[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: HELP!!!! #132110

Man, seeing that pic reminds me….. I wish I could concentrate on a shot the way my dog focuses on a ball or frisbee he’s chasing…….

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Noisy Bow #132070

I have the “talent” of being able to make my Brackenbury recurve shoot with a good amount of  noise when I make a sloppy/funky release. Most of this stems from some physical disabilities, to a minor degree. But a lot of it does have to do with the fact that my shooting sucks like a bucket full of ticks. Have some bad arthritis in my fingers and hand,  and wrist that broke and never healed properly from my old motocross days. So, my release suffers somewhat, and one side effect of that is the occasional noisy release.

 

I shoot split fingers, btw. I’ve read that 3 fingers under can be louder……..

I’ve been shooting my 50# longbow lately, because the poundage is lighter than the Brackenbury. I can make my longbow shoot noisy with a relaxed, loose grip. When I grip the lonbow tighter, it gets much quieter.  Dunno if that would make your recurve shoot noisy or not. The loose grip does’t seem to affect my Brackenbury recurve at all……..

Jimmie

Added in EDIT: Holy Crap!!! I just saw the date n this old thread! Hope this guy has already fixed this by now! Dunno why it showed up near the top of my list of recent post……..

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: HELP!!!! #131812

Stephen Graf sorta touched on something with his statement about “patience”. Most folks that have previously shot compounds with sights don’t instantly come up to their “past standard of accuracy” in a short amount of time. Barebow shooting definitely requires more time to get hunting-level accuracy than a sighted system does, I think. Simply put, it takes some time, quality practice, and the aforementioned patience to get proficient shooting instinctively. Don’t stress over it; that’ll only make things happen slower……

This month’s issue of Traditional Bowhunter magazine has another great article about instinctive shooting by G. Fred Asbell on “Concentration”. This has been a huge part of  the problem with my personal shooting. The times when I’ve focused intently as he describes have resulted in some of my best shots. I have a tough time focusing on “the tiny spot on the target” when I’m preoccupied with some other aspect of my shot cycle.

It’s sorta gotten easier to focus/concentrate by limiting myself to only 2 arrows, and limiting the length of time I practice. I pick the the 2 ugliest, most beat up arrows outta my quiver, and those are what I practice with for a given amount of time (say, 20-30 minutes). When I group shoot 6+ arrows, my shots/groups typically get worse the longer my practice sessions go. I think this is mostly due to fatigue. Shooting only one arrow (sometimes) or two arrows forces me to try to make my shots count”, like in a hunting situation. Shooting fewer arrows definitely makes it easier for me to concentrate, and I get more much needed steps in retrieving arrows…….

I’m still not where I want to be, yet. I’ll be one of those that will hunt, but impose a limit on myself of 10-12 yd. shots, as it now stands. That’s fine; I feel it’s every bit as important (if not more so) to refine my hunting skills/woodcraft as it is my shooting skill…….

Good Luck with your shooting! Hope this helps!

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Pacific Northwest Archery Shops #131801

I haven’t been to the the website for Raptor Archery in Hood River, OR for awhile. If Ted is around, that would be a few miles east of I-5, but a cool shop to visit.

Andy Ponce at Addictive Archery is somewhere around Gervais, OR, which is pretty much right on I-5. I’ve never been to his shop, but he’s been great to order & buy from. He puts out some great wooden arrow building videos…….

I dunno if Weylin at Swiftwood Bows has a brick and mortar store or not…..

Ditto for Surewood Shafts……..

I’m certain there are others around here. Thinking isn’t my strong suit, and I’ve used my last remaining brain cells already……

Jimmie

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: How Much Straightness Is Needed For Wood Shafts? #130912

Thanks, Scout!!!

I think that *for myself*, the plains style quiver works best (there are no perfect quivers……).

I tend to stillhunt kinda brushy areas, and I’ve had the best luck getting around in that type of habitat with the Plains Indian-style quiver. I can carry it on either side, and with the strap shortened up a bit, have used it as a back quiver as well. Plus, I do have some Indian in my bloodline, so I kinda sorta feel a bit “connected” to my heritage when carrying arrows this way. Although one of my huntin’ buddies who advocates bow quivers has told me “Yeah, well, good luck with your “Indian connection”. Ya can’t eat a “connection”…….. You need to shoot somethin’ if ya wanna eat somethin’.”.  Sigh….. I gotta start hangin’ with different huntin’ buds…….

