Strike plate material?

[JamesKerr]

My strike plate of calf hair was wearing out. So instead of buying a new one I decided to make my own out of an old leather belt I had. Will the leather off a belt work as strike plate and rest material?

[Charlie Lamb]

The belt will work if not too thick. To thick might cause tune to change.

It will work for a rest, but I prefer something softer... fuzzy Velcro.

Just FWIW ... I think it was Sam Fadala that first called it a "strike plate". Don't know why when it was always called an "arrow plate" for decades before him.

[ishoot4thrills]

I like fuzzy Velcro too. I use it on the shelf as well.

[PaddyMac]

Velcro here, too with leather backing to build it out for tuning.

[thunder1]

Soft side of velcro works great

[lpcjon2]

I also use leather belt pieces for my longbow for rest and strike plate. I take a razor and shave the leather to about 1/16 to 1/8 thick and cut the desired shape and use barge cement to apply it to the bow.

[Night Wing]

My velcro side strike plate for both of my recurves is 1/8" thick.

[JamesKerr]

Originally posted by lpcjon2:
I also use leather belt pieces for my longbow for rest and strike plate. I take a razor and shave the leather to about 1/16 to 1/8 thick and cut the desired shape and use barge cement to apply it to the bow.

That's exactly what I do. I made sure my leather was the exact same thickness as my calf hair.

[Big Ed]

Velcro for me!!

[McDave]

You can micro-tune your point of impact by the softness of the strike plate.  For a RH shooter, a hard leather plate will move the point of impact to the left.  A plate with some resiliency like Velcro or calf's hair will move the point of impact to the right of that.  A soft strike plate like a Martin rug rest will move the point of impact further to the right.

[Scott S.]

For a homemade leather rest/plate, a piece off a worn out leather glove should be thinner than most belts.  I think I have also made a rest once out of an old chamois cloth.

[karrow]

thin leather stick on mole skin leather will be tough

[JamesKerr]

Originally posted by Scott S.:
For a homemade leather rest/plate, a piece off a worn out leather glove should be thinner than most belts.  I think I have also made a rest once out of an old chamois cloth.

I don't think any of my gloves would be thin enough as I sanded the leather down to an even 1/16 inches.