[David Petersen]

in reply to: Broadhead Edge #60212

All I can say about it is that if you dig deep enough int the earlier Ashby studies, he determines that the ME, or overall mechanical efficiency (basically, everything that goes into a strong, deep-penetrating broadhead design) is highest for straight-edges blades. My own personal problem with convex edges is that after several sharpenings they tend to flatten out and I worry that the two edges will become slightly different in convexity which would affect weight/balance and could affect flight accuracy. That said, I really like the new Eclipse Werewolf and with a Rockwell hardness of 52-54, they’ll be a lot slower to grind down and change shape. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Degrees of Rotation of Single Bevel Heads #59107

Where is the Doc when we need him? He is deeply informed regarding anything to do with math, physics, engineering and no doubt could answer this fast and easy.

For now, let’s assume a 25-degree bevel, as that is quickly becoming the standard for single-bevels. But don’t such variables as blade length and width figure in? For example, wouldn’t the amount of tissue contact and slicing by the rotating head differ from, say, two heads at 1-1/8″ wide and 7/8″ wide? This seems impossible to calculate mathmatically short of working out an entire table of variables. But then, I can barely balance my check book, and I write very few checks. Have fun …

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Degrees of Rotation of Single Bevel Heads #57906

Dan — I am jumping in here only because Dr. Ashby has been on the road and off the airwaves for some times now, and I doubt anyone else will respond, though I hope they do. I’m not at all sure your question can be answered as asked, or that knowing the precise degree of turn really matters beyond curiosity. I do recall Ashby reporting that the rate of “spin” increases once flesh is contacted — that is, in meat the single-bevel turns more rotations per inch than it does in flight. Variants controlling the rate of turn would include density of tissue and broadhead design, especially degree of bevel and width/thickness of the bevel shelf. The thicker the blade, the wider the shelf will be at a given bevel angle, thus the more torque. A nonscientific but interesting home experiment is to shoot different single-bevels from the same arrows and bow into the same foam target to compare penetration and, best you can, degree of spin before they come to a stop. The most revealing of all is to shoot a good single bevel alongside a double bevel identical blade. Aside from differences in penetration it’s revealing when you pull the arrows out of the target that the double-bevel pulls straight out while the single-bevel “screws” out. Finger details aside, I have seen for myself what a good single-bevel will do with elk, both soft tissue and heavy bone, and it works. For a long time I’ve said that I thought the best s-b for the money was the Brown Bear. But now they’ve increased price to the point I’ve lost interest. Fingers crossed that the new/forthcoming Eclipse Werewolf will perform as good as it looks and shoots (I have a single prototype head I’ve been playing with, and managed to slice my palm on the sharpened back edge, as it came from the factory. No other production s-b I know of comes that sharp.) Which goes way beyond your question without even properly answering it. 😳 Congrats on finishing your degree. Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Kids Building Arrows #57893

Good work, Derek! And your video production (or whoever did it) is pretty darn slick. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: I'm back!! #56890

“I am back and looking for Mr. Petersen.”

Uh-oh … what did I do now? 🙄

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Cultivating an Archer #56831

Joe — coincidentally, the closest thing I had to an archery mentor as a kid was a neighborhood fireman. The station was just 2 blocks away and of course I hung out there a lot. I’d been given a cheap glass bow for Xmas and one day I saw this new guy out back shooting at a hay bale. I stopped and we talked and he invited me to bring my bow back and shoot with him. I did, and as a joke with his fellow firemen who were watching us, he kicked their volley ball across the field and dared me, “See if you can hit that.” In an amazingly lucky shot I hit the speeding ball and suddenly I was being taken serious, even at only 8 or 10. In no time my new firefighter buddy was picking me up on Saturday mornings, when he wasn’t on duty, to attend the local weekend shoots. Thus did I become a competitive target archer before I even had hair in my armpits. I have since tried to return that great favor by mentoring others in traditional archery and bowhunting. It’s a good thing to do, not in my case because I agree that “we need more hunters,” but simply because … it’s a good thing to do. Good work, dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Any thoughts on these bows? #51685

Close as I can come was once having bought either arrow shafts or osage bow blanks from Rudder, several years ago. Good products and service and no complaints, but that really doesn’t answer your question. It would seem that the lack of responses suggests a “no” answer. At least for now. Good luck, dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: New to the site #51236