I like the looks and traditional aspects of a Hill-style back quiver, I have a tough time with the arm bump thing necessary for using one of those. I do still plan on trying to make a Hill-style back quiver, and practicing with it.

Here’s a group I shot tonight at 20 big-boy steps (somewhere around 18-20 yds.?) with my *inexpensive* OMP Ozark Hunter longbow, which I really like shootin’…… I was actually aiming for the very middle blue dot, though…… Once the operator gets it together, this could be huntable, I think. I’m happy with the arrows performance……

Jimmie

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: How Much Straightness Is Needed For Wood Shafts? #130851

Well, I guess you guys can say “I told you so!!”, hee hee……

The snow is gone, we had blue skies here in western OR for a few moments, the outside  temperature warmed up to the 40s, so I went & shot my new cedar arrows.

They shot every bit the equal of my aluminums I’ve been flogging for awhile. These things pretty much all have a slight amount of runout/wobble when I spin them on my arrow spinner gizzie I made for checking runout. But it definitely isn’t enough to effect my pathetic shooting at all. And again, they grouped right next to my old beat up alums!

I fletched up some 90 deg. 4″/4-fletch arrows,, along with some 3-fletched arrows. They all seem to impact at the same general area of the target, and the 4-fletchers don’t seem any noisier than the 3-fletched arrows. Maybe all the noise I was hearing from my (beat up) 4-fletch alums. was from the tired, beat up feathers?

Anyway, thanks for the reassurance y’all gave me above here. I’m really happy withthese arrows. Now to see what Surewood firs do with broadheads do next………

Here’s my Jim Brackenbury Drifter, my arrows, and my attempt at a Lakota/Plains Indian-style quiver.

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Surewood Shafts #130596

You will find that the taper tool you have will tear the wood on fir arrows.  You can make it work, but it won’t be pretty.

Sanders do give the best results.  You can:

1. buy a plate with grooves in it that you can mount to a belt or disk sander, or
2. you can go all in and get the woodchuck sander,or
3.  you can make the whole thing yourself from scratch.

Thanks, Stephen!

Yeah, the Bear Paw’s tapers actually weren’t very pretty on the cedars I just put together. But then again, I’m no Beauty Queen mahself, hee hee……

I think I’m gonna exercise option #3 that you listed. I have a disc sanding wheel for my table saw. Can clamp a homemade jig on the table. Just need to go out to the barn and do it, I reckon.

 

FWIW, here’s the aforementioned cedars:

These are somewhat of an”experiment”. I tried out cresting with brush/enamel paint, and with Sharpies. For my skillset, the Sharpies won that contest. The painted shafts were an experiment, as previous woodies were stained. And if you notice, I have some 3 fletch, and some 90 degree 4 fletch; all are 4″ feathers. I’ve previously been shooting 4 fletch 75/105s, and felt like I was hearin’ a good bit of “feather noise” when I shot. Wondering if the 3 feather setup, or the 90 deg. 4 feathers will be quieter. The whole white/blue color scheme is an attempt to make my arrow more visible and easier to find. I guess I need to stay outta snowy areas for awhile, huh? An Indian guy who worked at a local archery shop told me a long time ago that “there ain’t a lot of blue colored stuff in the woods around here (Oregon)”, and so far, it seems to make it easier to find dem ole stray arras. Anyway, my whole arrow building process is in a continual state of being refined.

And all this is for the new batch of Surewoods I have sittin’ here near this computer, waiting to become arrows. These definitely are nice, tight grained, and straighter than my cedars when I got them. I hope to make some decent, possibly “huntable” arrows with them!

Jimmie

 

In EDIT: Forgot to thank the folks that have helped me he by posting, and thanks to Greg Ragan for the inspiration & help on the painted shafts. Will try “make ’em better” next time!

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Surewood Shafts #130588

For those of you that put your own nock & point tapers on these shafts, do you use a disc sander/jig to do it, or a “pencil sharpener” type of tool? I know at Surewood’s website they state something like “NOTE  Because the nature of Douglas Fir does not lend it self very well to the razor blade type tapering tools, blah blah blah“.

All I have is a Bear Paw taper tool. On my last batch of cedars I cut the tapers with that tool, and it was a good bit of work to get the nocks and target points on straight. Is the sander  method a bit more “precise” way to get tapers?

