Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: whitefeather on June 09, 2013, 07:17:07 pm
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How long should I wait to shoot my bow after applying snakeskins to it? And what would be a good brace height for a 58 in bow?
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How long should I wait to shoot my bow after applying snakeskins to it? And what would be a good brace height for a 58 in bow?
Whatever is comfortable for you (in brace height). My longbow is braced at 6" at the handle.
but your bow is shorter.. maybe 5 in? How long is your draw?
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How long should I wait to shoot my bow after applying snakeskins to it? And what would be a good brace height for a 58 in bow?
It depends on how humid it is where you live. This winter I waited 7 days with humidity at 30%. For a 58" bow I would start at 5 inches brace and twist the string and shoot till you get good arrow flight. Once you get good flight increase the brace by 1/4 inch and that should do it. Ya wanna shoot about 300 arrows out of it after final tiller before you call it final brace. With my 66 inch bows I start at 5.50 brace. They usually get good flight with 6.25 of brace.
Hope it helps
Greg
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My bows have the same brace height, regardless of length.
I glue my SSs down with TB3, so they're good to go O/N.
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My bows have the same brace height, regardless of length.
I glue my SSs down with TB3, so they're good to go O/N.
that is intresting. I haven't made but 7 bows. One was 50 and it liked a brace of 5 in, a 60 in one that liked a brace of 5.50 and the others work good around 6.25- 6.50.
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I would wait two or three days, I normally keep my brace height just high enough that I don't get wrist slap, for me it ranges from fistmele to fistmele -1"
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Not trying to start a hijack but while on the topic of brace hight im making a kids bow for a 10yr old the bow will be 20#@20" (hopefully) my question is do I lower the brace to around 4-5" or just keep it at 6" the bow is going to be 50" long. SS
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Everyone ignore my above post. Thanks muffin. SS
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I also brace all of mine about the same 5 1/2 to 6. I pat my skins dry before applying them and also use TB3 ,so a day or so in a dry area,summer time by the ac duct,winter close to a heater and they seem to do fine for me,rawhide I may wait a little longer. :)
Pappy
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I to brace my bows all the same. I use 5 1/2 feathers. My brace height starts with them touching. I go from there to find the sweet spot. Which has always been very closely by.
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What I do is wait a good week if snake skins are on the back of a self bow.I wait at least 10 days or more for a snake skin on the back of a sinewed bow.That's with TT3 glue.Like was said earlier check your humidity meter.
Brace I judge by the lowest I can get it without affecting arrow flight.Like twisted hickory said then 1/4" above that.That usually always puts my brace at around 5and1/2" most times from the belly of handle that means with a 1and1/2" deep handle it should be 7" to back on handle.
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Why add a quarter inch after achieving good flight?
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I find shorter bows prefer shorter bracing and longer bows like a bit more brace. Most all of my bows fall in the 5 3/8 - 5 7/8" range.
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I generally set brace height at my fist mele or at least so the fletchings clear.
I've had to wait over a week after using TB glue to glue down skins because of the moisture it adds to the wood. If the humidity is high you may have to wait a few extra days. Recently I have been adding a thin coat of TBIII to the bow back, let it dry completely then add the skins. The thin layer of TBIII acts like a vapor barrier so the dry time wait is about 24 hours now.
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Glad to hear that pat. I did that to the bow I skinned last night. I'm going to give it plenty of time to dry anyway. I don't want to seal any moisture in with a sinew backing
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Cint, on sinew backed bows I give it lots of time to dry. I used hide glue onthe last few I made.
I had an osage selfbow get real mushy on me after adding skins with TBIII. After a week I strung her and she still felt mushy so I weight her and she was 10# down. After another week she was back up to snuff and shooting well.
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Thanks for all of the help and advice guys!
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Why add a quarter inch after achieving good flight?
I find that after shooting a dozen times the brace becomes about 1/4 lower. The bow settles a bit after it has been shot a few times. The bow I am currently shooting the most has a draw weight of 53.50 lbs at my draw. After shooting for half hour it goes down to 53.20.
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Your draw weight is not dropping as a result of changing brace height. It's dropping as a result of string follow. Also, even with an accurate hanging dial scale, I'm not likely to be able to register a draw weight change of 0.3#.
Yes, with Dacron strings, they will stretch a bit, and require some time to settle in.