[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: New Bow…but not THE bow… #49766

I lost some of the pictures I took of the construction process, or I would have shown the riser being cut out. I have a template I use to trace the pattern on the riser block. Then I cut it out with the bandsaw and sand it till it fits the form right.

The bow is 66″ ntn and the riser is 15 inches fadeout to fadeout. So the riser isn’t too far into the limbs. Not sure what you mean by your question about the riser wood being part of the working limb.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Man I missed you guys(and galls)! #49440

And a merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! Good luck with the rest of your school year!

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Ideal Broadhead weight #49424

When Standing Bear started this thread I thought it was beating a dead horse…. But maybe not.

In my humble opinion, there are only 2 drawbacks to using an arrow with a lot of weight up front. They fly a little slower and they are harder to pull out of 3d targets.

On the other hand, if you already have arrows setup with less weight up front, and you don’t have any trouble with them, then why change? I’m sure nobody reading this ever makes a bad shot…

The problem with traditional archery is that evidence for effective setups is always anecdotal. It is hard to gather much data about any particular setup. If a guy says “my setup is great, I kill deer with it every year” It still doesn’t add up to much quantitatively.

For myself, I respect data that is unbiased, quantitatively meaningful, collected over a long time, and qualitatively valid. I think of myself as open minded. So I am going to give Ashby’s findings a go.

So this year, I am intentionally setting up some heavier arrows with about 300 grains up front counting the insert. The difference in speed is about 10 fps between my current 600 grain arrows and my new 750 grain arrows. Will this speed loss be critical to a miss? I guess we’ll see.

The main thing to remember is that there is more than 1 way to skin a cat 😆 The thing is, to find the way that works best for you!

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Great Plains Longbows #48275

I believe they make Dales bow for 3Rivers Archery. The Great Planes longbow has a similar look to it.

I know there have been several posts about the 3Rivers bows and all were very positive.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: How Old is Too Old? #44804

Occasionally mammoth show up in the melting ice. I understand that the folks that live in the area prize these finds for the bounty of meat. So a few years in the old chest freezer couldn’t make a bit of difference if it doesn’t get burned.

There is an episode of Northern Exposure that dealt with this subject. It’s a good thing to watch on these snowy cold days.

Now that I think about it, I think I’ll pull a mammoth…ooops I mean moose…, roast out of the freezer that’s been in there a few years and get my wife to do her magic with it for supper 😆

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: String Tuning #43631

Hiram – You asked to see pictures of the new bow I was working on… I did a build along of it in the bowyer forum if you are still interested.

It is the first 66 inch bow I have made. Others were 64 inch. So far I have been shooting it a lot better than shorter bows.

There is a trend here for me. I started with 62 inch bows and shot poorly. Moved to 64 inch bows and shot ok. Now with the 66 inch bow I am doing a lot better and no signs of the lefties.

Maybe my next bow will be 150 inches 🙄

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Restoring Feathers #43609

What seems to work for me is to hold them over the steam and use the steam to blow the feathers back up. Usually I get the kettle whistling before I start. Annoys the family real good 😆 so I try to wait till nobody is around.

When I have done all I think is possible with the steam, then I hold the arrow shaft in my palms and spin the arrow as fast as I can a few times. Then lean the arrow against the wall somewhere to recover. I like to put it on the mantle over the fire so it gets good and dry. This seems to help to.

Hope this helps.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Restoring Feathers #42839

Wash the feathers off with cold water as soon as possible. Then hold them over a steaming tea kettle and fluff them up in the steam as much as you can. Let dry.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: New Bow…but not THE bow… #42805

For better or worse, the bow is done! It didn’t come out too bad and I am looking forward to shooting it. I took pictures in the sun and it looks like a bit of lint stuck to the nock when I took the picture.

And here is the limb with the snake cloth. It darkened a bit, but still came out ok.

And the riser:

And the bow strung:

So now to make some arrows that spine for it and go get some waskally wabbats!!!

I hope you enjoyed my efforts 😀 .

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Self guided public land feral hog hunting #42509

First Question- Where do you live, and how far will you go? 😯

There are pigs in many places. Once you answer this question, you will get suggestions.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: New Bow…but not THE bow… #38809

Duncan,

Send me a PM with your address. I’ll send you the cloth minus what I’ve cut:) Then you can decide what you want from it and send me a some of the tree bark back. Once you get it, don’t feel obligated to do a trade if you don’t like it.

I don’t know what it is made from. The tag didn’t say.

I did an experiment on a piece of wood to see what would happen. The cloth glued to the wood just fine with the TBII. So no worries there.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: New Bow…but not THE bow… #37699

I have applied the snake skin fabric backing. I don’t think it’s the greatest looking stuff, but what can compare to the real thing. This bow has been an exercise in education:x

I applied the fabric with tight bond 2. After allowing it to dry for 24 hours, it popped off! Lesson learned – TBII doesn’t bond to carbon.

So I redid it with epoxy. Here’s the tape on the sides of the bow to keep the glue off:

Here’s a picture of the backing before any sanding to get it smoothed in on the edges:

Things are ugly right now, hopefully it can only get better:oops:

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: what bow for long draw length #36904

Speaking for those of us with no talent, I have to respectfully disagree with Dave. I started out with a 62 inch bow for all the reasons Dave mentions. I had a dickens of a time getting good groups. So I made a 64 inch bow. And my groups improved a lot. I shot 64 inch bows for some years until I just couldn’t seem to get any better. Then I moved up to a 66 inch bow, and my groups started improving again.

While it is true that I have a harder time maneuvering a longer bow, and have to make compromises in my shot opportunities, I have to live with that. At least when a chance to shoot comes my way, I know I have a good chance of making good on it.

So I would recommend getting a longer bow first. Then after you get some experience under your belt, you can always get a smaller bow. I think it is true that if you can shoot a short bow well, you can shoot a longer bow to. The opposite isn’t true and thus you may end up getting frustrated and/or buying more bows than you want if you start off with a shorter bow.

2 cents from an average archer.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: New Bow…but not THE bow… #30407

Duncan,

Here is the link to the snakeskin fabric:
http://www.discountfabricsusacorp.com/snakeskinprint.html

I may take you up on the tree bark cloth. I looked around and none of the new camo’s really would look as good as the tree bark camo in my opinion.

Maybe we can work a trade after I get the snakeskin fabric. If it works out and you like the looks of the bow when it is done.

It may be a week before the fabric gets delivered, and a week after that before I can post finished pictures.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: New Bow…but not THE bow… #29660

The riser is laminated birch called dymonwood and the core is actionboo which is laminated bamboo. I get my stuff from bingham projects.

I think we all have a story of stupidity from our youth. I can remember a few moments from my youth when I was close to a stupid death and didn’t realize it until the moment passed…. and I cringe to think what stupid things my kids have yet to do.:oops:

It truly is amazing that we survive our youth… I’m glad the mango tree was the one that suffered for your impulsive shot and not you!

[Author]

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