows to length
4th square both ends (yes the nock end also)
5th spine test the cut arrow to see where the weak side and the stiff side is, then marked the stiff side
6th glue in insert (I totally believe in hot melt glue on the insert, it lets me adjust the broadhead later) 
7th shoot all arrows bareshaft for group tuning and adjust nock if needed to bring all arrows within the 10 ring at 20 yards (remark any arrows after nock tuning if they were off)
8th wrap and fletch all arrows with a helical fletch
9th let set for at least 24 hours and shoot
yes it is time consuming but every one of my arrows are done correctly and I have confidence in my equipment this way. Some say it is overkill but the way I think of it is that I owe it to any animal I try to shoot to make the best most ethical shot I can, so if I miss it is because of me not the bow or the arrow.


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