Fat handles make you feel more handshock?

[Ryano]

I'm making a osage longbow for a fellow with a 29" draw and monster sized hands. He wanted it to have a large grip, much larger than my usual design grips. So I'm making him a 66" ntn 50# straight reflexed longbow with a two inch longer handle fade section than I normaly make. 8" being my normal, so ten inches. The grip is both thicker and wider than usual as well. My question is would a larger than normal grip make the bow feel more shocky? I was thinking a heavier grip would lessen the effect of handshock if anything but this thing about shakes my teeth out. I keep narrowing the outer limbs but its still very noticable compared to my normal bows. I'm with in a pound or two of my desired draw weight at 29" I don't know what to do. Oh, ya I tried raising the brace height and I'm shooting 600 grain arrows of the proper spine.....Any idea's?

[Dano]

If you have a bulbous handle you could reduce the fades a bit. I have never built a bow with a ten inch handle area, but man I woulda thought that it would reduce shock as well.

[adb]

Hey, Ryan
I made a hickory backed osage Holmegaard bow that would loosen your fillings it had so much hand shock. I made another, with exact same dimensions, instead I used hickory backed maple. The maple bow was sweet as garden peas... no hand shock at all. Who knows?! I do find most osage bows (either self or laminate) are more shocky than whitewoods. I was always told it was the tiller and heavy limbs or tips, which increased hand shock. Also, poorly tillered limbs, which are out of time, cause more hand shock. I would think that a larger grip, with longer fades, would decrease hand shock.
Bye the bye, I retillered the cartilage wrecking osage Holmegaard, and hand shock went way down... still there, but much less.

[Ryano]

This is exactly why I swore I'd never make another osage bow over 64" ntn again. The last 66"er I made felt the same way. I ended up cutting it down to 64"ntn and it was fine. I was thinking with the longer non working handle section it would be alright but, I guess not. Here's another question then. Since I only draw about 27" and he draws 29" do you think it would feel any different to him? I hate to cut off finished tips...

[GregB]

Ryan,
I can see your thought process that the longer fades are acting like a shock absorber for the handle. But with his longer draw even though you made your ntn longer then usual, the bow might require more working limb to smooth it out? I don't know for sure, I know you're making your tips good and narrow/lite weight cause I've seen your bows...

[Justin Snyder]

I have made them with non bending sections out to 12".  I think a handle that fits your hand makes you feel less shock.  Too much wood or too little will make it feel more shocky just by the fact that it doesn't fit your hand so you don't grip it right. I try to fit my handles to the archer before I apply a finish.  Justin

[Ryano]

Ryan,
I can see your thought process that the longer fades are acting like a shock absorber for the handle. But with his longer draw even though you made your ntn longer then usual, the bow might require more working limb to smooth it out? I don't know for sure, I know you're making your tips good and narrow/lite weight cause I've seen your bows...

Greg, with a 2" longer handle it should have the same amount of working limb as a 64" right?  Seems like it should be about the same. I don't know. I'm finish sanding it and reshaping the fades and grip area a bit, see if it makes any diferance.

[knightd]

usually bigger riser absorbs more shock than the smaller one.. IMO..

 David

[artcher1]

One other thing you might want to check out and that's your string Ryan. What string material are you using and how many strands? Just adding or subtracting a few strands can make a big difference in the way the bow is going to feel and sound. Have you shot the bow without a armguard on? This can tell you (where the string contacts the arm) if you have to much stretch in your string or limb deformation or both.-ART B

[Rich Saffold]

I'm with what David and Art posted, I've used endless synthetic strings for the past ten years because of the performance improvements, in both speed and sweetness of shot..

Try changing where the arrow is being shot from..touchy bows like this often have a sweet spot.

Pics?

Rich

[mullet]

  I normally would agree with Ryan's thinking. I don't know what to suggest so I'm reading and learning. This is interesting and I'm looking forward to the results.

[Mark Smeltzer]

How much reflex did you retain?  One thing I have found is the more reflex my finished bows retain in the outer 1/3 of the limb, the less hand shock I feel.(to a point)  This in addition to all the other factors already mentioned.
Mark

[Ryano]

I'll try to post a picture in the morning. It holds a couple inches of reflex. The string is B-50 16 strands. The same thing I use on pretty much all my bows. I hate skinny strings. I tweaked the tiller a little bit and kept narrowing the tips, she's @49#@29" now so I'm not going to mess with it anymore. Its much better than it was to begin with but still not real comfy for me to shoot. I just think the wide handle area is uncomfortable to me and causing it to feel worse to me than it really is.

[Pappy]

The last one I built over 64,I think it was 68 with a 29 inch draw I thought was shocky
also,but I only shot it at 26,The guy that got it didn't say a thing about it except he loved it
and it was a sweet shooter. ???I do think the longer ones have more shock.  What was the
reason for making the handle section longer,for a long draw I make the n-n longer but leave
the handle section the same just to get more working limb.
   Pappy

[Ryano]

Pappy the reason for making the nock to nock longer was the handle being longer, its what the guy wants. Big hands......