Bowzone_Mikey
05-15-2011, 11:00 AM
So I call up Cam Jones at Darkhorse one day and get him to ship me a dozen 340 spine and a dozen 400 spine Stud arrows (both dozen I asked for raw shafts so I could do the build up)
the First dozen I built were the 340 spine for Thetackdriver and his new Elite Hunter bow http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?66791-Mikeys-Elite-Hunter-Review
so I did a tried tested and true Formula to build Tackys arrows, first I squared off the nock end (these are weight forward arrows so they do have a Nock end and its the end with the horse in the label) by loping off 3/4" with my 8000 rpm Apple arrow saw. I inserted nocks and looked for the Node deadspot turns out each was 1.75" from the end of the arrow (I will post a link to node tuning and its reasoning later). Since i know that "Tacky" is kinda nervous of broadhead hand I tend to make his arrows a little long anyway and cut them to 28.5" from throat of nock to insert, and in my expiriance with a 70 pound 2 cam bow and a 100 grain head that should spine out just about right. Tacky had decided upon some PX2 Ribrunner Broadheads and some 2" Blazer Vanes
Final weight came out to just over 400 grains.
When installing the inserts on the 340s I went with the Hot glue method, I was impressed with the quality of the inserts as they seem a little rough on the adhesive side ... Not perfectly smooth and therfore made for great adheasion properties, I am not certain if that was purposefull or not but it works so we will leave it at that. The outside of the Studs are perfectly smooth and that kinda worried me abit as to what the inside looks like ... so I took an end cut and sliced it open to see the inner surface, and to my surprise .. its not pefectly smooth ... reminded me of the outter surface of an old school x weave ... great for adheasion as well ... so in reality I did no inner shaft prep other than run water down from nock end out the business end to wash out cutting dust.
Now to install Fletchings, I actually gave my fletching jig and glue to Tacky to do it himself, I reminded him how to do it and left him to do what he does, he texts me a while later stating that the vanes are falling off (remember how I said above that the outter surface was smooth ...;) ) I told him to find some light steel wool or some green scotch brite or alike and lightly scuff up the arrow a bit where the vanes are to be afixed wipe with damp cloth , let air dry .... and glue em .... That works like a charm (for the record I use Bohning Quantum XT glue)
Tacky got everything done and set ... then went outside and shot ... these arrows are grouping like a MOFO we went out and stretched out the bows legs a bit and got him shooting 82 yards and grouping consistantly inside a 9" circle (not advocating a shot on an animal that far without alot of stuff right ... but it can be done).
The 340s fly great out of a 70 pound Hunter as they are about 13-13.5% Front of center balanced. In fact they fly so well that Tacky has learned the hard way a couple of times now to shoot differant spots inside 50 yards ... LOL
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400 spine Studs
Ok so the 400s are for me ... out of a Diamond Black Ice bow at 29" draw and 66 pounds, these arrows are not that important to me as i have lots of hunting arrows that I can use so I decided to expiriment and go away from my normal arrow recipe.
so here is what I ended up with and I will tell you how I got there
26.75" from throat of nock to insert face, 2" blazers, 100 grain G5 T-3 Broadheads. total weight 353 grains.
Ok how i got here: I figure I should cut the 400 spine shorter than normal to stiffen them up to fly out of the 66 pound bow
To sqaure the Nock end I lopped 2" off the back to get me to a 30" raw shaft, I trimed down to my normal 28 ... by taking 2 off the front, then I trimed 1/4' a time to get to 26.75" with gave me a about .5" of shaft ahead of the contact point of my rest at full draw (rest is a trophy taker original), I then prepped it like above only except of doing the hot glue method (because I know i wont ever take these inserts out to shorten the arrows) I used a 2 part epoxy(actually a package that came with some Easton arrows I had laying around because I used another product because I didnt want to wait a day to shoot at the time), I scuffed with some green scotch brite and and fletched them up. weighed them and got a 2 grain variance across the whole dozen ... which is perfectly normal for arrows in this price range.. and can be atributed to a bit more or bit less glue or the fact my digital scale cost me 15 bucks at a shady establishment in Downtown PG and is sold for people measuring grams as opposed to grains.
so 12 arrows at 26.75 " long with 100 grain points on a 29" draw 66 pound single cam bow ....I figure they will fly like Crap or fly fricken awesome ... Turns out the later is true ... with close to a 15% Front of Center balance point. I was stacking arrows at 40 yards in my driveway .... Put them through my chrony and getting 292 ish ... Not bad for a bow that is rated at 310 at 30" and 70 pounds.
---------------------------------------
so after all that we know they can be built and they can fly ....
Fit and finish...
