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in reply to: The Endless Loop #18445
Bruce,
Endless bowstrings are one of those things that, for the most part, are either made right or they aren’t. There isn’t a lot of middle ground, and there aren’t any sort of hidden secrets. Keep the strand tension consistent, make them to the correct length for the bow, serve them properly, don’t overbuild them like a tow rope, and you’re pretty much good to go.
As far as performance differences, it’s probably a moot point. I know I’ve never seen an Olympic recurve archer with a Flemish string, but then again, most of us aren’t trying to hit 12.2 cm ten rings at 70 meters either. Keeping things in perspective is important.
With respect to stability, I do see a lot of folks with Flemish strings fiddling with their brace height a lot. Most of them seem to have an awful lot of twists in their strings—I’ve seen two and three per inch—which tells me either their strings were made too long or never settled in correctly and continue to creep. With endless strings I don’t have that problem. I make them to the proper length, take about a dozen shots, and the brace height doesn’t move again.
Which string type is quieter is something I’ve heard both ways. Truth be known, I’ve never had a problem with either string type and noise. I suspect noise has more to do with tuning than whether or not the ends of your bow strings are served. The only exceptions to that I’ve seen are overwaxed Flemish strings and recurves. They tend to make noise during the draw as the string peels off the belly of the limbs.
Neither string is particularly stronger than the other. An 18-strand string is an 18-strand string. Yes, a Flemish does technically have twice as many strands in the loops. But if an 18-strand string has 36 strands in the loops, where is it more likely to break, where it has 18 strands or 36? Kind of a moot point, and if your bow string breaks at the loops you have a bow design problem anyway, because something in the nock grooves is cutting into your string.
In the end, it really does come down to personal preference. I like endless strings because they’re what I’ve been building since I was old enough to do so. I have good friends who prefer Flemish because that’s what they like to build. Made properly, both work just fine.
in reply to: The Endless Loop #17898Bruce,
What in particular are you wanting to know?
in reply to: Lars Andersen–a great Dane! #17329Some of us were discussing this video the other day at the archery club. YouTube videos of amazing shooting are nothing new. They’ve been popping up for years, and most folks understand the difference between reality and carefully edited footage with misses piled up on the cutting room floor. They’re entertaining, but should probably be kept in perspective. The attached article sums up most of the conclusions we came to regarding this video, which I personally found more entertaining with the volume turned down so I didn’t have to hear several minutes of historical and factual inaccuracies.
in reply to: Ragg bag filling #11777Just go to your local supermarket and get a bunch of old plastic shopping bags.
in reply to: Arrow Weights #60330Letitgo,
Welcome aboard. I love archery as well as bowhunting, and one is not contingent upon the other. I’d still hunt if I couldn’t shoot a bow, and I’d still shoot a bow if I couldn’t hunt. I used to shoot the same bow and arrows for everything—target and hunting—until I decided to get serious about competitive archery again. I shot and won a lot of indoor target, 3D and field archery with my hunting setup, but at a certain level of competition it became a hindrance.
These days my target bows pull 44# and my hunting bows 56#. That’s at my 32” draw length. My hunting arrows weigh in right around 500 grains (plus or minus 2 grains) and shoot through my chronograph right at 200 fps. They’re full length Beman ICS 340s with Easton uni nocks, four 4” feathers, 20-grain glue-on inserts and 125-grain broadheads. I’ve shot them through every species of big game I’ve hunted up to and including bull moose.
My target arrows for 3D, field, and outdoor paper weigh 245 grains and go through my chronograph at 235 fps. I would not suggest shooting that light of an arrow unless your bow is designed for it. Most are probably not. Those arrows are full length Victory VAP 600s with Beiter 12/2 nocks, three 3” feathers (or vanes depending on the weather) and 62-grain glue-in points. The speed is great for reducing distance estimation errors on 3D and reaching 80-yard field targets.