 

Jimmie

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Stump Shooting #130213

Personally, most of the arrows I lose are from missing the targets. Haven’t figured out how to beat that one, yet……. 😉

Actually, I lose most of my arrows (usually judo points, on woodies I spent more time on than I should’ve……) when shooting at a target just on the “edge of a draw/drop off”. I’ve sent several arrows into the ravine behind those chosen targets. So, to beat that, I quit shootin’ at those kinds of targets. Now I try to just pick targets with good backstops behind whatever I’m shooting behind.

I guess to answer the question in short form, I “edit” my targets. Not confined to short shots, or ones with no limbs & “objects”. I just plan for a miss (that’s positive reinforcement, huh?), and try to focus on targets & objects with a hill behind them……

I will say I’m not certain you’ll ever not lose arrows stump shooting. It’s just kind something you accept & live with……

Hope this helps!

Jimmie

 

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Thanks For The G. Fred Asbell Article On Practicing! #130210

Hey, Robin!!!!

I wanted to say “Kudos & Thanks!” to you for doing whatever you did to the “SEARCH” function/thingie/gizzie/feature (sorry for all the technical lingo there…..).

I’ve finally been able to use it, and am now able to “find stuff”. It’s working well, for me now, and I hope for everyone else.

Thank You, Again!

Jimmie

Added in “EDIT”: Well, Phooey……. I had real good luck doing the “SEARCH” with the magnifying glass from the HOME page, using 2 words. But when I tried a 2 or 3-word search within most of the forums, I got that “HTTP Error 404.11-Not Found” Error message. Sorry to heap on you here. It’s definitely not a huge thing; just wonderin’ if anyone else has this issue?

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: How Much Straightness Is Needed For Wood Shafts? #130171

I think that’s some good advice there, Stephen! I believe I’ll try that. Thinkin’ about maybe trying some Surewood Fir shafts, also. Maybe it was just a fluke kinda thing, but the last batch of Port Orford cedar I just got a couple of weeks ago really wasn’t as good as I’ve seen in the past. Been hearing that’s becoming more “the norm”? The POC I got from 3Rivers  few months back was good quality……..

Along this “straightening an arrow” subject, has anyone used an Ace Roller Straightener? I  made a similar tool out of a pulley from my local hardware store, but found a couple of things I don’t like about my attempt. I did have better luck with that style of tool than any other I’ve used.

Came across this “series” of videos by this guy about straightening wooden arrows that’s been  helpful.

I have a home-made roller setup like he uses, and did pick up a pointer or two that helps. I’ve been doing the “swap ends on the rollers” method he uses, but have been “over using” my home-made pulley style tool. I don’t like to succumb to gimmicks, but I really do wanna shoot woodies, and if a tool works good, might pull the trigger on it……

The more I think on it,  the more I believe I should be able to build at least few wooden arrows that will in all likelyhood shoot better than I’m capable of doing. Think I’ll quit worrying about it…..

 

Jimmie

 

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: Bad Shoulder #130170

Good to hear you’ve been to a doctor before seeking help from the interweb!

I tend to shoot through it, unless it’s really screamin’ at me……

You might wanna ask him about doing stretches? I have some old motocross racing shoulders (collarbones have been broken 3 times, rotator cuff  is messed up on left shoulder……) & Rheumatoid Arthritis. I don’t miss too many days doing a 15 min. series of stretches for neck, wrists, shoulders, lower back, and hamstrings. This works for me. I do get a lot of creaking noises, grinding, & popping sensations first thing in the morning, but I’ve learned to just get through the “routine”,and I always feel better afterwards. I try not to take many drugs, but an Ibuprofen now & then helps a bit. The stretches, for me, work pretty good.

Good Luck with this. I really hope you’ll be shooting as pain free as you can be, and soon!

 

Jimmie

 

Added in EDIT: Would it be possible to temporarily drop down in the draw weight of your bow?

[Jimmie Newton]

in reply to: How Much Straightness Is Needed For Wood Shafts? #130140

Thanks, Stephen!!!

I think  pictures of your finished arrows were some that I admired, and more or less how I built my first 1 dozen batch of cedar slivers years ago. Basically, I stained them, put a minimal crest on them (spun ’em by hand…… man, did that turn out “not so well”…….), sealed ’em, fletched ’em, and shot ’em.

The very first thing I’ve done on my last 2 batches is to straighten them, as best as I’m able to.  I’ll usually check them & straighten them again a day or so later, before I do the knock tapers. And do the same afterwards, before I stain, crest, seal them, & such .

But I’ve gotta think that while it would be nice to have my dial indicator read a steady “0” as I spin a wood shaft under it, it probably ain’t gonna happen with woodies. I dunno; maybe I should just stick to aluminums…..

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