The finish looks great .. the smooth outter surface leads me to beleive they will work great in the 3D scene, I will state however into wet DonnaConna butts ... they are a bear to pull unless you lube them up ... I use Woodys arrow lube. I am not a big fan however of the label of the Darkhorse studs ... it is a decal and when i try to shoot them out of my target bow, Because i use a Blade type of rest .. the blade catches the sticker and pops the nock off the string. I have spoken to Mr. Jones about this allready and he is allready looking into a screen print or some other sort of label system for the next generation of Studs for us Target jockeys. the square weave of the Carbon fiber not only looks sexy but plays a very important part of the arrow make-up, the design is such that the arrow doesnt have a spinal column and therfore the spine or stiffness of the arrow is consistant throughout all 360 degrees of the shaft. I rolled both dozen shafts raw and uncut though a micrometer tool at work (I cant recall the exact name right now I am sorry) and raw and uncut these arrows biggest variance is .002", remember these are raw and uncut ... in my exp. arrow shafts are straightest in the middle, and I have to wonder if the decal played a part in that as well.
If you shoot a fallaway rest you will be happy with the Darkhorse Studs, At about $150 or so per dozen cut and fletched to your specs they are reasonable for the weight and straightness tolerances that I have observed in the 2 dozen I have personally built that is extremly reasonable (comparible arrows go for typially a bit more and they are raw usually)
I Know Thetackdriver got these arrows to Hunt with as he aint much for 3D (yet... gimme some time if I have my way he will be hooked by the end of the month on foam) I got these arrows with the sole purpose in mind to hunt with if my mad scientist stuff worked .... Turns out I will have no problem shooting foam with these if I put on a fallaway.
I would like to talk to Cam Jones some more about other accesories, such as Glue in point for target, some sort of Pin-Nock system, a Lighted nock system for hunters etc...
But for first run out I am impressed with this new Canadian Company
Dark Horse Archery
http://www.darkhorsearchery.ca/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Darkhorse-Archery-High-Performance-Arrows/147262248666978
*edit Note: After a conversation with Cam (I purposely left him out of the loop untill this review was written and published) we discussed some things and here is what he had to say:
1)Fast set glues are recommended for this arrow(not cements) such as Vane Tec VT-1000. Anything with a cyanoacrylate as there is no need to rough up the beautiful surface for a strong bond!
2)New MSRP is $148.99 for shafts(inserts and nocks included) this was adjusted May 1st
3)Current smooth finish of the Stud makes it a full bore hunting arrow - the low friction produced by this finish(especially when tissue is encoutered:)!) makes for amazing passthroughs. Just finishing up testing on a Target Series based on the Stud with a matte finish - things are looking good!! Easy target removal!
The Bohning Quantum is a fast set cement and therefore That was the issue .... even still Tacky and I scuffed up the finish to make work it didnt take away from the look of the arrow
Thanks again Cam ...and I am looking forward to checking out the target Lineup
the First dozen I built were the 340 spine for Thetackdriver and his new Elite Hunter bow http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?66791-Mikeys-Elite-Hunter-Review
so I did a tried tested and true Formula to build Tackys arrows, first I squared off the nock end (these are weight forward arrows so they do have a Nock end and its the end with the horse in the label) by loping off 3/4" with my 8000 rpm Apple arrow saw. I inserted nocks and looked for the Node deadspot turns out each was 1.75" from the end of the arrow (I will post a link to node tuning and its reasoning later). Since i know that "Tacky" is kinda nervous of broadhead hand I tend to make his arrows a little long anyway and cut them to 28.5" from throat of nock to insert, and in my expiriance with a 70 pound 2 cam bow and a 100 grain head that should spine out just about right. Tacky had decided upon some PX2 Ribrunner Broadheads and some 2" Blazer Vanes
Final weight came out to just over 400 grains.
When installing the inserts on the 340s I went with the Hot glue method, I was impressed with the quality of the inserts as they seem a little rough on the adhesive side ... Not perfectly smooth and therfore made for great adheasion properties, I am not certain if that was purposefull or not but it works so we will leave it at that. The outside of the Studs are perfectly smooth and that kinda worried me abit as to what the inside looks like ... so I took an end cut and sliced it open to see the inner surface, and to my surprise .. its not pefectly smooth ... reminded me of the outter surface of an old school x weave ... great for adheasion as well ... so in reality I did no inner shaft prep other than run water down from nock end out the business end to wash out cutting dust.
Now to install Fletchings, I actually gave my fletching jig and glue to Tacky to do it himself, I reminded him how to do it and left him to do what he does, he texts me a while later stating that the vanes are falling off (remember how I said above that the outter surface was smooth ...;) ) I told him to find some light steel wool or some green scotch brite or alike and lightly scuff up the arrow a bit where the vanes are to be afixed wipe with damp cloth , let air dry .... and glue em .... That works like a charm (for the record I use Bohning Quantum XT glue)
Tacky got everything done and set ... then went outside and shot ... these arrows are grouping like a MOFO we went out and stretched out the bows legs a bit and got him shooting 82 yards and grouping consistantly inside a 9" circle (not advocating a shot on an animal that far without alot of stuff right ... but it can be done).
