[tombow]

in reply to: FOC? #40996

I think we can get into trouble thinking that mathematical calculations and the numbers resulting are the be all end all of whether an arrow will fly well from YOUR BOW with YOU shooting it. I have a low 50’s bow like Mr. Dave but found that 80-85 spine woods were too stiff for me unless the shafts are full length, 31.5″ to BOP. I currently am shooting 29.5″ BOP 70-75 spines that are shooting awesome from MY bow with ME shooting it. What I am getting at is that each individual will likely have different shooting results because of how they draw, hold the bow and release.

Excellent arrow flight is the name of the game to me, especially when you start talking about arrow penetration. I can’t imagine that a High FOC arrow that flies poorly will out penetrate a lower FOC arrow that is flying straight, putting it’s weight firmly behind the broadhead at impact.

Forgive me if I am missing the point in what your saying, it’s just that I have used Stu’s calculator alot and have found that when I punch in numbers there I ended up with different spine numbers, Bow requirements vs. my spine numbers. But my arrows fly well irregardless of what the numbers say.

[tombow]

in reply to: Review of 2" Rayzr Feathers… #23460

Seems to me if you’re losing them in flight, they must be flying pretty straight. I’ve been working up some heavy FOC Woods and fletched most with 3″ shields that I cut out of some 4″ parabolics. I recently fletched a couple with 5″ para’s and I can’t see a difference. If the spine of the shaft is right then the feathers don’t have to “work” to keep the arrow straight. I have to say it’s tough to get away from the look of those nice big feathers, the little short ones just look a little strange. But, gain, I don’t see that much difference when the arrow is already flying well without feathers.

Interesting stuff to ponder, that’s fo sho.

TOmBow

[tombow]

in reply to: Darton Super Flite Hunter #15700

To be honest, I have been pretty fearless with mine, probably because of the cheap price, but I have shot the gamut of arrow weights through it from light carbons to a few shots with some heavy woods. I have not noticed a problem at all. I don’t think there’s too many people that can tell you WHEN a bow is going to “fail” BUT if you are not seeing signs to delam, creaking during the draw or unusual noises at the shot I personally would not worry about it. Give it a close, slow look around the whole thing and look for signs of non-usual wear and seperation between laminations. If you don’t see anything you wouldn’t expect from normal wear and tear, SHOOT it and forget it. If the bow wasn’t abused by being left in a hot car or other temp extremes (excessive heat could cause the old glues used in old bows to cause separation), left strung for a very long time, it is likely that the bow still has another years or better. Again, Dacron string is the only string you should use and don’t go too light on arrow weight. AFter that, just enjoy shooting the bow and don’t worry about it. Worrying will affect your shooting. Bottom line: If worrying about it is going to affect your shooting, get rid of the bow or put in in the non-shooting bow display. Best of luck.

[tombow]

in reply to: Darton Super Flite Hunter #14540

Interesting! I started shooting non-compound bows about 8 years ago and the first bow I purchased was a Darton Super Flite Ranger, Serial no. 15627, marked 45@28 but actual more like 55@28. It has slightly twisted limbs but shoots fairly well. The bow looks to be Maple with green limbs. I was unaware of the age of the bow but guessed it as an early 70’s model. I would take a good hard look at the bow to seek out signs of delamination, cracks in the glass, etc. Mine has pretty rough looking tips but has held together fine for a lot of shooting. I wouldn’t use anything other than B50/Dacron strings, no fast flight for old bows. If the bow isn’t making odd noises like creaking when you draw I would say it’s fine.

Hopefully someone will have some more information about these bows.

[tombow]

in reply to: High FOC works #7681

David,

I have taken a look at the stone vs. blade relationship and found that I get the most even contact by having the stone angle set at it’s max. or near max. setting in order to hit the edge of the blade and, thus, sharpen the head. There can be a learning curve and mine is particularly LONG in most cases.

Like all of us here, I want the sharpest and best flying head I can find and the Tuffhead fits the bill to a T. Might just have to take Joe up on his offer. I agree with the practice heads being almost as expensive as the real thing, such is the case with the Montec, when I first started using the Montecs, the practice heads were a few bucks cheaper but I have seen lately that the price is the same. I also see what you mean with pulling broadheads from foam. I have killed multiple ethafoam targets with broadheads. Tough to find a broadhead target of any type that lasts more than a few hundred shots. But the ethafoam seems to be the best option. The multi-layers foam targets quickly become worthless and are a mess when you start cutting up the layers. I am sure there is a large foam to grass ratio in our yard at this time. But the option is to not practice with broadheads, which would be REEEEEE-DICULOUS! Thanks for the reply and advice. I do appreciate being able to benefit from your’s and the experience of others. Been nothing but a sincere pleasure internetting with trad. folks, they are always ready to share info and provide another way of looking at things.