Joe — thanks for volunteering your time for BHA. I am a life member. Indeed, we have an amazing group of folks here, small compard to older sites but growing rapidly, people who for the most part want to discuss issues openly, sometimes even argue politely, but feel no need to take cheap shots at one another. Robin is absolutely the best, and you are absolutely welcome here. dave p

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Film Review of Essential Encounters #49125

WIcanner — I would have to go back and check to confirm this, but I believe Essential Encounters is set up where most of the best wildlife sections have no killing. That is, there are arrows flying in some “chapters” and not in others. By using menu-select, it should be easy to “edit” a version of the film with no killing. At least that’s what crossed my mind while watching it. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Wind check feather #46253

I’m thinking that most of you gentlemen are hunting from treestands? Absolutely I agree with you that a feather makes a great wind-checker, and a feather from a wild bird we’ve kilt ourselves, like a grouse, makes it all the more earthy and traditional. But darn, I mostly hunt elk from the ground, and most often before an arrow lets fly, we (the elk and me) wind up really close, I mean really close with those huge brown eyes peering into my bald skull in situations so intense that any honest whitetail would have been gone ages before it came to that. In such almost supernatural close encounters I find myself squinting my eyes almost shut, even while wearing a face mask, and trying like some crazwed Buddhist monk to breath without breathing, for fear I’ll be busted. Consequently, knowing that may well come to this happy but electrically intense final moment of stand-off, I’ve never dared to have a flopping flipping feather on my bow … rather like jiggling a dry fly in front of a hungry trout’s nose — he IS going to tune in on that. All of which may be a non sequitur to the discussion at hand, but hey it’s happy hour again. I use “smoke in a bottle” and only when I think I can get away with it. Lotsa ways to skin a cat, and I’m not a cat lover. anon 😯

[David Petersen]

in reply to: modern mendelbrot bow #45740

Nice craftsmanship, Steve. Indeed, an odd design that flies in the face of the standard wisdom that the less weight at limb tips, the better. Always fun to find new ways to skin an old cat. Thanks for sharing, dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Dealing with Back Troubles. #44505

Steve — Our two “tradbow docs,” Don Thomas and Dave Sigurslid, both are gone at the moment (Don practices medicine one week a month on a MT Indian reservation, and Dave is in MN to compete in a major long-distance x-country ski race). Both will be back soon and I’ll let them know of your question. I think Dave will say that you should get over your rejection of pain killers, as there are many that don’t affect your alertness, etc. Before he had massive back surgery a couple of years ago, Dave would eat 4 ibuprophens each morning before going out hunting. I too enjoy spinal arthritis and mostly just “eat the pain.” But when I know I’m in for a tough day, like elk hunting or cutting firewood, I’ll eat two ibuprophens in the morning and they really help. Pain pills in that category work much better taken as preventives rather than after the pain starts. I admire your tenacity. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: short longbow recommendation #41541

Switchback – Welcome here, from your fellow Dane, albeit for me the third generation (that is, my grandfather came over in the late 1880s). I love your culture and your landscapes, but the food sounds awful! 😛 Wish I could get there to try it for myself, but I’m now living on Social Insecurity so there goes that idea. Thanks for the bow advice. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: New issues Editors Note, and a question without an easy answer… #41097

Wild — I have a friend who lives in deep-bush AK, purely subsistence. This past winter he had to kill two wolves, one big and one small, both male and both black, that were harassing his sled dogs every night. He says they taste fine. Similarly, I’ve talked to people in Canada who claim to eat and enjoy coyote and jackrabbit. Guess it depends how hungry a guy is. If I felt directly threatened by an animal, and it was legal, I would not hesitate to break my own “kill only what you will eat” rule to take care of the problem. This is hardly the same as killing “varments” from 500 yards with a .223 purely for the fun of watching them explode. But gee, I wish we had at least a little of your wolf problem down here in CO, where the DOW complains year after year that hunters aren’t able to “make the kill” and the herds continue to explod, and now the DOW director is saying we need to let ATVs run rampant in the backcountry in order to “get the hunters to where the elk are.” Well, the elk are there primarily because ATVs are not. I’d prefer wolves. And in Rocky Mountain NP they are using sharpshooters to exterminate elk by the hundreds, which are overpopulated to the point they are destroying their own habitat, as per Lamar Valley pre-wolves and Leopold’s “Round River.” Life is one big slippery slope, ain’t it? Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Posting Pictures in the Forums #41090

Robin — Nice picture of a cat-skin quiver! How many arrows will it hold? I hear they taste pretty good too, according to Don T. 😛 dave

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