My indoor target arrows are full length Victory VX-23s with pin bushings, Beiter pin nocks, three 4” feathers, and standard inserts with 145-grain screw-in points. I think they’re around 440 grains or so, and I haven’t shot them through a chronograph yet. Based on the relatively short point on distance, they’re probably shooting around 170-180 fps.
If a person shoots instinctively, staying with one bow and arrow configuration is probably a good idea. For those of us who prefer conscious, dedicated aiming systems there are ways to negate differences in trajectory from one setup to the next. Either way, I’ve found target archery a wonderful compliment to bowhunting and look forward to tournaments almost as much as I do sitting in a tree stand.
Very nice. I usually use a game cart or a cheap deer drag harness from Hunter Specialties. It goes around your waist and over your shoulder and had a D ring in the middle of the back for attaching a dragging rope. It keeps your hands free for carrying your bow and such.
in reply to: Now that it's over #60305Now that hunting seasons are over it’s time for the archery tournaments to begin. Our club’s indoor spot league starts tonight, and the IBO Indoor 3D World Championship is this weekend. After that are local shoots, state, sectional, and national target championships and some 3Ds here and there. Once the ground unthaws I have a few habitat projects planned on our WI property, including transplanting a few hundred more white pines and tweaking a few food plots.
in reply to: You mite want to see this #53567Ironically, I just submitted a Campfire Philosopher piece that tackles this very subject. Suffice it so say I’m not much of a fan. I love competition and I love hunting, just not at the same time.
in reply to: Tapered Shaft Question #52468I suppose the short and simple answer is yes. If you remove material from the shaft (sans point and nock tapers) you will weaken the static spine. As to how much, it depends on how long you make the taper and how much material you remove. It probably depends on what kind of wood you’re working with.
Back when I shot wood arrows I used to taper mine from 11/32” to 5/16” in the rear 10”. I have no idea how much that powered the static spine because that was before I had a spine tester. I would be curious to hear from someone who’s checked them before and after. If I had to take a wild guess, I’d say it probably didn’t change them by more than a couple pounds at most.
in reply to: Back stops #47061DK wrote: Excelsior bale. 4ft by 2.5ft.
DK
That’s exactly what our club uses for their field and practice ranges. They hold up extremely well.
in reply to: Custom Bow Makers #43574john dilts wrote: Not my first bow. Right now i’m shooting a 55# Martin Jag and a 55# mass produce takedown. The two i am looking at now is ether a 45# bear grizzly or a 45# trad long bow from Great Northern Bowhunting.
Both are exellent choices.
in reply to: Custom Bow Makers #43512I would very much suggest starting out with something used, inexpensive, and preferably light in draw weight. I would never, ever suggest someone just getting into traditional archery run out and buy a high end custom bow. I’ve seen a lot of people take up traditional archery, and none of them end up shooting their first bow long term.
Traditional bows are a lot like other items, the person who buys it new and resells is takes the biggest loss. After that, used is used, and you can usually shoot it for a few years and resell it for what you paid. With respect to draw weight, start off light and develop solid form and good aiming. Once you have those skills down, then work up to the draw weight you’d like.
in reply to: Suggestions: History of Archery Books #37540Patrick,
I like to surf Ebay for old archery books. You can usually find various ones for a few dollars. They’re fun to read, and after a while you realize how little has changed over the past hundred years or so.
in reply to: Thinking about trying wood arrows #33936I’ve heard the same thing about the back of the blade touching a knuckle; some like it and others don’t. As long as the back of the blade isn’t sharpened, I think it falls into the category of things that only matter if you think they do. For me, having a sharp blade that close to my finger would make me nervous, which of course would affect my shooting. Other people like it because it gives them a positive feedback that they’ve reached full draw.
There’s no right or wrong on this one. It’s completely personal preference.
in reply to: camo paint removal #33882Several years ago I bought a ’62 Kodiak at a swap meet. The previous owner had cover it, tip to tip, in thick black paint. I don’t know if it was house paint or what kind it was. Nasty stuff though. I ended up removing it with a lot of fine steel wool and elbow greese.
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