Quicks classic hunter recurve bow

[tomtom]

when you buy a bow you should get a draw that is slightly heavier than you can pull (you will get stronger and the bow will be perfect for you) and your arrow will need to be slightly longer then the draw on your bow IIRC so that you cant pull it past the block (like george did) , there are rules about this like "the arrow should be the length of your sholder too you hand.." but i cant remember them, im sure someone will post them in a moment!!

it is a really good idea to go down to your local feild archery club (not target archery they have two many rules and silly clothes ) you can try out club bows and you will quickly move up the draw waights when you begin as you get stronger untill you get to one right for you.. the draw weight for you will be different depending on the type of bow you get!

also if you go in to Quicks there are a few of them round the country the service is really first class they will find the bow and arrow (just as important) which is right for you and happily take your money off you!!

and then you get in to long bow.. and that costs you even more :yikes:

: -l)

 

[Rob]

it is a really good idea to go down to your local feild archery club (not target archery they have two many rules and silly clothes ) QUOTE]

:You_Rock_ Couldn't agree more.

The best option is to go and see an archery club (target if you dont have access to a field club). Target archery will help your style, but then the inevitable switch to field archery will ruin your target archery.

Have a go on a few bows. Most people will start somewhere in the 30-40lb range. If you can borrow whilst you learn, then great, as you will soon have the right muscles and want to move up a few pounds. I started on a 40lb recurve, and now tend to shoot an American Flat Bow at just over the 60lb.

As for draw length. Get a lanky archer's arrows ('cause it should be longer than you need), stick one on a bow and draw. Then get aforementioned assistant to measure the distance from the nock to the rest (or whatever bit of the bow your arrow is touching).
Alternatively, try and get to somewhere like Quicks.

At this rate I will have to organise a BCUK field archery weekend, or drag some of the more experianced archers out there to come to one of Mel & I's open shoots.

 

[tomtom]

At this rate I will have to organise a BCUK field archery weekend, or drag some of the more experianced archers out there to come to one of Mel & I's open shoots.

That sounds like a ****** brilliant idea!!

and new archers be warned you WILL find muscles you have never used before and they will ache!

 

[george]

Right- with all this talk of exploding arrows I thought I'd best get down to making a bunch of spares while I'm waiting for the bow to arrive.

I had some old pitch pine floorboards left over from another project, with a very tight straight grain. I've split these down in to 24 arrow blanks about 32 inches long and about 14mm square. I'll take them down in to rounds with the spokeshave and plane. I've got some red deer antler tips that will make some nice nocks and a friend has promised me a couple of goose wings for fletching, piles will just be taper fit field points

I'm unsure about how to spine match the arrows though and I wondered if any of you guys had any tips or any good links? Also what kind of finish would you recommend - I was thinking of Danish oil, I'm not too fond of the feel of varnish, any thoughts?
George

 

[C_Claycomb]

http://www.bowmaker.net/tuning.htm

I know that you can make a spine tester with using a simple dial guage, what I haven't found yet (only 10 minutes looking :roll: ) is a chart to convert the shaft deflection measured on the guage into lb stiffness.

Finish wise varnish is pretty hard to beat for durability. If you use an oil just make sure that the glue that you are fletching with will stick!! Otherwise it will become very easy to track your progress through the woods by following the trail of neatly cut goose feathers Danish oil might well work, just test a bit first

 

[george]

Thanks Chris - good link

George

 

[Tvividr]

:biggthump to what Chris said about the finishing of the arrows.
If you PM me your email address I have a couple of pdf and word files with info on making spinetesters, that I can send you. I know that there are some books with drawings as well - for a good drawing you should try to look in The Traditional Archers Handbook by Hilary Greenland (4th edition I think). I also think that The Heritage of The Longbow by Pip Bickerstaffe has a drawing and descriptions in it. Few American written books has detailed info on this, but I know that there are some (old) ones with drawings and descriptions, but can't check if from where I am at the moment. I am pretty sure that the Bowyer's Bible volumes do not have detailed info on how to make your own spinetester.
A simple test can be done with a couple of nails and some lead to use as weight. But then you must first know which spine fly best from your bow. I'll try to see if I can make a drawing of that one tonight and upload it here ?

 

[george]

Thanks Tvividr - PM sent

George

 

[Tvividr]

Thanks Tvividr - PM sent George

Got it, email sent :biggthump
Just checked the books I mentioned in my post above. Both books have info on spine deflection (with graphs etc) and how to make your own spinetester.

 

[Rob]

Did you make up the first set of arrows with "shop" spines? If so, you shouldn't need a conversion chart if you aim for the same figure with your new ones.

Either way, I would hold fire on finishing the spares until you have checked the arrows you already have by shooting the bow.