BEst of luck to you and yours,’

TomBow

[tombow]

in reply to: High FOC works #63979

vintage archer wrote: Tom if you can not get the damaged TuffHead sharpened to your satisfaction because the blade is damaged return it to me and I will replace it free of charge.

I have been working on the damaged Tuffhead. I am certain that the damage came from the deer. I will admit, due to the amount of bone contacted, I am very impressed with these heads, seeing as I just bought another 3. I am also certain that using this head is the reason that I was able to harvest this deer. The heavy arrow and the sharpness of the broadhead put the doe down in short order, which of course is my desire, quick and clean.

I have it fairly sharp but not shaving sharp and may relegate it to being a practice head unless I can do something with it. When I was shooting that “other” bow and shooting 3-blade Montecs on Carbon arrows, I purchased a set of practice heads so I wouldn’t dull the real heads by using them for practice. This was great because, other than blade sharpness, the weight and design was identical between the two (real and practice heads). Perhaps that is something that could be developed for the Tuffhead?? It is nice to have a practice head that you don’t have to worry about re-sharpening, although more sharpening practice is a benefit to me.

I have noticed that I am having a difficult time sharpening the blades evenly using the KME sharpener. Regardless of angle setting on the KME jig, I notice that I can’t get the stone to run smoothly across the entire length of the head. One possible reason may be due to the ferrule being slightly ground by the stone or not allowing correct angle. It seems that I get a good grind about 1/2″ from the tip and less so along the length of the blade, still enough to sharpen the blade but the width of the bevel shows uneven stone contact regardless of how I position the head in the KME’s clamp.

[tombow]

in reply to: In love again for the first time #58379

I have been testing various feather configs. with the last set of High FOC, unfortunately a bit overspined since I was “Mr. Cut-y” with first S Spruce shafts I bought. I can’t say that I noticed a difference while shooting high FOC (18+) woods. I have a bunch of 4″ Parabolics that I just cut to 3″ Shields by cutting off the tail end. Flight is good with 3″ 4-fletch, 4″ 3 and 4 fletch. If the spine is right, I think that the feathers begin to be an almost non-issue and becomes more of a personal choice than a critical aspect of arrow flight. If you have extra feathers laying around, try some different configurations. If you use wraps, even better, for changing feathers out if you have a preference.

[tombow]

in reply to: High FOC works #58329

Going with a lighter spine seems to me to be a good idea. I will be receiving 70-75 spine, Sitka from Neil at Hildebrands today and hope to start the new arrows this afternoon. That’ll be straightening, wipin’ on some poly, steel wooling, more poly, (repeat), cap-wrapping and turbolating, fletching, affixing heads over the next few days. Then the testing. I hope I am on the right track. Unless the 80-85s were full length, they proved too stiff. Probably is my incredible technique…..:roll: but seriously. CAin’t wait to get them shafts!!!! I love arrow building almost as much as shootin’ ’em. But, DAng, do I LOVE shootin’ ’em.

Have a good weekend.

and they called him “TomBow”

[tombow]

in reply to: In love again for the first time #51009

I am right there with you on the durability issue. Woods just won’t take the punishment that carbon will take. But a freshly blood stained Wood is more attractive to me than the same conditioned carbon shaft. I am pretty new to wood shafts so still learning (You probably thought I knew it all…..:shock:) Have gone through the issue of getting too “cutty” with the saw on my first dozen Sitka Spruce shafts and only ended up with 3 of the proper spine, the shorties are a bit too stiff. Have some new SS shafts due in a week or two from Neil Hildebrand and my mistake won’t happen again! New 225gr Tuffheads are on hand, nocks and feathers are waiting. Might even “fancy up” these shafts……..

[tombow]

in reply to: …been a long time comin' #13265

Much Thanks to you my brothers and sisters of the bow! Wow, I am just BUZZING with happiness with getting the job done with my longbow! And TWICE in the same year, turkey in the spring and deer in the fall. And yesterday, I ALMOST harvested the largest buck of my entire hunting career! Here in Minnesota, the season starts Sept. 15 and runs until Dec. 31, so we are not far into the season. The weather has cooled a bit but we are still seeing a few days in the 70’s! Not expecting anything “rutty” to be going on with the bucks. But then yesterday morning happened!

