[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Fletchers #47261

I give another vote for the Jo-Jan. They are expensive, but very adjustable, durable, and you can get 6 arrows done precisely and quickly. I have 2 of them. 1 with straight clamps, one with helical clamps. The straight clamps are great for grinding feathers down on the belt sander.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: St.Charles Thunderbird ?? #45619

What’s the lead time to get your bow?

I would like to hear how it works out for you as I have come close to getting one myself… So many great bows, so little money… But the history in that bow will give you much to think about while you are waiting on your deer.

If you can post pictures that would be great.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: String Tuning #44369

Will do,… if it turns out alright. I coughed up the 180 bucks for some ball bearing guides for my band saw. What a difference. I’ve been cutting out test risers from 2×4’s and boy is it nice. I plan on laying the bow up this weekend.

If the bow turns out ok, It may get the copper head skins. It’s taken 2 years to get 3 decent skins.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Hickory Self Bows #43272

Beautiful! Where do you get the cotton camo cloth? And what do you finish over the cloth with?

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Carbon Arrows: A Stiff Side #39669

Used to be most all carbon shafts had a stiff side. The way to find it was to plug the ends of the shaft and put the shafts in the bathtub and let the arrow rotate in the water until the seam (stiff side) sank. Then put a line on the shaft with a pen. The opposite side of the line was the stiff side.

The stiff side was a result of the way shafts were made.
the carbon matrix was wrapped around a spindle then cured. The spindle was then removed. This process leaves a seam.

Newer manufacturing processes allow the fiber to be woven onto the spindle. Thus no seam and no stiff side. There are several patents relating to this process, so maybe it took ABS a while to acquire the rights to make their shafts using this method….

Dave – you keep calling carbon express cheapo’s… you are breaking my hear man… I like my Carbon Express traditional arrows…. 😕

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Question about Cresting Paints #39656

I have a couple questions too…
What paint sticks to carbon arrows?
How much FOC is normal to lose from cresting?

I tried the bohning paint and it just runs off. I then spray painted a base coat on with rustolium paint for plastic and it did a marginal job. But when I checked the FOC it was almost 2 inches back as compared to a vinyl wrap:(

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Almost done #39650

Nice! Especially like the way you did the string nocks with the tapered down hickory.
Good luck in the late season!

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: String Tuning #34546

Hiram – I’ve tried the things you suggest without curing the problem. Without a doubt, the root cause is a form problem. But I don’t think it is a problem I can fix. Sort of like a 1 armed person would have a form problem. As a kid, I broke my left arm several times. It works fine, but it has its quirks.

The reason I tried the nock set on the string is because I was fooling with my nocking point. I wrapped a piece of tape around the string to allow me to nock the arrow in different places on the string. When this failed to show any results for the millionth time, I slid the tape up the string to get it out of the way. That’s when my left issue faded a bit. So I took the tape off carefully and weighted it. It came in at 3 grains. My nock sets are 5 grains. I haven’t used them in a few years ’cause I normally tie my nock set in.

The reason I think there is something to this is because the nock set will migrate up or down the string to its preferred point. I expect it is finding a vibration node.

Brett – I expect to see my “lefties” creep back in…. usually it takes a week or so for that to happen when I change something up. So I waited a week before posting this.

The nock set is not really “loose”. As part of the experiment, I left it loose so it could be pushed up and down the string. After I found the best performance at about 4.5 inches up from the nocking point, I pinched the nock down tight.

1 final observation – When you read the “how to” books. Most talk about fine tuning your bow by moving string silencers up and down. What a pain. I am guessing that having this nock set on the string and moving it around is accomplishing the same thing… only easier.

I am hoping someone else has a “lefties” problem and will give this a try. I would like to know that it isn’t just me…:oops:

No hunting this morning…:D
I got nice doe last night and she is hanging under the porch waiting to get skinned. Also a copperhead in the fridge waiting for the same thing. Shot the head off the snake about 5 minutes before shooting the deer. 12 yards from my tree stand…. oh yea I was feeling good.:D

Now I have the skins for my next bow. I am waiting for a box from Binghams right now… Maybe today it will come!

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Leave Recurve strung? #32252

If you are talking about a self bow… you must unstring it because the cast of the bow is due 100% to the wood. And wood will take a set if left bent.

If you are talking about a fiberglass backed / bellied bow, then it doesn’t matter. The fiberglass provides the cast and the fiberglass doesn’t care about being bent. The wood provides distance between the back and belly of the bow. The poundage of the bow results from the thickness of the glass and the distance between the back / belly glass. The wood in effect is just a spacer.