If they work - job done. If they dont go quite right, experiment on matching the bow with a spine weight until they do.

With a 40lb bow similar to yours, and a 29" draw, I used to shoot 40/45 POC shafts. 11/32 to cut down on the breakages and with 125 grain piles and 4" flethings.

Going down to 100 grains, smaller fletchings or 5/16 shafts will flatten out the flight of the arrow, hopefully helping with hitting stuff.

Happy shooting ):

 

[george]

Thanks Rob


I ordered a set of arrows from quicks that they said would be matched for the bow - I suppose that I'll wait til they arrive and see how they shoot, then use them as the basis for comparison. The only ones I've got just now are 50/55s and 60/65s so I can't compare.

Interesting to try and figure these things out though.

George

 

[Tvividr]

The simple spinetester that I mentioned in my earlier post is made with two nails and a weight of lead (or any other weighty type of material). Commercial spinetesters are made with a 2 lb weight as standard, and most spine charts are calculated by using a 2 lb weight.
The nails are hammered into a board or you can just use your wall. One nail above the nock, and one nail below the shaft at about midpoint of the total arrow length. The weight is attached in the front of the arrow to make it bend. If you already have some arrows that fly perfectly from your bow, you can mark the curve or the point where the pile/point of the arrow is when weighted down. Have some of your friends do the same, and when sorting out a new batch of shafts it is an easy thing to check if the shaft would work with your bow or with one of your friends.
It may not be super accurate, but it works ok to get decent spine for acceptable arrowflight.
I tried to make a drawing to illustrate this, hope it is understandable.

Edit: for some reason I cant upload attachments. Adi or someone please help.

 

[george]

Ok Gerd that sounds reasonable.

Imagine that the spine is too stiff, should I then take wood evenly off the whole of the arrow until it fits the curve or just off the middle?

george

 

[Tvividr]

There are several things that will affect spine on an arrow. If it is too stiff, you do not necessarily have to take off wood. Changing the weight of the point might help : heavy point will make the arrow behave as if the spine was less, lighter point will make the arrow stiffer. Same with length : long arrow will give you less spine, short arrow will give you a stiffer arrow. The real difficulty lies in making a short arrow less stiff by lengthening :roll:
For some people it might even work to change the size of the fletching (no exact guidelines here though, but in general an arrow will fly better from a bow without an arrowshelf if the fletching is of decent size like at least 5" or more. Personally I prefer 5,5" on hunting arrows due to the increased width of the arrowpoint).
If you have to take off wood, I would suggest sanding the entire shaft, or you could use a Bowyer's Edge by Dean Torges, which is also a very good bowmaking tool . Unless you think about making your own wooden bows too, I would suggest sanding as the cheapest and easiest way. By sanding off wood you can also change other properties apart from the spine of the arrow, but that may wait until you have sorted out the proper spine etc (I am thinking about flight arrows, barrelshaped arrows, bobtailed etc, fun to play around with, but not really necessary for good shooting).
Still can't upload attachments.

 

[george]

Thanks again Gerd

Looks like I've got lots to experiment with over the next little while.

BTW the bow arrived last night - it's tiny! I'll have to wait til the weekend now to try it out, but this shooting without an arrow rest business is going to be a whole new experience I think - I cant even work out where to hold the thing!!

And to think I bought it to get back to a simpler style of shooting

George

 

[Rob]

I used to use one of the cheap plastic stick on arrow rests. It really improved the bow. They are about £4 with the delivery from quicks.

They used to send these out with the bows, but they seem to have stopped. If you went to try one, quicks would stick one on for you to use on the range, then leave it on the bow.

Saying that, i have come across a few people recently that have not had them on. One likes it that way, and the other was going off to get one. They were still shooting well.

 

[Stuart]

i prefure to use it without a rest

just work out where to hold it, put your finger out as if reaching for thr trigger in a rifle, raise your finger up a bit, and rest the arrow on top

 

[alick]

The simple spinetester that I mentioned in my earlier post is made with two nails and a weight of lead (or any other weighty type of material). Commercial spinetesters are made with a 2 lb weight as standard, and most spine charts are calculated by using a 2 lb weight.
...

Another design of spinetester used by the shop where I buy my arrow shafts from supports the arrow shaft between two points 28 inches apart (because draw weight etc all seem to be measured at a "standard" of 28 inches) then hangs the 2lb weight from the middle. A simple pointer fastened to a board is used on this jig. The shorter end of the pointer rests against the bottom of the arrow at this midpoint, the longer end is read against a scale. As the midpoint sags under weight, the pointer and scale give a direct reading of the "spine".

This jig makes it easy to rotate the shaft to find max and minimum spine values for each shaft, as this differs with and across the grain. Arrows should always be spined across the grain since this matches the way they have to flex on the bow.

Cheers