Brace Height ?

[j_haus]

I'm pretty new to the traditional archery world and to this forum.  I have a question about what the benefits/disadvantages are to lenghtening my barce height are. I know in the compound world a longer brace means more forgiveness and less speed.  Does the same hold true in the trad world?

[straitera]

Brace height is not a consideration of speed; but, a compromise of your arrow flight & thus bow shooting dynamics. That is, your arrows may wiggle or hit the target consistenty crooked. Adjusting the brace height can cure these traits especially if you bareshaft to the right settings. This is a very good question deserving of a very good answer. Others will elaborate with any adjustment secrets +/or tricks.

[redant 60/65]

Most bows have a sweet spot, where they perform  the best , meaning getting the most out of the limb action. To low bow makes a little more nose and in most cases are a little faster, to high a little slower because the arrows not on the string as long and sometimes nosey. It depends on the bow. But that's kind of the idea. Good guestion.  

[snow leopard]

type "ol adcock" into your search. when the site comes up, click on "bow tuning." you will learn about brace height and anything you may wish to learn about tuning stickbows. it's excellent.

[Stumpkiller]

Physics are physics.  The longer impulse (force over time) of a lower brace height benefits a stickbow also.  Makes for a smoother draw as well.  The trade off is increased noise, arm slap and at some point worse arrow flight.

[onewhohasfun]

I like to start high and work my way down. Take it slow, a little at a time. Remember when tuning, only change one variable at a time.

[j_haus]

Thanks for the info and the advice.  I was shooting at 6 1/2" and put 8 twists in to go to 7".  Arrow flight was good before and still is, but the shot definatly feels better.

[LimBender]

I've been wondering about this and never got a good response.  Seems with a longbow or recurve bh is only thought of as finding the sweet spot or preventing pinch and shock.  You see tons of advice on # and bow length, but rarely on choosing a bow with a bh to match the shooter or its effect on speed.  I know there are a ton of variables in bow design, but if you have 2 similar bows with similar length limbs and one has a 1" shorter bh, the shorter one should shoot faster and be less forgiving due to longer time on the string, correct?

This is my first post here, but I've enjoyed lurking.

[dposalski]

LimBender, I am no expert, but many other variables go into how fast a bow shoots( materials, design, etc.).  Many on here will tell you speed isn't as important as penetration when hunting.  Not too sexy of an answer.

Oh, and let me be the first to welcome you to the joy that is this forum.  

[rraming]

Brace height is usually found by finding the quitest spot the bow shoots. A newer method invloves finding the fastest speed so your bow is performing it's best. Brace height can affect many things on a bow, faster vs. slower, louder vs quieter, arrow spine etc. Some shoot a higher brace height because they like it, for whatever reason - this method of thought is usually psychological and will vary from archer to archer. Snow Leopard gave you a good link and will help you out.

[LimBender]

I guess it's strange when coming from compound to see a lot less emphasis on brace height - other than getting it right and tuning for your particular bow.

Thanks guys.

[hvyhitter]

Brace height is just one part of tuning bow and arrow and shooters form to work together. Its partially about timing the arrow to bend around the riser cleanly when shot. Some bows are more sensitive to it than others. I can tune an arrow to shoot out of a bow perfect for me but someone else with the same arrow may need to tweek the BH a little. BH is used to fine tune the way an arrow acts when shot. It cant fix the wrong spine but helps tune the slight diference between field points and broadheads......here is the link to OLs tuning:
  http://www.bowmaker.net/tuning.htm

[Sixby]

Bows that are specificaly designed with enough pre-load and the correct limb design for a low brace will be faster bows as the arrow stays on the string longer. This giving it a longer power stroke. Conversely bows not designed for a low brace height will have a lot of limb slap especially in recurves, lose limb stability be loud ect.

 If you can get a bow to shoot at 6 to 7 inches of brace you have it going on. Do that with a recurve and you really have it going on. It takes a tremendous amount of tweaking of limb design to accomplish that.

Now that being said every bow design has a place where that individual design will work to its maximum potential. That is the sweet spot for that bow. When you seek it thump the string and you will find a place where vibration is noticibly less . That is a good place to start and a lot of times that will be the spot.  

Bow limb timing and tiller enter into where this spot is considerably. If the limbs are not properly timed , and its just pure luck in a production bow if they are, the brace height will be higher to compensate for vibration caused by the limbs being out of sync. This is one place where a real custom built bow can excell. A good bowyer will time and tune the limbs, Not just by measurement but by actual timing and vibration. The limbs will return at exactly the same time when the bow is shot. That stops the flexing of the limbs much faster and eliminates perceptable shockiness and vibration whitch is literally lost energy. It also procuces more energy to the arrow via the string and bow not losing this \\ stored energy. This makes for better arrow flight. More speed, less noise, less shock ect ect.

After you find the bows best brace height then you can tweak it a bit for different weight arrows, heads ect.

God bless you and hope this helps a bit. Steve

[LimBender]

Thanks hvyhitter for the link and Steve for the explanation, it pretty much answers my question, and gives me some good pointers.  FYI, my recurve shoots well at a 6.5" bh (even down to 6") and I've gotten comments that it is fast for its draw weight.  I'm about to get a longbow with a recommended 8" bh, which may explain some of my curiosity on the subject.