Bowmanship Thread

[Shiloh]

Try a 125gr field point on the arrow, that might do the trick.

Or if it's a wood arrow, an extra few coats of varnish or oil on the wood would stiffen it up.

That might help. As of now I only have a coat of sealant on the shaft, so I'll try some oil or stain on the next one.

What kind of sealent is it? You could add some more coats over that, see if it does the trick.

Just a basic spray-on polyurathane mix, the brand name is called deft. I normally only do two coats, but I might try three today.

[Ad'lan]

Well, I've never tried that, so let me know how it goes. Like I said in my Fletching Thread, Arrow spine is largely a matter if guesswork till you learn to guess right.

[Shiloh]

Well, looks like I'm retiring Ugly. I found a crack in the upper limb, running down towards the handle. Since she's pretty old as is (almost 2 years of solid shooting) I'm surprised it took this long, being as Ugly was my first succesful bow. Oh well, I'll miss the old girl.

[ninja-elbow]

Bump as this is a good thread.

[ninja-elbow]

Well, looks like I'm retiring Ugly. I found a crack in the upper limb, running down towards the handle. Since she's pretty old as is (almost 2 years of solid shooting) I'm surprised it took this long, being as Ugly was my first succesful bow. Oh well, I'll miss the old girl.

Put her up on the wall. Looking for a good wall mounted bow holder myself. Someday when I get a home and my own wall to put such a thing on it will look nice with Sweet Butter, The Mongol, some of my "classier" DIY arrows, and my DIY quiver.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Well, looks like I'm retiring Ugly. I found a crack in the upper limb, running down towards the handle. Since she's pretty old as is (almost 2 years of solid shooting) I'm surprised it took this long, being as Ugly was my first succesful bow. Oh well, I'll miss the old girl.

Put her up on the wall. Looking for a good wall mounted bow holder myself. Someday when I get a home and my own wall to put such a thing on it will look nice with Sweet Butter, The Mongol, some of my "classier" DIY arrows, and my DIY quiver.

That would look pretty daggum sweet.

And tasty too.



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[Ad'lan]

Well, looks like I'm retiring Ugly. I found a crack in the upper limb, running down towards the handle. Since she's pretty old as is (almost 2 years of solid shooting) I'm surprised it took this long, being as Ugly was my first succesful bow. Oh well, I'll miss the old girl.

Put her up on the wall. Looking for a good wall mounted bow holder myself. Someday when I get a home and my own wall to put such a thing on it will look nice with Sweet Butter, The Mongol, some of my "classier" DIY arrows, and my DIY quiver.

Last time I had a bow break I gave it a funeral pyre.

Also, Kaylee yay.

[wanderingwaldo]

I used to shoot archery as a kid with a 35# compound bow. I wanted to get back into it, but as someone who is very DIY the only thing I bought was a bow, with plans to make bows myself out of locust and later Osage Orange but I wanted to get a feel for shooting again before I made a bow. I bought a 62" 50# take-down recurve recently and have been making my own equipment to go with it: heavy bamboo fishing arrows and 50-70lb splined bamboo arrows, I turned an old pair of boots into a quiver, and I made a thumb-ring out of brass and leather. Has anyone on here used a thumb-ring? I plan to tie a loop to the string for the thumb-ring and shorten it as I get stronger until I remove it entirely, this way I do not have to buy multiple bows to build my strength. I hand-flecthed a few arrows, but need to get a fletching jig to finish the other 3 dozen or so arrows I made.

Here is my quiver, my fishing arrow with removable foreshaft, and two flu flu's:

[Shiloh]

Very cool set up, Waldo! Loving that quiver.

I've never shot thumb-ring personally, but some of my friends who are in the SCA do it quite a bit. I haven't heard of tying on a loop before, but it seems like that would be one thing to practice with.

And yes, I've got another question. (Ad'lan's probably getting annoyed with these by now. ) I picked up some figured maple at a lumberyard today and had the guy rip it in half, to where each board is 2 3/4" wide, 1" thick, and 72" long. But now looking at it, I'm thinking of halfing it again, so I'll get four boards of 1 3/8" wide. I got a little discouraged, though, after reading in the Bowyer's Bible that a bow about that length should be 2" wide at mid-limb if you want to avoid excessive set. Should I just cut it to 2" amd get rid of the excess, or just work with a smaller width and ignore the string follow?

[Ad'lan]

Very cool set up, Waldo! Loving that quiver.

I've never shot thumb-ring personally, but some of my friends who are in the SCA do it quite a bit. I haven't heard of tying on a loop before, but it seems like that would be one thing to practice with.

And yes, I've got another question. (Ad'lan's probably getting annoyed with these by now. ) I picked up some figured maple at a lumberyard today and had the guy rip it in half, to where each board is 2 3/4" wide, 1" thick, and 72" long. But now looking at it, I'm thinking of halfing it again, so I'll get four boards of 1 3/8" wide. I got a little discouraged, though, after reading in the Bowyer's Bible that a bow about that length should be 2" wide at mid-limb if you want to avoid excessive set. Should I just cut it to 2" amd get rid of the excess, or just work with a smaller width and ignore the string follow?

Are you making a flat bow? I'm no expert bowyer, so I'd suggest asking on somewhere like archery talk, or hopefully one of the other members who know more than me will be able to answer specifics.

I always say err on the side of caution, as you can always take more off, never put more back on, and if you mess up, that's your nice bit of maple gone. Why not get a cheaper bit of wood like ash or hickory and give a whirl to get the dimensions right?

[Shiloh]

Very cool set up, Waldo! Loving that quiver.

I've never shot thumb-ring personally, but some of my friends who are in the SCA do it quite a bit. I haven't heard of tying on a loop before, but it seems like that would be one thing to practice with.

And yes, I've got another question. (Ad'lan's probably getting annoyed with these by now. ) I picked up some figured maple at a lumberyard today and had the guy rip it in half, to where each board is 2 3/4" wide, 1" thick, and 72" long. But now looking at it, I'm thinking of halfing it again, so I'll get four boards of 1 3/8" wide. I got a little discouraged, though, after reading in the Bowyer's Bible that a bow about that length should be 2" wide at mid-limb if you want to avoid excessive set. Should I just cut it to 2" amd get rid of the excess, or just work with a smaller width and ignore the string follow?

Are you making a flat bow? I'm no expert bowyer, so I'd suggest asking on somewhere like archery talk, or hopefully one of the other members who know more than me will be able to answer specifics.

I always say err on the side of caution, as you can always take more off, never put more back on, and if you mess up, that's your nice bit of maple gone. Why not get a cheaper bit of wood like ash or hickory and give a whirl to get the dimensions right?

I'm going for a flatbow, as this will be my hunting bow for this fall. Thinking about it, I'll probably just make it 2" wide and play it on the safe side, keep this one 2", and try a thinner dimension with the other board I've got.

[supermarvio]

SO I've begun taking lessons. Having the time of my life. You'll all probably laugh but I purchased a barnett team realtree banshee quad bow (which is considered a youth compound), but I figure it's better than nothing to keep me shooting between lessons. It was only $30 new off of Ebay. At the lessons they supply Matthews Genesis Compounds.