Understanding hand shock???

[coaster500]

I am at odds sometimes to understand why some of the bows I build are smooth as silk and on the other side another can rattle the caps off my teeth??? I made a 50@27 Osage a while back that shoots very accuratly but will leave a blister on my hand after a few dozen arrows....  Maybe someone here can give me some understanding...  The only thing that makes this bow a bit diffenent is a knot on the upper limb about halfway up where I left a bit more material as insurance. The tiller on this one looks good??? Other than that It's pretty much my standard build?

[Hermann From Bavaria]

Hey coaster,

In theory hand shock is energy which is not delivered to the arrow.

In my experience, hand shock is caused by false limb timing, uneven Tiller, String material, and how good the string is built.

Some Bowyer say, that the shock is caused by too heavy limbs and limb tips. but i think, like said above, if the tillers good and you have a well craftet Fastflight instead of a Dacron-Rubber-string on that bow, there should be no hand shock.
 
Greets
Herm

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Kip,

 I bought a snaky selfbow this spring that was absolutely beautiful but when I went to the bail it shot horrible. It felt like it would jump out your hand. I had the feller who was selling it draw it back and I could tell right away the tiller was way off not to mention the tips where over built.

 I knew I could fix it and went to horse trading. After I fixed the tiller and knocked some meat off the tips it shoots like a dream now. I only lost 3# off the bow. It was a bit of a gamble but it payed off.

 If it's tillered dead nuts the limb timing should fall in to place. Tiller being off and unneeded mass weight is where it comes from.
 
 This is my understanding of it. Hopefully some one will come along and shed some more light on the subject. This should be a good discussion.
 
 Stiks

[coaster500]

Stiks I'm going to do some adjusting when I get a bit of time. I am about five pound over my normal draw weight so I've got some room to trim. I think I'll narrow the limbs a bit and as you said shave some weight from the tips. Tiller looks pretty good to me but the top limb has a big knot and weighs a bit more than the bottom as I left a bit more wood for insurance...  I'll update the results when I get to it...

[Dan Landis]

Coaster, I'm glad you posted this, I'm having the same problem with an osage bow I've been working on.  It too has a large knot about mid way on the top limb. I've narrowed the tips to about 3/8", but didn't make much difference.  I'll be watching this for a possible solution....Dan

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Kip in a bow with character in it sometimes a little shock is a neccassary evil. It still shouldn't rattle your caps LOL

 I think it's a matter of finding the the absolute least amount of wood that can be left which is an art in it self. I have a habit of pushing things to the absolute limit and as a result I break a few here and there    But each one teaches me something new.

 Post up some pics of the knot in question

[coaster500]

That's it Stiks I need to break more bows and I might learn something      

I think I just have to much mass on the top 1/3 of the limbs. I'll know soon enough... I think I am going to put a sweep in the tips also... let's see what kind of limits I can push  

[Stiks-n-Strings]

LOL if you ain't breakin' you ain't you ain't makin' at least the motto in my shop    

 Your building some sweet bows Kip so I'd say you'll get her figured out

[John Scifres]

How long is the bow?  The longer you make the bow, the more critical the mass distribution is, particularly with a dense wood like osage.  Get the tips as small as you can.

However, I agree that the most critical thing to a pleasant shooting bow is tiller.  If it's shocking that bad, I'd suspect it off on tiller somewhere.

[Bjorn]

Some 'mistakes' are harder to uncover than others. I have made a couple of bows that just would not give it up-the kick that is. And others have been excellent from the start.............I managed to 'fix' a couple by re-tillering, and still have one that just laughs at me every time I try to 'fix' it. I'm just glad they are such fun to build!

[Roy Steele]

Uneven limb tiller one limb finshing before the other. And to heavey limb tips.
  String stopage can call so have a small efect.