Spine & speed (again)

[YosemiteSam]

I'm playing around with my new bow more these days (D/R longbow).  I went up 5# in draw weight from my previous bow (recurve) but have managed to use the exact same arrows by building out the strike plate on the new one & shortening the arrows by 1/2".  But my trajectory hasn't changed much at all.  It's a little better but my point-on distance is only stretched by about 2-3 yards at most.

So I'm curious how much a stiffer spine, tuned with a much thinner strike plate, might improve the speed.  Since the arrow wouldn't be flexing as much, that energy should, in my mind, go toward forward speed.  But before I go chopping arrows & such, it would be good to know if it's even worth it.  If there is a speed gain, is it significant enough to notice?  Or would I just be gaining a couple fps?

[Pat B]

You can do it by decreasing the tip weight a bit, 5# for each 25grs of tip weight.
The arrow speed will probably not be noticeable though.

[CEW]

Your Recurve is probably just faster than your longbow. I have a 40 lb recurve that is 10 fps faster than my 43# R/D longbow.

[Orion]

Yes.  Two things at work here.  First, your recurve is just higher performance.  Your logic is correct.  A stiffer spine riding closer to the riser will flex less, and may be ever so slightly faster, but not so much you would notice. The difference in performance you're noticing here is due to bow design/performance, not arrow spine.