any thoughts please!

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weeniebeenie

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Hi everyone, any chance of your wisdom?
When my longbow was originally made it was tillered to 36" as at the time we were unsure on my exact draw length. Since then i have settled down to a 32" Drawlength. Could anyone tell me if i am losing some cast with my bow, with it being drawn to 4" less than it is tillered?
Also when i unstring my bow I have about 5" of string follow, would this effect how efficent my bow is?

Any help appreciated
 

Chuck Denofrio

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Depending on the bow, the draw weight gains 2-3lbs per inch of draw. So yes, you not using all the potential of the bow.
String follow is the result of wood cells compressing and not rebounding back fully. It reduces the pre-load at brace height so full draw weight is diminished.
Lets say the bow started life 50#@36". less 8lbs(min) for short draw, easy 4-6lbs for string follow.
Just an overview to give you an idea whats going on.And yes it will continue.
Chuck
 

Bender

New member
A 36" draw sounds insane. 32" is still freakishly abnormal. So I'm not sure how you're measuring your draw length, or how you're drawing the bow. Anyway assuming that you have actually lost 4" of draw length, (again pretty weird) yes you are losing cast, regardless of how the bow was tillered.
I hate to tell you this but most bowyers would consider 5" of set/string follow as unacceptable, even on a self bow. But again that goes back to how you are measuring it.
 

alanesq

New member
It depends a lot on what sort of bow it is - with a 36" draw length I would guess its a full compass bow and a pretty long one?

If its a self yew bow then it could be it had some "string follow" before tillering even began due to the shape of the stave.
btw - Are you measuring set as the distance between the string and the belly of the bow?

If its a laminate bow then 5" is an awful lot of string follow and this would suggest that it wont take being put under even more stress (although this is probably a result of it having been drawn to 36")

BTW - 32" draw is pretty standard for warbow style bows
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Effectively the string follow implies that the bow has been slightly over drawn, but this is normal, as it's just a way of getting the maximum out of the wood. E.G If you had no string follow the impliction is that the bow could be drawn a little further.
The bottom line is, use it at your natural draw length, knowing that you have some extra draw as a 'safety margin' or shorten the bow slightly to increase the poundage at your draw (Highly NOT recomended unless you make bows). I'd leave it well alone.
For comparison.
My Self Yew bow draws a nominal 75lb @28"
I recently took it out to 31.5" to try 'Mary Rose' length arrows... it measures 90lb at that draw and is at a very full arc (see my avatar)...I stick to my 28" knowing that the bow will have a much easier life.
(I only tried it at 31.5 'cos as I get older I'll probably never get it back that far again!)
Del
 

ChakaZulu

New member
Yes you are losing cast from so much string follow, but there's nothing you can do about it... If the same bow returned to straight then it'd shoot faster. But it doesn't. I agree that most bowyers would consider 5" to be excessive, but most bowyers would be thinking of designs other than ELB. I suspect that 5" is a lot for an ELB as well, but it's probably easier to avoid it with a wider limbed bow.

As for not drawing it longer, again a longer draw length would generally mean more speed but I don't recommend changing a draw that feels good.

If you're happy with the bow then great. If you want to shoot a bit quicker then you could shorten it and retiller (adding weight but probably also adding follow and certainly adding stack - this may increase speed or may not) or get a new bow.
 

steve58

New member
Hi everyone, any chance of your wisdom?
When my longbow was originally made it was tillered to 36" as at the time we were unsure on my exact draw length. Since then i have settled down to a 32" Drawlength. Could anyone tell me if i am losing some cast with my bow, with it being drawn to 4" less than it is tillered?
Also when i unstring my bow I have about 5" of string follow, would this effect how efficent my bow is?

Any help appreciated
You don't say who made the bow? If it was a professional bowyer I would go back and ask their advice.
 
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