Danage bosses

AJ16S

Member
Can anyone with experience of Danage bosses tell me if their claims of longevity are based in reality? They recon a minimum of 6000 arrows into a XHD block - is that dependent on bowstyle, distance to target, skinny/fatty arrows?

-- R.
 

Thorvald

Active member
Of course it varies upon what bow is shot with how thick / thin arrows it is show with etc. But I think that the shot amounts Danage are talking about is for something average setup. A good recurve bow with medium draw weight, a compound bow with draw weight in the lower end for a compound bow (perhaps around 40# I guess) etc. Also one must be aware that the 6000 shots (where do you see that by the way) - is if you spread the shots over the 44x44 module and perhaps inclusive to turn the target around (or maybe you get 6000 shots on one side and perhaps 4000 on the backside), when the front side is worn to some extend. My arrows goes a little over 20 cm into the Danage targets and I shoot a 300 fps (IBO) compound bow set at 42# and 25,5 grams 3D arrows. Because of course the foam cannot withstand 6000 shots inside the 9 ring. But the Danage foam is a very good target material, no doubt about that and it lasts for more shots than the material that 3D animals is made of.
 

Thorvald

Active member
I think Danage foam is the overall best material you can shoot your arrows into. It is good for the arrows and it stands relative long time against the shots / with stand relative many shots.
 

DavidH

New member
We've found that if they get wet, arrows are a pig to remove. I much prefer the slatted foam, if foam it must be
 

Rabid Hamster

Well-known member
Ironman
we have 2 and they have a few problems ... like if you put an arrow in the joins between blocks. that sucker is going straight through!

getting compound launched arrows out is a nightmare ... at at least they do stop eventually!

They are much lighter than slatted foam or straw

We've had the danages for a couple of years and so far havent ruined them! ;)
 

Thorvald

Active member
We've found that if they get wet, arrows are a pig to remove. I much prefer the slatted foam, if foam it must be
Maybe that is the old ones. I know they have changed "formula" so that water cannot so much get inside the foam.
 

Thorvald

Active member
we have 2 and they have a few problems ... like if you put an arrow in the joins between blocks. that sucker is going straight through!

getting compound launched arrows out is a nightmare ... at at least they do stop eventually!

They are much lighter than slatted foam or straw

We've had the danages for a couple of years and so far havent ruined them! ;)
In a fresh danage foam the arrows can be a bit hard to pull out, I agree. But it quite quickly becomes easier. If you arrows goes through that target if it it a joint line, then it is because you haven't compressed the foam modules enough. One of the archers in my club say the opposite: If the arrows hit in a joint line, the arrows are harder to pull out. That can be because in our target wall the friction between foam modules are quite high.
 

AJ16S

Member
Also one must be aware that the 6000 shots (where do you see that by the way) - is if you spread the shots over the 44x44 module and perhaps inclusive to turn the target around (or maybe you get 6000 shots on one side and perhaps 4000 on the backside), when the front side is worn to some extend.
There's a tech spec document on the Danage website that quotes 6000 arrows into a single XD block, so their 9x9 XD model is theoretically good for 54000 arrows with no maintenance other than shuffling the blocks about. I ended up buying an Eros layered foam boss for about a third of the cost of a Danage instead.

-- R.
 

DavidH

New member
I guess most clubs keep a record of costs. straw re foam, but well maintained straw bosses have a long life, and even when soft are ideal for beginners. Its ok, ignore me, I shoot longbow;)

Another point, the wood frames easily get chewed up by stray arrows, and its not just people like me, a;though I'll admit to that one perfect shot that I achieve just about every time I shoot, right in that narrow strip. Amazing
 

JohnK

Well-known member
I once had a Danage Domino target. I bought it used, and the middle block hadn't been swapped out for another.

During the time I owned it I must have shot easily in excess of 9000 arrows at the centre block (42-44lb recurve). When I moved and took it apart to pack it, I observed that while the centre block could have done with being swapped out or around, it was still very solid.

Additional: With regards the wooden frames and stands, I do agree that these are somewhat flimsy. A longbow arrow from a 35lb bow damaged the top crossbar of the stand to such an extent it split almost all the way through.

This is one of the reasons I have opted to buy a Whitetail target, the others being cost and the ease of handling when compared to Danage equivalents.
 

Thorvald

Active member
There's a tech spec document on the Danage website that quotes 6000 arrows into a single XD block, so their 9x9 XD model is theoretically good for 54000 arrows with no maintenance other than shuffling the blocks about. I ended up buying an Eros layered foam boss for about a third of the cost of a Danage instead.

-- R.
So it was 1/3 of the cost - how was the "arrow" life compared? If the amount of arrows shot into it is 1/3 or less than in a Danage target, then the Eros is a more expensive choice. It is very interesting to see the different archers opinions on target materials.
 

AJ16S

Member
So it was 1/3 of the cost - how was the "arrow" life compared? If the amount of arrows shot into it is 1/3 or less than in a Danage target, then the Eros is a more expensive choice. It is very interesting to see the different archers opinions on target materials.
A bit early to tell, I guess. It's only me shooting on it, either Fatboys from a 50lb compound or Triples from a 36lb recurve. In the house so quite close at 8m. I've shot about 1300 arrows so far, roughly 70:30 in favour of compound, using 6-spot Danage targets for compound and 3-spot 40cm for recurve. So far I'm getting about 300 arrows in the 6-spots before the Fatboys start to go a bit deep and I move the face about 5cm to a fresher bit of foam. I haven't had to move the 3-spots at all and after about 360 arrows the foam is still looking very fresh. Based on the size of the boss (95cm) and the ability to restack the foam I recon that it's going to be good for at least 30,000 with the compound before I'll have to get some new foam (and I can replace all of the foam for about the same as the cost of a single Danage XHD block).
 

Thorvald

Active member
On below picture, you see a target I made many years ago (23-25 years ago) of newspaper pages. The longbow is also homemade. I never shot out the target, but I don't know how long time I shot at it (with a 32# recurve 26" draw length, so appr. 26# on fingers).

 

Basilios

New member
That's pretty interesting. A newspaper target? I might have found what to do with all the flyers I get in the mail.

Any specific way you stacked the newspaper?
 

Thorvald

Active member
Hi.
I used a specific size of newspaper - I think maybe "Jyllandsposten", because this is / was the newspaper with the biggest format. I am not sure, but the target face on the picture looks bigger than 40 cm, so maybe it is a 60 cm target face. That means that if you take the newspaper apart, and have one newspaper sheet unfolded, then it is perhaps something like 70-80 cm on the longest side. I cannot find the size of the newspaper on the Internet, but Broadsheet format and 22" is mentioned - but then I think maybe the 22" would be the shortest side of a unfolded newspaper sheet. But ok. Then I folded these sheets, so that the longest side is the height if the target and I folded them in the thickness I wanted the target in. I guess I have folded the sheets 3 times, so that the thickness became a little over 7". Then me and my father made this wood frame, where I stacked these folded sheets into, side by side. You can see the horizontal white stribe in the middle, this would be the middle of the sheet (where the newspaper is folded - the "back" of the newspaper if you understand me). Then I guess that the one vertical side of the wood frame was not fastened until at the end, so that this compresses the folded sheets against each other. If the size of the target is 80x80x18 cm, then there is 0,115 m3 newspaper in it. So it is a quite heavy target. I think maybe I used a handtruck to move the target out, when I was going to use it. It would probably be not so good if it got wet..... ;-)
 
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