Folks first off a big thank you to Rich "half eye" for sending me this Penobscot replica...We talked a lot about the performance over the phone and wanted to report back to everyone...
First thing I noticed was the way it felt so different with very high early draw weight and seemed to climb gently at full draw with zero stack at 25"
This along with the ultra small string nocks and outer assisting limb design made for very fast shooter...The bow around 50# seemed to shoot like a 60+ bow in speed.
The rawhide strings had to be constantly adjusted until they finally settled/stretched to an acceptable stability...Any sinew, gut or rawhide will have to be shot in and adjusted to a correct brace height because of stretch and twist settling. This is one of the things that would have to be constantly monitored by the NA...Humidity, temperature and wear would become factors...So you will see in the pics that the upper limb is wrapped and tied every time it is strung instead of using a loop...Rawhide is also by far the quietest string I have shot, seems to have it's own dampening qualities...
Hand shock is a minimum and a joy to shoot...
I have enjoyed this journey with Rich and have learned a lot from him...He is a true inspiration to many of us here...And has been a motivator and mentor to me over the years...
Thank you Rich, Don
