string follow

[sailordad]

             hello everyone,
I'm still working on my boo/ipe elb.I've finally gotten to the point of putting the short string on it last weekend and this weekend I managed to get it to or at least real close to my draw length and weight.So after i worked the bow for awhile with the short string until i was able to get real close to my preferred draw lentgh.I took it to the backyard(dont know if this is leagal within city limits or care lol) with some old wooden arrows that i aquired.I shot 20 arrows and only missed my block 4x4 once(neighbors fence makes a great backstop lol ).The arrows fly real wobbly,but fairly accurate(my skills could use some improvement).I'm guessing that is due to improper spine of the arrows for the bow.now after shooting the bow has about 2 1/4 " of follow on the upper limb and about 2"  of follow on the lower limb,after resting over night unstrung,both limbs have about 1 1/4 " of follow.Is this acceptable? If not how should I attempt to fix this?Does anyone know how to stain boo black?One last question,what kind of a permanent sealer should i use? here are some pics.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9186/100b0160ft0.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1199/100b0182gd0.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6324/100b0230hf7.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4289/100b0240ty8.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7292/1000242gy3.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/3136/1000243yj4.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1047/1000245bg6.jpg

                                                                                   thanks

                                                                                                 Tim

[Kegan]

Perfectly acceptable amoutns of string follow. Though your neighbor might not like your new backstop !

[sailordad]

    I'm sorry,
but i didn't know if this is the right place to post this question.
is the tiller stick on the bathroom scale method of checking draw weight fairly accurate?
If any has an opinion I would like to hear it.

                                                    thanks again

                                                                   Tim

[Badger]

Tim, thats a great looking bow, it looks pretty long, just a small amount of follow on a long bow will project out to more at the tips, I would say the bow is great and consider it a success. Steve

[Kegan]

The bathroom scale works great... unless it's digital. Ours took several seconds to "load", and never came out right. The kind with springs are much more accurate though.

[DanaM]

A little string follow jjust makes it sweeter shooting IMO.
I do have a question for you, in the first two pictures the bow goes from long in the first to short in second
not sure if its a perspective thing or what, looks like your standing in about the same spot has me wondering
if I'm seeing things or what.

[sailordad]

         Thanks Dana,
It is a perspective thing.My wife took the picture after release,as I was lowering the bow.



                                                      Tim

[DanaM]

I did a double take when I saw the pics, my eyes aren't so good anymore

[sailordad]

Neither are mine,the older I get the farther away things need to be to be seen properly.lol
But i assure you that is the same bow.It is all but finished now,just need some leather for a grip.
it's is 70" ntn,6" brace,60# @ 28",just wish i was a better shot.

[stringstretcher]

looking at this message with both eyes wide open.  I just finished an bamboo backed, osage, ipe, osage, ipe lam bow.  I put 3 1/2 inches of reflex in the bow.  I shot it the first time when the tiller was 1/8 positive upper limp and pullint 60 lbs at 27"  Did not take a set at all.....perfectly flat.  When I reduced the weight to 50 lbs at 26" and shot the bow in , it now has 3" of string follow.   Any suggestion? or reasons? or fixes?

[George Tsoukalas]

Congratulations on a very fine bow, No comment on the tillering stick. Jawge

[Hillbilly]

The bathroom scale works for me. I picked the method up from Jim Hamm's book.