Author Topic: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?  (Read 20424 times)

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Rhinegold

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Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« on: October 16, 2009, 03:51:51 pm »
What do you do to prevent your wood bow from taking on too much of a set?

My hickory self bow is kept straight with two spring clamps braced against a long 2x4.

Offline Dano

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2009, 04:21:35 pm »
"My hickory self bow is kept straight with two spring clamps braced against a long 2x4."

This may make ya feel good, but I don't think it helps the bow. Set is a result of the stress' on the wood, during tiller and the life of the bow. Keeping a stave dry during tiller, and how well the bow was tillered will reduce set, but bending them backwards just risk breakage IMO.
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."


Nevada

Offline makenzie71

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2009, 04:31:44 pm »
^Ditto.  Set is a biproduct of use.  Every time you draw, you damage the wood a little...some more than others, but each draw puts irreversible stress on the fibers.  Bending the bow against its set does the same thing.  The best way to store a bow is prone, no sterss.
Goodbye, friends. I never thought I'd die like this. But I always really hoped. ~ Fry

Rhinegold

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2009, 04:34:49 pm »
Keeping a stave dry during tiller, and how well the bow was tillered will reduce set, but bending them backwards just risk breakage IMO.
Well I'm only keeping the bow in the same STRAIGHT shape it had when it was made...so why would there be an increased risk of breakage?

« Last Edit: October 16, 2009, 04:37:59 pm by Rhinegold »

Rhinegold

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2009, 04:37:19 pm »
...each draw puts irreversible stress on the fibers. 
Ok, but I've noticed the set is reversible.

Offline Dano

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2009, 04:51:25 pm »
As I said, if that makes you feel better, go for it. Set is not reversable, string follow will go away to an extent but not set.
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."


Nevada

Rhinegold

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2009, 04:56:31 pm »
Set is not reversable, string follow will go away to an extent but not set.
What do you make of this advice?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jky1vd7_Yyg

Offline Dano

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2009, 05:00:13 pm »
I think the poor guy is confused, If I made a video would you believe me too.
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."


Nevada

Rhinegold

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2009, 05:04:29 pm »
If I made a video would you believe me too.
It depends on whether I had actually experimented with whatever advice you had given.

However, saying I should do something because "it makes ya feel good" does not inspire confidence.

Offline Dano

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2009, 05:10:01 pm »
"However, saying I should do something because "it makes ya feel good" does not inspire confidence."

And if comments like this make you feel better, go for it.  ;D

I used to say WHATEVER, but I guess that's annoying. >:D
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."


Nevada

Rhinegold

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2009, 05:13:42 pm »
Set is not reversable, string follow will go away to an extent but not set.
Just to clarify the difference between set and follow...I found this definition:

"Since I mentioned 'set', lemme take a detour here and explain the difference between 'set' and 'string follow'. First of all, all bows have set. "Set" is when the belly wood gets compressed, and the limb bends more toward the belly than it did before. Now let's say you take a bow with 5" of reflex, and after tillering it, it has 3" of reflex left. That means it has 2" of set because it has been deformed by 2".

But such a bow has no string follow. String follow is the amount of deflex in the bow. If you start off with a perfectly straight bow, and you end up with 2" of set, it will also have 2" of string follow. But if the bow starts off with 1" of reflex and takes a 2" set, it will have 1" of string follow. If you start off with 2" of reflex and take 2" of set, the bow will be perfectly straight with no string follow."

http://www.geocities.com/salampsio/oak7.htm


Rhinegold

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2009, 05:16:05 pm »
I used to say WHATEVER, but I guess that's annoying. >:D
And equally meaningless!

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2009, 05:21:30 pm »
I had a hickory board bow that took about 3 inches of "set".  I overdrew the bow too early in tillering and figured I would just (hehehe) fix it later.  The fix consisted of heating each limb and bending the limb back straight.  Voila!!!!  The bow was fixed! Laser straight with just a little judicious use of heat.

Only until I shot a half dozen arrows through and the "set" was back, just as bad as ever.  Oh well, it shoots just fine and easy to string.

My take-away lesson for the day?  Never pull the bow past the weight or drawlength that is your stated goal.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Dano

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2009, 05:22:10 pm »
Your quote is equally meaningless. There is a definite difference between string follow and set, I take my definitions from The Traditional Bowyers Bible, course not all books and things you see on the internet are true.

You can perform this experiment yourself, string your bow leave it strung for a few minutes. Unstring the bow and measure the set. Let the bow relax for an hour or so, measure again, this value is string follow. Not deflex, and not set.
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."


Nevada

Offline Del the cat

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Re: Do you keep your wood bow in a brace?
« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2009, 05:54:16 pm »
It is dissingenuous to ask the question and then quibble about the answer.
There is no point in clamping a bow to to a former to store it especially if it is reversing the stress on the limbs.
Have you ever broken a piece of steel rod by repeatedly flexing it back and forth to create a stress fracture?
If you don't want an answer why ask the question?
Del
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