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Went and Did The Thing.

Jamie

Senior Member
5,722
177
Ohio
That raised shelf was standard equipment in 73

that is why I suggested shooting the bow as is before removing the add-on shelf. that particular bow may require that the arrow passes at that height above the handle for proper balance. seems odd to me that it would, but I didn't design the bow. since you have one, Tracker, does it make any difference in arrow flight/tuning between shooting directly of the shelf or off of the elevated shelf?
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
57,028
274
North Carolina
you see in the pic that the raised shelf is radiused. many recurves, especially custom bows, have a shelf that is radiused. the reason is so there is a smaller point of contact with the arrow. a small shim under the shelf rug accomplishes the same thing in a much more subtle way.
Jamie, back in the day I remember those plastic little finger rests that were attached too the side. We always used the shelf and mole skin like CJD3 stated..... Cheap and easy too replace...
 

Boarhead

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
Maybe some of you guys could post some pics of your shelves...I’d be interested in the options out there also. @Jamie what is the reason for a toothpick or matchstick under the rug? Does it help keep the shaft aligned?....or does it raise the shaft up just enough so that the fletching doesn’t slam against the shelf?
This is the radiused shelf on my Black Widow bow.
 

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Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,859
260
that is why I suggested shooting the bow as is before removing the add-on shelf. that particular bow may require that the arrow passes at that height above the handle for proper balance. seems odd to me that it would, but I didn't design the bow. since you have one, Tracker, does it make any difference in arrow flight/tuning between shooting directly of the shelf or off of the elevated shelf?

Couldn't one measure the tip to tip length of the bow to see if the shelf is center, or if center is slightly above the shelf?
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,722
177
Ohio
Couldn't one measure the tip to tip length of the bow to see if the shelf is center, or if center is slightly above the shelf?
the shelf is not going to be the geographic center of the bow. arrow generally passes about 1", give or take a little, above the geographic center of the bow. you'll have to shoot it with and without add on shelf to determine which is best. it's possible that it won't make any noticeable difference other than how it changes the nocking point on the string. still, for tuning, I would shoot it both ways as it could make a huge difference. even production bows like that vary from bow to bow. how you grip the bow and your shooting form will also affect all things tuning related. no formula for this sort of thing, Joe. trial and error.
 
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Creamer

Active Member
1,589
81
Athens
Form..form..and form Joe.
Just figure out what works and stay consistent.

^^^^ Yea, that. ^^^^

And baby steps. For me, anyway, I had to take baby steps working back to what I think of as a normal hunting distance. For several weeks I hardly shot past 10 yards. 5 yard jumps with a trad bow felt more like 15 with a compound. Something that helped me with arrow selection was a 3Rivers arrow test pack. It comes with one shaft in 3 different spines, you can have them cut them or leave them uncut and you cut them down. I paired that with a field point test kit to find the arrow/tip weight that worked best for my bow.

My only other advice, since I'm still pretty new at it, is try new stuff to see what works best for you. In trad archery, gloves and tabs and silencers etc... are pretty cheap. I started with a glove, then tried a cheap tab, then bought a Black Widow tab. Even through all of that, I still have a whopping total of about $35 invested in trying those items. I just ordered a new string for my bow and it was $17. A "hush kit" from Mountain Muffler Strings that I ordered was $12 and it's enough to do 2 bows/strings.

If you're the type who learns well from watching videos, check out the following folks on YouTube: Joel Turner, Clay Hayes, The Push Archery, Aron Snyder, Tom Clum. I've picked up a ton of helpful information from those guys, and a few others, on everything from shooting form to tuning to shot process.
 

tracker 6

Junior Member
636
85
In a thicket
I just took alook at the old gal and it has a leather shelf with a matchstick :) I never was much for super tuning,but I don't recall not being able to hit things at a reasonable distance.These are pretty forgiving bows for the most part.Oh, and I shot this bow better with a 3 finger under tab the best.