late 40's Ben Pearson brace ?

[Bruce M]

Hey all,
Just picked up a late 40's Ben Pearson model 502 solid hickory stick bow in great condition. It's 66" and 56# @28.
I put on a string from one of my recurves  just to see how it shoots, and was immediately impressed with how quiet a just how great it feels in my hand when the shot goes off.
Anyway the string I put on it brings my brace to 7,5/8" and was wondering what the recommended brace height is for these old solid wood(no laminations) stick bows, I can't be too far off judging from just how the arrows flew and how quiet it is.

[rainman]

I would drop brace height to 6 to 6.5 inches.  It is an old wood longbow and I believe will shoot better with a lower brace height.  I don't know of anyone that currently makes wood bows that has a brace height that high.

[rainman]

You might want to put the question on the Bowyers bench.

[Bruce M]

Thanks Dan , I think you're probably right that it's a bit too high. As far as I can discern from reading various publications from the day they usually set the brace lower to around 6"
That's what I was planning on doing anyway tonight, make a string to be around that brace..with B55 of course . Just asking because the 3 shots I took earlier, well it just really felt good, idk.

[rainman]

If you have fast flight or other low stretch string materials they work well with wood bows.  Fast flight is all I use for strings.

[Bruce M]

No all I have is b55, I'm mostly drawn to the older period bows for some reason.
I made a flemish twist string for it and got the brace around 6,1/2". I shot it a bit to settle the strings and If it's louder it's only by a little bit, there are no string silencers on this string as of yet either.
I really like the skinny grip on these bows, shoots nicely, this bow just may find it's way into the hunting rotation, we'll see.

[Pat B]

I make only wood bows and brace them all using my fistmele( ), like this thumbs up sign. My fistmele is about 6" and I measure from the belly side of the handle. There is still room for fine tuning, depending on the specific bow. Basically you want the feathers to clear the string at brace but also quiet the bow and get optimum arrow flight.
 I would not use FF type strings on these old bows. I have selfbows with FF type strings, some with tip overlays and some without but on my own wood bows I only use B-50 or B-55 for bow strings.

[Bruce M]

Thanks for the insight Pat.
 I think I'll need to grow my thumb nail about 1/2" to make it within the fistmele method of measure, but I'm close and closing in.
You know what they say about guys with small hands right?...they don't grasp as much.