"STRING FOLLOW"...ain't all that bad !!

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Right on Stan !!

cowboy, pigs here mainly feed on fruit year round, and taste great !!!.....no deer on my island, but on the others there's, axis, blacktails, muflon sheep and of course goats and turkeys, .....goats we have on this island too

[grantmac]

Your on Oahu then? I'm there with work a couple of times a year, perhaps I need to bring a bow and look you up next time?
         Cheers,
                 Grant

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Yeah, I'll take you hunting, and wood harvesting if you want.

[grantmac]

I'm in the Canadian Navy,  so I'm there a fair amount (or have been in the past). I'd love to roast a boar and get some Guava. Who knows, maybe I'll hit the Yew motherload and bring you a stave or two! Look for a PM sometime this fall or winter, we usualy come for the rain.
     Cheers,
           Grant

[bambule]

I've build some bows which are still in reflex but when I go out and shoot I use an 55#@27" elm bow with 1 1/2 set.
Not so nervous on the fingers and still fast enough. Can't hunt here but shooting on 3-D-Targets. Also with the elmbow.
I think stringfollow is an asthetic thing and up to 2" or 3" it's ok because shooting gets more stable.
I friend of mine is shooting an ELB with 2" Set, long arrows with high fletches - slow shooting but good targeting
With a fast bow it's easy to shoot fast  - and don't hit 

Greetz

Cord

[Okie]

I've built a few bows now and it seems the more I build the more string follow I'm getting. Can some one tell me what the main cause is for getting string follow in a bow? I've made a couple of red oak bows lately and the first one had around 1 - 1 1/2" ( 64" ntn 60# @ 28) and the one I'm working on now has 2 1/2 - 3 " ( 59" 45# @ 28). I induced no reflex into either.  I've done everything the same, except the one with more is shorter.  Is this the problem?

John

[david w.]

be careful never to strain your bow past the final intended draw weight such as if you are building a 50# bow dont strain it to 60#.
tiller slow and be careful not to form hinges

and 59" is really short for a red oak bow pulling to 28" draw i would keep it up around 66"

i also like 1x3x6 board so i can make my board bows a 1/2" or so wider to have more wood working to keep set less

i hope this helps maybe someone else could chime in to add to what i am missing

[Okie]

David, i never take them past final weight. I have this bow at 45# at 22" right now and it has 2 1/2" set. So are you saying a wider limb will help with the set? These limbs are 1 5/8" up to 9" from the tip then tapering to 1/2".

Thanks, John

[david w.]

my prefered design for red oak bows is 2" wide 66" ntn  i keep it 2" wide and then taper the last 12" to 1/2" or 3/8"

but i would say a wider limb would help you alot. i made a bow that was 40#  1 1/2" wide and 3" of set but my other was 60# and 2" wide and took about 1" of set

i am a begginner so hopefully someone else will comment

[Kegan]

White woods like oak need more limb to take over the work load. If it's short, nmake it wide (2"+). If it's narrow, make it long (72"). I have sverel red oak bows, all wonderful shooters. Though, that will just save you a little speed, maybe give you some strength.

But I'm biased towards long, narrow white wood D bows .

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Hmmm, a long narrow D bow with 1" of follow,...what a great hunting weapon


bambule, right on

[David Long]

Seems to me if you are getting a little SF with your bows this could be interpreted as a sign you are a good bowyer (and not a bad one  ) A severely overbuilt bow typically doesn't follow the string, correct? In contrast when you've approached the limits of the wood you'll get a little follow, but also get light limbs. The old adage "a good bow is 90% broken". Look at it another way. Suppose you could take your SF bow and add back wood to the point where SF goes to zero. You gain speed from less SF, but you'll lose speed due to the added weight. I am not sure in practice what the relative values of these two are given the million real world variables. I know one thing though NP- success proves to me you know what you're talking about.

DAVE