# TEST YOUR CARBON ARROWS



## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

I will get pictures up somehow, still a computer retard, so I will figure it out later..... BUT......... I was testing the broadhead shooting it thru hard targets like plywood and metal containers and such, and after shooting the same arrow thru three pieces of plywood and then a metal container, I replaced the broadhead and used the same arrow and did not flex test it, (what was I thinking, I am a bit retarded on testing arrows also, I do not do it near as often as I should..... simple flex test for cracks or breaks) Well I drew back and aimed at the plywood again and BAMMMMMMMM WHAMMMMM huge explosion and everyone was looking down range wondering what just happened with that 'test' shot and it was obvious something happened that was not supposed to happen. I was looking toward the target wondering what just blew up when I looked down at my bow and noticed a three inch piece of carbon arrow stuck in my hand. "Holy Crap", I said, and then spent two different trips in the ER flushing many small pieces of carbon out of my hand. It was a clean pass thru, and I now have a hole on two different sides of my hand and a parrallel wound channel connecting those two holes.


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## threshershark (Sep 7, 2007)

:shock: Are you alright man? Hopefully this is stuff that will heal up quickly.

Are there any features called Tough Hands you could be featured on this season?


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## north slope (Sep 8, 2007)

Sorry to hear that, I hope you are alright. I am freaked out now, I am going downstairs and flexing all my arrows! :shock:


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

I am fine, I did two hikes this weekend, both to Lake Blanche and beyond, and feel like I just jammed my index finger, but the swelling is already down and I have full motion and no restriction, lucky. I just changed the dressing and I think I can feel a big piece of the arrow in the web between my thumb and index finger, I see a hand surgeon on Wednesday morning and will go from there.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

What kind of arrows were they Greg? I talked to a guy a couple weeks ago on the phone who had four Carbon Express arrows blow up in his shop... the latest one was a four inch chunk of the shaft that blew through a guys palm and pinned it to his riser... would have been a pass through if it hadn't hit his riser. Thats scary stuff man.... One of my coworkers showed me an email picture of a dude with a chunk of Carbon Express splintered and sticking out of his hand... looks like it hurt like hell. Hope you get all the fiber stuff out of your hand... thats a bummer about the blowup.


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

Here is the photo. That is a rubber tube that they stuck through his hand in the hole.


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

I think I could have done without those photos... Glad nobody got hurt too bad. I remember the day an old friend was shooting his recurve when the oak arrow blew up, went through his wrist and almost bled to death. 

I had 2 Carbon Express arrows blow up on a moose I shot last year. Guy at the ProShop told me the ferrule can become loose and cause the arrow splinter. I don't know. I always shot aluminums until I tried those carbons. I am debating going back to alums. Stories like these make me think Gamegetters might be back in my quiver.


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

Packout said:


> I think I could have done without those photos... Glad nobody got hurt too bad. I remember the day an old friend was shooting his recurve when the oak arrow blew up, went through his wrist and almost bled to death.
> 
> I had 2 Carbon Express arrows blow up on a moose I shot last year. Guy at the ProShop told me the ferrule can become loose and cause the arrow splinter. I don't know. I always shot aluminums until I tried those carbons. I am debating going back to alums. Stories like these make me think Gamegetters might be back in my quiver.


It was 100% my fault, I am a staff shooter for these arrows and have shot thousands if not hundred of thousands of them and I know that you should flex test carbon arrows before you shoot them, and on occasions like in a case during travel in the back of a truck next to a four wheeler bouncing up a rocky road (oh yea, I forgot to test that one also, and ended up with a 1" whelt on my forearm, thats one inch rise, three to four inches long that hurt so much worse than this accident) I had just shot this same arrow thru wood and metal and was so involved in the broadhead results that I wasn't even thinking about the possibility of cracking the arrow after shooting it thru a metal container. I wonder how many times I am going to do this before I learn my lesson? Probably not to many more times. My point...... to get the performance of the advanced technology of a carbon arrow, and all the benifits of a carbon arrow, which I desire, you have to understand this dynamic and flex test them as often as you can. If you are hiking and fall and drop your bow, I would remove every one of them from the quiver and flex test them before I got to the moment of truth and had this happen while drawn on ole big buck. Maybe when you get in your tree stand, you should flex test them before getting settled in, and bottom line, just test your carbon arrows more often than you do now and there should never be results like this.............. but then what stories are you going to tell around the camp fire if you can't say you have shot yourself with your own bow?


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

-)O(- -)O(- -)O(- -)O(- -)O(-....ouch...ouch....ouch.. -)O(- -)O(-


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

.45 said:


> -)O(- -)O(- -)O(- -)O(- -)O(-....ouch...ouch....ouch.. -)O(- -)O(-


I shook the hand of that person who's hand is in the photo and he went to the high school that Stevie Nicks went to. (that is his left hand though so I haven't shaken that hand in particular)


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Oh :shock:.... Dang....could have been worse, now the price goes up ? :?


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## idiot with a bow (Sep 10, 2007)

My brother has always been a big Steve Martin fan.


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

idiot with a bow said:


> My brother has always been a big Steve Martin fan.


Hello.................we were talking about steve McQueen!

Oh I get it, you weren't talking about the fact that Stevie Nicks went to Skyline High School but the fact that Steve Martin shot himself through the head with an arrow. It's not real Brian, he has a wire bent over his head with parts of the arrow on both sides. "Do Not Try This At Home!!!"