I was sitting in my stand (lucky first longbow-deer stand spot) and not much was going on. A few deer or other animals had been walking around before sunrise, but daylight had brought no activity. The neighborhood dogs had been barking their fool heads off, me thinking maybe a deer is nearby, but not seeing any. AT 8:20 AM or so, I hear something running through the woods and turn my head to see a doe running full-bore toward me and then by me, not stopping to chat! And right behind her is a BIG deer, with BIG bones growing out of his head! And he stops at, no bull, 8 YARDS and BROADSIDE! I got my bow, gripped the string, turned a bit and focussed on the spot as he stood there not knowing I was in the world! When I got to full draw, I was looking at him through several Maple leaves and small branches. I could NOT TAKE THE SHOT for fear of a deflection. And he just walked out of my life, biggest deer I have ever been that close to, antlers probably 2″ or better outside of his ears. To be honest, when I saw this big brute running toward me, it took very little time to gaze upon his headgear, knowing that I might get a shot at the biggest deer of my life, and while I was holding a longbow, and only 4 days after I had harvested my first longbow deer! And he just walked away…..WOW! What a deer! I hope to cross paths with him again but know that may be unlikely. Let me just say EIGHT YARDS and dead-Broadside. And my practice shot out of the stand was dead on. If he had meant to be mine, he would have been. I LOVE TRAD BOWHUNTING!!

TomBow

[tombow]

in reply to: …been a long time comin' #9817

I will be honest, I was a little heartbroken when I saw the arrow hit, much farther forward and higher than I had intended. If she had been quartering slightly toward me it still would have been high but at a much better angle. I am shooting a 225gr Tuffhead and it penetrated that facing-side scapula, cut right underneath the backbone, between ribs on the off-side and stopped in the offside shoulder. 8″ of penetration at best. I know that when you release the arrow, all manner of possibilities exist. I listened carefully as she ran off and landmarked where I heard branches breaking when she was out of sight. When I got down, I had only dig marks from her hoofs to indicate direction of travel, and found my arrow (24″ of shaft with 3″ of blood, total 31.5″ to back of point arrow). I carefully picked along and found a speck of blood, then another pinhead speck. The hit was high with no exit so I knew things weren’t looking good and worst case scenarios swirled in my head. I was kicking myself and HARD! I moved slowly in the direction she had gone and grid searched but found no sign. I went back to start at first blood but didn’t make it there until I found better more abundant blood. A glimmer of hope, as I started to follow, looking for more and finding it! I glassed the area and still didn’t find her but noticed deeper hoof marks as I travelled, and increasing amounts of blood. 100 yards from the hit, relief washed over me as I saw her white belly facing me and glassed her (how come you can’t get something in the binocs when your 30 yards away??) and watched for a minute, no movement from her and I knew that I had been kissed by Lady Luck! Damage results: the broadhead penetrated the scapula, cut the underside of the spine, severed the windpipe and cut the front lobe off her left lung. After all my agony, she was dead in seconds and I had harvested my first trad-bow deer. I LOVE my bow and fear (well, not too much fear!) that I shall never return to the wheeled contraption as MTB (my bow) is a part of my very being! Thanks again to all! I Love you guys! We of the trad bow!!

[tombow]

in reply to: Stu millers DSC #55834

I have used Stu’s calculator often and for arrow weights and estimating FOC it seems to work OK. However, I plugged in my (wood) arrow numbers and came up with an estimated FOC which was 2-3% short compared to using actual BOP length (L), balance-point measurement from nock valley to balance point (P) and running the ((B/L)-0.50)*100 equation to calculate actual FOC percentage. The calculator comes up with an estimated FOC in the mid-15% Range but the actual FOC equation yields an FOC in the high 18’s.

[tombow]

in reply to: Today was a good day . . . success:) #46979

Ni-hi-ICE! Can’t wait to take my first, have to wait all the way until Saturday morning for our season is not yet open. But you, sir, have paid your dues, shot and shot and shot and shot until you could have this great experience. Him’s a purdy buck for sure! Congrats. May there be many more!

TomBow

Tom Brissee

[tombow]

in reply to: Un-Duco-ing nocks, best removal method #43936

I did the hot water-softening of one of the nocks, then cut it off with a utility knife and it worked OK, not great as I ended up nicking the wood a bit (my learning curve is LONG:roll:). Learned a lesson: my feathers were too close to the nock to allow clean Tru-Center redoing of the nock tapers with the 5/16″ guide attached, so I had to do it without the guide. I was careful to try and get as straight a re-taper as possible, after I cut a 1/16th off the end. It worked fairly well as the nocks seem to be pretty straight. I used a lighter to burn the nocks and then twisted the nocks off as best I could. Guess it worked. No pretty, but effective.

Best of luck to all ya’ll on your upcoming or current seasons. Only 1 week left to wait until I hope to make my first deer-tradbow harvest and the bit is being chomped!

[tombow]

in reply to: Un-Duco-ing nocks, best removal method #43126

Excellent! I appreciate the information.

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