[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Making an endless loop string? #54954

Here are a few sites that will give you the idea.

http://www.onlinearchery.org.uk/advice/tune/string_making.html

http://tradgang.com/endless/ejig.html

http://www.ohiosportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34557

http://daohead.com/loose-stuff.html

The jig I have here is different from all of these, and is close to 50 years old. I probably only have it because the jig is so easy to build that I’ve not carried this one as I traveled the world; I just made new ones to use, wherever I was.

I think you can get the idea from these but if you need more help I can take photos on mine to post. The all-wood jig in the first site listed is closest to mine in construction, but not exactly the same.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Jungle Hammocks. #54918

I use oversized mummy style bags (I ain’t no little fell’er :D). This hammock is very stable. I just put the bag in the hammock, unzip the bag about 2/3 down, sit on the bag and hammock and swing my legs in, wiggle my legs into the bag a bit and zip’er up. Not hard at all.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Building that EFOC & UEFOC arrow #54859

I’m enjoying not having the boob tube to watch. For the last nearly 3 years, while in and out of hospitals, I had nothing much to do but watch it. After just the first month I reached the point that I COULD NOT watch any more so-called bowhunting on any of the ‘outdoor channels’; had to switch to the history, military, science and Fox News channels … with a bit of old movies, football and si-fi thrown in.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Arrows change, yet POI stays same? #54833

If it were me I would carefully bare shaft all three setups and see where the group center of each hits. Try putting a new target face up (just a large sheet of paper or piece of cardboard with a plumbed vertical line on it) and shoot a group (say 10 shots) with JUST ONE of the bare shaft setups, then MARK THE LEFT-RIGHT GROUP CENTER (don’t worry about the up-down center of the group). Then you can just put masking tape over those holes and repeat the process with the second bare shaft setup. Tape up again and do the third bare shaft. You should see a left-right difference in the group center point of impact between the different shafts. Don’t use any fletched shafts at all during this phase of the testing. If you generally cant your bow DON’T CANT YOUR BOW during these test shots.

All your setups will have fairly high FOC and with that much fletching force I can see all the fletched arrows grouping together (especially with field points) but there should be a difference in the bare shaft point of impact (group center). If you can’t see a difference at 20 yards, try again from 25 or 30 yards. You should be able to determine which setup has closest to the correct dynamic spine (impacting closest to the vertical stripe) and whether it is weak or strong.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Arrows change, yet POI stays same? #54770

jmsmithy wrote: ALL arrows sticking straight into target, even bare shafts. ALL arrows hitting SAME place on the target (within reason of course – chalking up group widening or tightening to the guy behind the bow).

(1) What’s your draw length?

(2) Roughly what diameter group are you talking, and at what distance?

(3) Are the groups centered, left – right?

(4) Are bare shafts of all three setups also hitting the same place?

There’s a fair amount of shaft difference. I would expect a difference in bare shaft impact, left – right.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: A long look at fletching and EFOC #54527

The A&A fletch is applied as a straight fletch, with no offset or helical. This decreases wind noise around the fletching to the maximum amount possible. If the fletching size has been determine by the steps I outlined in the prior post you will KNOW that this provides all the drag necessary to stabilize the broadhead under all flight/wind conditions. I found the following quotes on a ‘fletching thread’ elsewhere, where a neophyte was asking for recommendations.

“As much helical as you can put on them.”

“Always use helical, especially w/broadheads.”

“As said, as much helical as your jig will make.”

“They slow the arrow down, make a lot of noise, but they stabilize the arrow and I do like them I shoot 5 3/4″ 7 degree offset.”

“Mine are 5 1/2″ and I used a chopper to cut them. I’ll put as much helical into them as I can.”

“Helically applied, “maxi fletch” banana or shield cut feathers is all I have ever hunted with.”

This makes me wonder if these ‘more experienced’ folks are using excessive fletching and excessive helical to compensate for a lack of adequate arrow tuning or whether their arrows are so marginally stable due to low FOC that they need this amount of drag to overcome the broadhead’s windshear effect and stabilize the arrow’s flight.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Building that EFOC & UEFOC arrow #54526

The A&A fletch is applied as a straight fletch, with no offset or helical. This decreases wind noise around the fletching to the maximum amount possible. If the fletching size has been determine by the steps I outlined in the prior post you will KNOW that this provides all the drag necessary to stabilize the broadhead under all flight/wind conditions. I found the following quotes on a ‘fletching thread’ elsewhere, where a neophyte was asking for recommendations.

“As much helical as you can put on them.”

“Always use helical, especially w/broadheads.”

“As said, as much helical as your jig will make.”

“They slow the arrow down, make a lot of noise, but they stabilize the arrow and I do like them I shoot 5 3/4″ 7 degree offset.”

“Mine are 5 1/2″ and I used a chopper to cut them. I’ll put as much helical into them as I can.”

“Helically applied, “maxi fletch” banana or shield cut feathers is all I have ever hunted with.”

