Barebow = Stringwalking?

beleg2

New member
I have your book, and I'm slowly working through it (I don't want to read it all at once and get confused, so I'm reading it step by step and letting the understanding sink in before moving on).
So far I'm really enjoying it and my shooting has improved.
I'm glad it helps!
If I can help you in any way, please let me know. My contacts are on the 'final note'.
Martin
 

LAC Mark

Active member
Ok then, this an explanation of how stringwalking works for me.

I use three slightly different techniques, dependant on the distance I'm shooting.
At this point I should say I'm shooting a Gillo GT, Uukha UX100 38# limbs, Easton ACE arrows (Easton X7's for 20 yard/18m), Zinper rest and it's weighted to around 3kg all in.
This setup has been tailored to give me point on at 80 yards with three under, as not everyone can can get this sort of distance three under it should be used as a guide only.

18 meters
with a crawl of around 40mm from bottom of knocking points and using X7's cut to 28.5" and 4" feathers, I sight so the top crest of the arrow lines up with the bottom crest of the gold (lolypoping), I look down the barrel of the shaft ignoring string blur.
My anchor is thumb under jaw, index finger on cheek bone, bass of thumb just touching my ear.

30 meters
with a crawl of around 25mm from bottom of knocking points and using ACE's cut to 28.5" and with standard plastisflech, I sight covering the gold (80cm target), I look down the barrel of the shaft ignoring string blur.
Same anchor as before.

50 meters
with a crawl of around 7mm from bottom of knocking points and using ACE's cut to 28.5" and with standard plastisflech, I sight covering the gold (122cm target. WA50), I now don't look down the barrel of the shaft, but just use the arrow point and string blur.
Same anchor as before.

80 yards
using three under touching the underside of the arrow knock and using ACE's cut to 28.5" and with standard plastisflech, I sight covering the gold (122cm target), using the arrow point and string blur.
Same anchor as before. But push to full extend of my bow arm to gain an extra 1" or so of draw.

100 yards
using Mediterranean grip (split finger) and using ACE's cut to 28.5" and with standard plastisflech, I sight covering the gold (122cm target), using the arrow point and string blur.
Same anchor as before. but not pushing to full extend of my bow arm to gain an extra 1" or so of draw.

So when you hear OR shooters saying BB is easy, it may be for the beginners, but once you start pushing the distance and finding a way of getting point on is not straightforward.

little-else I hope you find this useful, or at least interesting.

Edit, the tiller is set dynamically using a protractor and a photo of me at full draw with a 50m crawl, it's retuned for indoors using the same method.
To do this you place the 90° line on the protractor along the line of the arrow, then adjust your tiller until both limb tips are on the baseline of the protractor.
There was a good writeup on this in the AGB magazine a couple of years ago (it can also help setup OR, or at least a baseline from where to start fine tuning).
 
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beleg2

New member
On World Archery Barebow Division, the archer should use a bow with only a few accessories. It can be described as a bow that is shot without clicker, stabilizers, sight nor sight marks on the bow. This, far from making it simple to shot, it makes it very complex if you want to achieve any degree of accuracy. Paraphrasing Mr. John Gall, in his book "Systemantics", "the level of complexity of any system, in this case, the bow-arrow-archer system, is always constant". In this way, if the bow is complex, shooting it, will be simple. However, when the bow is simple, like the barebow, accurate shooting becomes very tricky. The Barebow archer should use an aiming technique to replace sights and most of them shoot with StringWalking technique because of the accuracy that can be achieved with it. While StringWalking is essentially an aiming technique, its complexity and the changes it produces on bow mechanics, make it a complex shooting technique.
 

KidCurry

Well-known member
AIUK Saviour
StringWalking is the most popular and accurate aiming technique for Barebow, but it is not the only one...
Yes, I have your book. It's very good. I only have one criticism of it. When I started barebow I couldn't work out whether, when at anchor, to keep drawing using back tension, as a recurve would through a clicker, or to keep my anchor stationary using back tension. I was hoping it would enlighten me. I didn't :( But probably the best barebow book I have ever read :)
 

LAC Mark

Active member
Yes, I have your book. It's very good. I only have one criticism of it. When I started barebow I couldn't work out whether, when at anchor, to keep drawing using back tension, as a recurve would through a clicker, or to keep my anchor stationary using back tension. I was hoping it would enlighten me. I didn't :( But probably the best barebow book I have ever read :)
That's a good point, something I've spent time on myself, in the end I settled on a stationary anchor, but can suffer creeping, especially towards the end of a shoot.
 

beleg2

New member
When at anchor, you just have to expand. So simple and so complex because it is very difficult to put it in words. So you have to try many approaches.

If you are properly aligned and your draw scapula is close to your spine, you can draw no more than a couple of millimeters beyond anchor without losing alignment. So, the expansion consists of pushing the bow hand to the target and moving the back of the drawing arm (humerus) to the back. It is more a stretching than a movement, kind of isometric. Berti Ferruchio talks about a mental expansion.

If you are aligned the "push to the target" would not increase the draw length but it would fight creeping. In the same way, moving the back of the drawing arm (LAN2) being a little radial movement will neither increase draw length much.

B8a.jpg
Hope this help.
 

KidCurry

Well-known member
AIUK Saviour
Thank you for that. It's the same conclusion I came to. The expansion is tiny. So small it is not easy to see at all, but it is easier to feel, but it is there and needs to be there.
 

Kerf

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
Sorry to come to this late but I agree with the idea of a mental expansion. At anchor I tend to think of it as a “breathe in” moment, a tiny pull/push, a reaffirmation of back tension, a minuscule stretch. It’s just a mechanism to try to stop creep. But whatever you want to call it it’s small enough not to mess with alignment at that last crucial moment at full draw.
It’s impossible to explain - like trying to describe what a banana tastes like!
 

Emmadragon

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
All the barebow archers in our club seem to use gap shooting, rather than string-walking, to greater or lesser degrees of success. Our top barebow-ist is a national champion, so it obviously works for her. I don't shoot barebow myself (although I have dabbled), but it is fascinating to hear them discussing what they're aiming at. I don't think string-walking is even a conversation.
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
On World Archery Barebow Division, the archer should use a bow with only a few accessories. It can be described as a bow that is shot without clicker, stabilizers, sight nor sight marks on the bow. This, far from making it simple to shot, it makes it very complex if you want to achieve any degree of accuracy. Paraphrasing Mr. John Gall, in his book "Systemantics", "the level of complexity of any system, in this case, the bow-arrow-archer system, is always constant". In this way, if the bow is complex, shooting it, will be simple. However, when the bow is simple, likeI' the barebow, accurate shooting becomes very tricky. The Barebow archer should use an aiming technique to replace sights and most of them shoot with StringWalking technique because of the accuracy that can be achieved with it. While StringWalking is essentially an aiming technique, its complexity and the changes it produces on bow mechanics, make it a complex shooting technique.
I've not heard that idea that the complexity remains constant, but I like it, it makes sense.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I don't think of "push and pull".
I have seen archers pushing their bow arms and they tend to move the bow shoulder forwards so the scapula is floating and held using muscles. Perhaps the movement is small, but it is held where bone isn't on bone. It's almost like standing on tip toe with the heel not quite on the ground. The gap may be small but it takes muscles to create and maintain the gap.
For a right handed archer, the bow arm, if it collapses slightly... will swing across to the archer's right. If it isn't swinging right, it is being held by a counter force at the bow shoulder that would swing it to the archer's left. Both arms can be considered to be swinging apart (like the outer covers of a book viewed from above).to widen the gap between the hands.
 
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