Handshock

[Justin Snyder]

The ones I have talked to use a strap to keep the bow from falling out of their hand and just let it fall forward.  Maybe I missed something. Justin

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Those bows have all kind of stabilizing weigths screwed on the back of the bows,.... always under the handle

[George Tsoukalas]

Kvilo,

"George, if you let it down slowly, there is no way the limbs would not reach the braced position at the same time, regardless of wether it pivots."

Ok, if you say so.

awge

[OldBow]

This is a great thread for a feature article for PA. Any takers?

[Badger]

Don, if we could get at least three of us to agree on something it might be LOL. Steve

[Kviljo]

Kvilo,

"George, if you let it down slowly, there is no way the limbs would not reach the braced position at the same time, regardless of wether it pivots."

Ok, if you say so.

awge

Eh

But do you really disagree?

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes but...
I don't feel like it. Hey about then Red Sox! Jawge

[CutNShoot]

I have a question. If one limb is faster isn't it also pulling on and slowing down the slower limb.

[MalV]

Only if it is faster due to being stronger.
If it is faster due to less mass, is it the weaker limb?
If the slower limb is slower due to more mass, is it the stronger limb?
What happens if the faster limb is the low mass and weaker, and the slower limb is high mass and stronger; and they arrive at brace height at the same time on release?
Do you still get handshock?

Sorry to butt in with all questions and no answers.

Cheers, MalV
 

[Badger]

       I can't say for sure what is happening when a bow has handshock, but I can get rid of it easily and also easily build a bow that doesn't have it. You can just pluck the string most of the time and tell if a bow will have shock or not. Every now and then you may come across one that seems to defy logic and just knocks your teeth loose but if you look hard enough the answer is usuall y pretty simple. Steve

[Marc St Louis]

I guess I'll see if I can tackle it, seeing as how I am opinionated on the subject 

[Justin Snyder]

Only if it is faster due to being stronger.
If it is faster due to less mass, is it the weaker limb?
If the slower limb is slower due to more mass, is it the stronger limb?
What happens if the faster limb is the low mass and weaker, and the slower limb is high mass and stronger; and they arrive at brace height at the same time on release?
Do you still get handshock?

Sorry to butt in with all questions and no answers.

Cheers, MalV
 

If we had all the answears, we would be happy to share them with you. 
Faster due to less mass does not mean weaker.  Weaker probably means slower. We are talking about efficient vs. not, both limbs being the same draw weight.  An overbuilt limb with high mass. 

Steve, you are right. They can usually be avoided even if we are unsure what causes the handshock. Justin

[CutNShoot]

Well I don't know much about the subject but if you take say a light pole 200 lbs 30 foot long. Get two guys and pick it up from each end, it will bend a little through' t the length of the pole making a bow. Hold one end at waist high and drop the other.  What happens Is the dropped end hits the ground facilitating the string on a bow I think slapping home to brace hight before the other end does.When that happens the guy holding the other end goes to the hospital more than likely. That pole whip lashes like  the hand shock of a 300 lb bow with one wide limb with a carbon arrow spined for a 20 lb bow, and the force on the pole is a freakin tremendous down surge then up surge.Really don't know which way it surge's first but it's painful.  It ripples all the way down the pole. I think this is more or less what's happening with a bow that has hand shock. There has to be a physicist out there that can explain all that. Trust me you wont look forward to dropping more than one pole though.

[Justin Snyder]

Talking to Steve I realized something. I have never made a bow over 65" with the exception of my Ipe self bow.  It is probably a lot easier to get little handshock when you draw 29" and make shorter bows since all of the limb must be working efficiently.  The rigid handles I use also move the bending farther out toward the tips reducing hand shock.  Justin

[Badger]

Justin, I had a boo backed bow last week that had paralell limb most of the way down, very narrow bow barely 1" wide. The shock it gave was very painful but you could barely feel the jolt , just the pain. I narrowed and tapered the sides a bit mid limb and made the tiller slightly more elyptical and the shock virtualy just disappeared. I can even shoot light arrows through it now with no noticeable shock. From what I can see about handshock it seem that using paralell limbs and not tillering elypticaly is almost a guarantee of shock. I think we could easily come up with a sheet / diagram that covered some kind of demensional logic in bows, basicaly how the front view of the bow should correspond to limb thickness and tiller shape. This would hold true for any style bow including elbs, asiatic styles, flatbows and even the native american bows.