brace height collection

[toddster]

I have thought about this a while.  We all know we get more and more newer shooters (yay!!!), and some that come across "newer" bows they never had before.  The most common question is what is brace height?  Perhaps some of us could come together and build an exel file to record Bow's recommended Brace heights?  So we would not loose those to history and make it easier for our brothers/sisters.  Just thinking.

[Air Cleaver]

Very good idea. I look back often to find recommended brace heighths.

[Orion]

It would be nice to have such a reference, but quite difficult to construct an accurate one.  A lot of bowyers don't specify a brace height range, and, regardless of the range specified, many shooters find themselves near or outside the outer suggested parameters.  The result is a range that's too wide to be useful to the person who is asking what should my brace height be on Bow X. 

Too, if we didn't have a "What's the correct brace height for my Bow X" question every week, what else would we have to talk about? 

[yeager]

I’ll start it off. My 60” Bob Lee Classic Takedown Recurve: 7 5/8” - 7 3/4”.

56”: 7 1/4”
58”: 7 1/2” - 7 5/8”
62”: 7 3/4” - 8”
64”: 7 7/8” - 8 1/8”

These are the recommended brace heights listed in my Bob Lee owners manual.

[hitmantoto]

Black widow bows:

PMA: 8 1/4 to 9 inches
PSA: 8 1/4 to 9 inches
PCH: 8 to 8 3/4  inches
PTF: 8 1/4 to 9 inches
PA:  8 1/4 to 9 inches
KB:  8 to 8 3/4 inches
PSR: 7 to 7 3/4 inches
PL: : 7 to 7 3/4 inches

Blacktail bows:

Take-down Recurve Bow Brace Height:

56" = 6 1/2" - 6 3/4"
58" = 6 3/4" - 7"
60" = 7" - 7 1/4"
62" = 7 1/4" - 7 1/2"
64" = 7 1/2" - 7 3/4"
66" = 7 3/4" - 8"

One-piece Recurve Bow Brace Height:

60" = 7 1/4" - 7 1/2"
62" = 7 1/2" - 7 3/4"
64" = 7 1/2" - 7 3/4"
66" = 7 1/2" - 7 3/4"

Longbow Brace Height:

62” = 7” – 7 ½”
64” = 7” – 7 ½”
66” = 7” – 7 ½”

[hvyhitter]

Brace height differs from bow to bow and sometimes if you change arrows it changes on the same bow. Its not a fixed and precise measurement. When I tune I start at 7ish and twist up...….recurve or longbow, 4 full twists at a time...… YMMV

[McDave]

My experience is that beginners need to have a starting point for brace height.  I have encountered several beginners who assumed that whatever length string comes with the bow must be okay, and have tried to shoot the bow with a string that is usually too long.  Sometimes I have received new bows with strings so long that by the time I have twisted them up to a reasonable brace height, they have too many twists in them and I have to make a new one.  The one that came with the bow goes onto my ever growing orphan string nail, assuming that someday I’ll come across a bow it will fit.

Anyway, these are a few that haven't been mentioned so far:

Older Bear 60” recurve - 8”
Dakota 64” recurve - 8 1/4”
Hill 66” longbow - 6 1/2”
Hoyt Satori 64” - 8”
Morrison Shawnee 62” recurve - 7”
Predator Velocity 62” recurve - 7 1/4”
Robertson 64” longbow - 7 1/4”
Robertson 62” recurve - 7 3/4”
Robertson Wolfer - 7 1/4”
Samick 60” recurve - 7 3/4”
Toelke Lynx 66” longbow, 64” Whip, etc. 7 1/4” (Dan has always told me 7 1/4”, no matter which bow I was asking him about)

[toddster]

I am not trying to gather the "quick fix", I am thinking of having a history, for someone to start with.  Someday, the bowyers and/or model of bow's will not be around, this way there is a record.  How many times is one asked about, Shakespeare, Bear, Pearson, Browning?

[Orion]

Different folks will set a different brace height on the same bow depending on their shooting styles.  In the interest of contributing to the range of heights for given bows, here are my settings for a few bows that McDave lists.

66-inch Hill -- 6 to 6 1/8 inches
64-inch Robertyson -- 6 3/4 inches
60-inch Bear recurve 7 1/2 inches

When all is said and done, I believe you'll generally come up with a couple of broad ranges -- 7-8 inches for recurves, 6-7 inches for ASLs and somewhere in-between for hybrids, with a few outliers.  But those are good places to start.