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

I got lost too !! I thought epek was testing his new atomic broadhead and it blew up !!  

Now maybe I think epec is an arrow tester guy...jeez, the things you can learn on the internet... *\-\* *\-\*


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## HOGAN (Sep 8, 2007)

Holy Crap!!!! :shock: Glad your ok Greg.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Thats a lot of blood.....erp... well, hope spaghetti tastes as good headed out...


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

Riverrat77 said:


> Thats a lot of blood.....erp... well, hope spaghetti tastes as good headed out...


Let me share some wisdom with you. When you are nauseated, and you feel like throwing up, eat a bunch of Reece's Peanut butter Cups.

It won't make you feel any better, but they don't taste too bad when they come up.


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## yak4fish (Nov 16, 2007)

Ok now you guys got me worried, I'm new to archery and I have no clue what a flex test is. No one in any of the archery classes I took mentioned anything about flex testing arrows. How is this done and what should I be looking for :?: 

Allen


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

I found one of mine last sunday when I was shooting and im glad I didnt fire that arrow. Epec I hope it heels up fast for you. That sucks bad and it looks like it hurts bad.

Here is a website that has some good pointers: http://www.beman.com/company/safety


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

yak4fish said:


> Ok now you guys got me worried, I'm new to archery and I have no clue what a flex test is. No one in any of the archery classes I took mentioned anything about flex testing arrows. How is this done and what should I be looking for :?:
> 
> Allen


You can flex test your shafts by holding on to the point end and the nock end then flexing the shaft. You are feeling for a weakness in the carbon. If there is a break or a problem you can feel it of even hear it as you flex it. It is hard to describe but once you feel a bad one it is easey to tell. I think it is a good idea to check your shafts this way after every shot, exzpesialy if you are shooting with other archers and there is a chance your shaft got hit by another one. For me it has become kind of a habit, as I walk back to the line I flex test the shafts I shoot and also check for bad nocks, vanes etc..

Mark


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

OUCH!!!! Man EPEK that is a major bummer. I wish you a speedy recovery. At least it wasn't your wiping hand. :mrgreen:


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## idiot with a bow (Sep 10, 2007)

neither hand is his wiping hand! -)O(-


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

NHS said:


> OUCH!!!! Man EPEK that is a major bummer. I wish you a speedy recovery. At least it wasn't your wiping hand. :mrgreen:


 :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

idiot with a bow said:


> neither hand is his wiping hand! -)O(-


 :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: *OOO*


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

I am just glad I didn't hit a vital organ..................... you know the one that isn't always in your hand, but sometimes is.


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

EPEK said:


> I am just glad I didn't hit a vital organ..................... you know the one that isn't always in your hand, but sometimes is.


The organ that you speak of is not really a vital..................very important however but not vital. If you say it like the people of the south then you don't say important but impotent. (read that last word with a southern twang, making sure to give the O a long sound) If you actually read it like it's spelled then you are in a bigger mess than you could imagine.

By the way did you hear of the guy that they caught streaking yesterday through a church? He ran up the rows, on to the stand, around the pulpit and they finally caught him by the organ.


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## idiot with a bow (Sep 10, 2007)

> By the way did you hear of the guy that they caught streaking yesterday through a church? He ran up the rows, on to the stand, around the pulpit and they finally caught him by the organ.


Wonderful!

I bet epek would be screwed if he shot his hand right now!


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## quakeycrazy (Sep 18, 2007)

thanks for bringing this issue up. I have heard of it before and tend to forget about the small danger of carbon arrows breaking. After this came up again I made sure to test the shafts after each hit, better safe than sorry.


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

Not a problem, glad I could be of some help.


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

How is the hand doing?


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

I shot my bow today, after testing every arrow I shot, the pad on my palm messes up my grip a bit, but hey, got back on the horse.


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

You haven't developed a "flinch" have you? :lol:


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

...OUCH! -)O(-

how go's the healing. man you're lucky to have the use/feeling of those two fingers! _any _nerve damage or can you tell yet??


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## EPEK (Sep 11, 2007)

A little nerve damage, but nothing severed, just whacked. Nerve regeneration should take about three months and then it won't feel like my hand is asleep all day.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

whew...yep VERY lucky! count your blessings buddy.


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

count your blessings buddy.[/quote]

I've been telling him that for a long time.  We all need to do more of that. You don't have to look far (Iraq etc...) to realize we have some awesome country and opportunities in our neck of the woods, even if we have to put up with a few carbon splinters among other things.


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## north slope (Sep 8, 2007)

elk22hunter said:


> count your blessings buddy.


I've been telling him that for a long time.  We all need to do more of that. You don't have to look far (Iraq etc...) to realize we have some awesome country and opportunities in our neck of the woods, even if we have to put up with a few carbon splinters among other things.[/quote]
Here we go 22 is 'having a moment' again. :roll:


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## elk22hunter (Sep 7, 2007)

north slope said:


> elk22hunter said:
> 
> 
> > count your blessings buddy.
> ...


Here we go 22 is 'having a moment' again. :roll:[/quote]

Oh crap, I was getting to mushy or soap boxie!


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Elk22, northslope, would you guys come give me a "blessing" I seem to be running thin on them right now.


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## north slope (Sep 8, 2007)

Anytime..........


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