That being said, I always unstring my bow and keep it on a rack up high where the kids can’t get to it. If I leave my bow strung, something invariably happens to it. Like the cat chewing my fletching while I’m in the outhouse.:oops:

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: The Good, The Bad, and The Really, REALLY UGLY. #27942

Look on the bright side, at least you don’t have dog hunting. Down south here as soon as archery season is over, the dog hunters come out. I have a 50 acre spread that I own primarily to raise my kids in the country and hunt on. Come opening day of gun season, the road hunters dump their dogs out on my property and chase the deer off. That’s it for my season. Private land doesn’t matter. And to boot… the insurance lobby has gotten the DNR to change the laws in NC to reduce the archery season. The plan is that within 2 years there will be no primitive season. Just open season.

Makes you reconsider high fences, doesn’t it? Not to keep the deer in specifically, just to keep other stuff out. Seriously, I’ve been thinking about it….:oops:

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: bow quiver #24977

When I was using a compound, I switched to feathers. In general I believe they do a better job than plastic fletching. But the thing that made me switch was that feathers lay down when going through a hole. I had 2 large mule deer shot through the chest where the plastic fletch hung up inside and didn’t give me a good exit wound… thus hard tracking till the arrow pulled out.

If you shoot off a rest, you can get fine arrow flight with plastic vanes. But I think you will have a hard time if you shoot off the shelf.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Problems with my release again !!!!!! #22329

I took my training wheels off 4 seasons ago. So I am still in the early stages. With that said, my experience so far leads me to say that accuracy is 90% in the bow arm/hand and 10% in the string arm/hand.

I didn’t really worry much about my release until my groups got small enough to allow me to hunt. Then I started seeing some inconsistencies that I couldn’t explain. I to found that a good push/pull form worked very well to establish better accuracy. But then I went hunting….

As has been said, form is everything. And I agree. But the form has to be robust so that it can handle uneven foot position, crazy angles, twisting, etc. I found that when I used the push/pull form and ended with my string hand touching my shoulder after the shot, I had some wayward arrows.

So then I started using the dead hand release. Thus keeping my string hand against my face after the shot. What I noticed is that my absolute accuracy was not as good (almost though), my wayward shots were not nearly as bad. And for me, a good shot on a deer is the goal, not a dot.

I splurged on the Fred Bear videos from 3Rivers over the last 3 seasons. And I noticed something interesting. If you look at Fred’s form back in the ’50’s you will see him using the back tension method and touching his shoulder after the shot. In his later years he uses a dead release.

I think the method a person uses has to be based on their physical structure. For me I am so sloppy jointed and crooked boned that I need to keep my hand still to avoid throwing the string. Then I push like a crazy man with my bow arm still the arrow hits the mark. It ain’t pretty, but it works. That’s how I build my shot.

I could never pat my head and rub my stomach…or is it rub my stomach and pat my head? awww damn, I just fell down while chewing gum again!

Mostly remember archery is an elective sport. Keep it fun, don’t beat yourself up too much. Take a break and think about what’s happening. Come up with a new plan and give it a try when you are feeling good.

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Curly Hickory Longbow #20397

Sorry to see the cracks,…but it may not be all that bad. I have read that cracks that run the length of the glass do not affect the integrity of the bow. I have a bow that has a crack up the limb and I have continued to shoot it without further problem.

I think the glass with “scrim” is supposed to alleviate the problem of longitudinal cracks. I haven’t had the problem in bows I made using the scrim glass.

I think bows made in the winter months are more prone to the cracking due to the expansion problem. I read in one of Fred Bear’s biographies that he had a bunch of bows do this back in the 60’s due to the really dry cold winter they had that year. He replaced all the bows and it nearly made him bankrupt.

You are in good company 😳

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Grip Inspiration #20114

Dennis, Thanks for the pictures. I have made increasingly complex grips and gotten very pretty bows that don’t seem friendly. So I was pretty set on going back to the basics. Looking at your riser, the fade outs seem to have a steep slope. How is it holding up? Do you attribute anything good or bad to this taper? And finally, would you attach a picture of the riser from the belly side?

Thanks again. This is just the inspiration I needed!!!:D

Oh yea, I put the finger contours on my last bow, same as you show here. And I am thinking it makes me lazy in my grip. How do you feel about the finger contours?

[Stephen Graf]

in reply to: Scent-Lok #14569

I have used scent-loc stuff and can’t say that it makes a big difference. No matter what you will get busted from time to time.

I have found a cheap cover scent that seems to help at least as much as anything else. I buy a bottle of cedar oil from a website in Texas. I then make a mixture of 10oz water, 2 oz cedar oil, and a drip of ivory dish soap. When sprayed on my cloths, it lasts many days, basically till the next wash.

You need cedars in your area though, or you will stand out. to their noses….

[Author]

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