The 340s fly great out of a 70 pound Hunter as they are about 13-13.5% Front of center balanced. In fact they fly so well that Tacky has learned the hard way a couple of times now to shoot differant spots inside 50 yards ... LOL
-----------------------
400 spine Studs
Ok so the 400s are for me ... out of a Diamond Black Ice bow at 29" draw and 66 pounds, these arrows are not that important to me as i have lots of hunting arrows that I can use so I decided to expiriment and go away from my normal arrow recipe.
so here is what I ended up with and I will tell you how I got there
26.75" from throat of nock to insert face, 2" blazers, 100 grain G5 T-3 Broadheads. total weight 353 grains.
Ok how i got here: I figure I should cut the 400 spine shorter than normal to stiffen them up to fly out of the 66 pound bow
To sqaure the Nock end I lopped 2" off the back to get me to a 30" raw shaft, I trimed down to my normal 28 ... by taking 2 off the front, then I trimed 1/4' a time to get to 26.75" with gave me a about .5" of shaft ahead of the contact point of my rest at full draw (rest is a trophy taker original), I then prepped it like above only except of doing the hot glue method (because I know i wont ever take these inserts out to shorten the arrows) I used a 2 part epoxy(actually a package that came with some Easton arrows I had laying around because I used another product because I didnt want to wait a day to shoot at the time), I scuffed with some green scotch brite and and fletched them up. weighed them and got a 2 grain variance across the whole dozen ... which is perfectly normal for arrows in this price range.. and can be atributed to a bit more or bit less glue or the fact my digital scale cost me 15 bucks at a shady establishment in Downtown PG and is sold for people measuring grams as opposed to grains.
so 12 arrows at 26.75 " long with 100 grain points on a 29" draw 66 pound single cam bow ....I figure they will fly like Crap or fly fricken awesome ... Turns out the later is true ... with close to a 15% Front of Center balance point. I was stacking arrows at 40 yards in my driveway .... Put them through my chrony and getting 292 ish ... Not bad for a bow that is rated at 310 at 30" and 70 pounds.
---------------------------------------
so after all that we know they can be built and they can fly ....
Fit and finish...
The finish looks great .. the smooth outter surface leads me to beleive they will work great in the 3D scene, I will state however into wet DonnaConna butts ... they are a bear to pull unless you lube them up ... I use Woodys arrow lube. I am not a big fan however of the label of the Darkhorse studs ... it is a decal and when i try to shoot them out of my target bow, Because i use a Blade type of rest .. the blade catches the sticker and pops the nock off the string. I have spoken to Mr. Jones about this allready and he is allready looking into a screen print or some other sort of label system for the next generation of Studs for us Target jockeys. the square weave of the Carbon fiber not only looks sexy but plays a very important part of the arrow make-up, the design is such that the arrow doesnt have a spinal column and therfore the spine or stiffness of the arrow is consistant throughout all 360 degrees of the shaft. I rolled both dozen shafts raw and uncut though a micrometer tool at work (I cant recall the exact name right now I am sorry) and raw and uncut these arrows biggest variance is .002", remember these are raw and uncut ... in my exp. arrow shafts are straightest in the middle, and I have to wonder if the decal played a part in that as well.
If you shoot a fallaway rest you will be happy with the Darkhorse Studs, At about $150 or so per dozen cut and fletched to your specs they are reasonable for the weight and straightness tolerances that I have observed in the 2 dozen I have personally built that is extremly reasonable (comparible arrows go for typially a bit more and they are raw usually)
I Know Thetackdriver got these arrows to Hunt with as he aint much for 3D (yet... gimme some time if I have my way he will be hooked by the end of the month on foam) I got these arrows with the sole purpose in mind to hunt with if my mad scientist stuff worked .... Turns out I will have no problem shooting foam with these if I put on a fallaway.
I would like to talk to Cam Jones some more about other accesories, such as Glue in point for target, some sort of Pin-Nock system, a Lighted nock system for hunters etc...
But for first run out I am impressed with this new Canadian Company
Dark Horse Archery
http://www.darkhorsearchery.ca/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Darkhorse-Archery-High-Performance-Arrows/147262248666978
*edit Note: After a conversation with Cam (I purposely left him out of the loop untill this review was written and published) we discussed some things and here is what he had to say:
1)Fast set glues are recommended for this arrow(not cements) such as Vane Tec VT-1000. Anything with a cyanoacrylate as there is no need to rough up the beautiful surface for a strong bond!
2)New MSRP is $148.99 for shafts(inserts and nocks included) this was adjusted May 1st
3)Current smooth finish of the Stud makes it a full bore hunting arrow - the low friction produced by this finish(especially when tissue is encoutered:)!) makes for amazing passthroughs. Just finishing up testing on a Target Series based on the Stud with a matte finish - things are looking good!! Easy target removal!
The Bohning Quantum is a fast set cement and therefore That was the issue .... even still Tacky and I scuffed up the finish to make work it didnt take away from the look of the arrow
Thanks again Cam ...and I am looking forward to checking out the target Lineup