This makes me wonder if these ‘more experienced’ folks are using excessive fletching and excessive helical to compensate for a lack of adequate arrow tuning or whether their arrows are so marginally stable due to low FOC that they need this amount of drag to overcome the broadhead’s windshear effect and stabilize the arrow’s flight.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: A long look at fletching and EFOC #54463

Steve Sr. wrote: Other than shaft weight differences, is the excellerated recovery rate of carbon over the others possibly the reason behind the EFOC carbon arrows tuning easier?

It’s a combination of factors. The flexion characteristic of carbon shafts is certainly a major factor but so is the ability to achieve great levels of arrow stiffness at low weight and small diameter.

The stiffness of carbon shafts allows for the increased point weight achieving high levels of FOC requires without resorting to excessive shaft diameter and/or weight. It’s all the performance characteristics of the carbon shafts tied together that make it the top choice for EFOC and Ultra-EFOC.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Building that EFOC & UEFOC arrow #54454

Troy Breeding wrote: After doing afew cuts myself I desided on simply taking the front 2-1/2″ of a standard feather and squaring off the tail of the cut. I can’t see enough difference in that and the hand cut to warrent all the extra work of cutting from full length. I can cut three feathers in about one minute.
Troy

… but cutting from full length feathers is less expensive. 😀

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Building that EFOC & UEFOC arrow #54449

Texas Red Dog wrote: Where are you guys finding these inserts and weights?

Just do a Google search with “brass inserts arrows” and you’ll come up with several sources.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: A long look at fletching and EFOC #54437

Texas Red Dog wrote: I assume you are using carbon arrows? Are carbon arrows recommended over wood? Very interesting discussion.

A high amount of FOC isn’t easily obtainable with any shafting other than carbon. If you want to reach more than a low to modest level of EFOC you must use carbon shafts. If you want to reach Ultra-EFOC you will need to use only carbon shafts having a low grains per inch weight.

I’ve not been able to get a wood-shafted arrow setup which tuned well that had much more than 21% FOC, or an aluminum-shafted setup having more than about 24%.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Building that EFOC & UEFOC arrow #54365

ozzyshane wrote: does any one us a chopper from 3 rivers to make the A&A fethers they custom make to your order or do you all just use sicissors and cute

Shane, I know a few folks are using custom choppers to cut their A&A fletching. I still use a GOOD pair of scissors and cut mine from full length feathers. That’s partly because I continue to experiment with new arrow setups.

In addition to the broadhead used the exact size of the fletching required can also vary by the amount of FOC and the length the shaft ends up tuning at (because, at a given amount of FOC, the longer the shaft the greater the length of the rear leaver arm and the less the amount of fletching required). However, the main reason I still use scissors is because the straight cuts of the A&A are so easy to make with just scissors. I do use a plastic template as a guide, which I hold against the feather while I cut. I cut the template from old plastic bottles.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Jungle Hammocks. #53884

Polar Bear wrote: Dr. Ashby, followed the link. The price is good. Will order one tomorrow. Thanks for the additional info on cold weather. My old bones don’t do very good on the ground anymore. About time I went back to something comfortable and a lot easier to set up compared to a tent. I also like the way you net hammocks. Will need to pick up a couple.

Hope you are as happy with your’s as I have been with mine. I’ve used hammocks for light camps for years but, like you, I find my old bones now like the hammock better than any other camp bed.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Jungle Hammocks. #53858

wildschwein wrote: Dr. Ashby how cold in degrees celcius have you tested a hammock? Northern Alberta can get mighty cold but I love the idea of packing something like that around instead of a tent and all the junk that goes with it.
Oh and did you have any issues with the eight legged creepy crawlies getting into your hammock when you were in Australia? When I was there I was forever having problems and I slept in hostels. Them Huntsmans especially gave me the jeebies, even though they are pretty much harmless (or so I was told).

I’ve used the hammock at temperatures as low as -24 Celsius (about -11 Fahrenheit). Of course I had my heavier sleeping bag, and the full setup I described above for ‘bitter cold’ but I was perfectly comfortable at that temperature and feel certain that, set up that way, I could use the hammock at even lower temperatures.

I had a really severe funnel web bite on my right ankle while in Australia. I was really sick for several days and have some residual circulatory and nerve damage from the bite. That, however, happened at night in a friend’s house in town, not out in the bush, but I headed bush before daylight and I didn’t start suffering any severe symptoms until mid-afternoon, when I was too far from town to be able to return. Fortunately I had enough along to treat the bite but it was still 5 days before I could get out of bed. Forget about the bad snakes, it’s Australia’s spiders that are dangerous!

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

in reply to: Jungle Hammocks. #53836

Thanks Duncan, I forgot to mention that the Siam Hammock’s rain fly is also designed to double as a rain poncho, but I’ve never used it as one, so won’t comment on how well it serves that purpose.

Ed

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