This Old Herters Part II

[JINKSTER]

So...last week I nab this sweet '75 model Herters Perfection Magnum with a superb and massive Honduran Rosewood riser and like a kid in a candy store I rush to tune and get shooting and wow!...I love this bow!...but just like having a new hot girlfriend move in with you?...as time passes a few ugly little character defects begin to rear their ugly head...bow tuned in easy and shot lights out but..loud...with a buzz at the end...that when I hunted down turned out to be two things....first the upper limb had a bit of a twist I neglected to notice and when I saw that I had gobs of string groove exposed up top?...the lower string groove was completely hidden under the string with the string slap up against the bare limb and rut-ro...where's my bow square?...what's the tiller?....and GASP!...5/8ths Positive!

Minutes later I was on the phone to my good friend and bowyer of Bushmen Longbows Steve Jewett...an hour later?...my Herters was in his vise and he was handing me a dust mask...

 

and putting the stinkeye on this herters...

 

and yep...top tiller was way tall...

 

so out came the orbital sander as he massaged a twist out of the upper limb working one side and balancing out tiller working both sides of the lower limb...

 

and straightened out a poorly installed string nock up top....

 

then sealed her up with lacquer and left her set for the night...with a corrected upper limb and tiller brought into a more reasonable 1/4" positive...

 

I guess just because you get blessed with a pristine old car doesn't mean it couldn't use a fresh tune-up! LOL!

Just figured I'd share and L8R, Bill.  

[ron w]

Pretty cool old bow......let us know how she shoots after the rehab!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

At first I thought you would have bad news with the icon you chose.  

As Ron mentioned, let us know how it shoots after the "tune up"

[JINKSTER]

Thanks folks...I'm leaving now to go pick it up..well?...sort of...he told me to bring arrows as he wants me to shoot it and make sure everything is cool before I leave with the bow.

Wish us luck, Thanks again and L8R, Bill.

[JINKSTER]

Well Folks?....It went as well as it possibly could've....and the only thing I regret is that I didn't take pix of the limb twist that was in this bows upper limb prior to Steve re-working it...but in a hindsight sort of way?...maybe you folks can apply your imagination to the following pix of the upper limb tip...where the tip itself is still skewed and then picture that the limb was pretty much following the skewed angle of this tip....

   

and along with a slight sanding/weakening of one side of the upper limb along with some thermo/mechanical manipulation and?....Steve taking a round file to one side of the mis-aligned/installed string nock (which you can see the file marks on the lower side of this following pic) the new Flemish Twist B50 string now lines up in the string groove like so....

     

Steve had made me up the two new Flemish Twist B50 strings and is was time to shoot the bow and yes...wow...what a difference....much smoother at-the-shot and despite the fact that the string silencers had yet to be installed?...I could tell the bow was going to be much quieter and now sporting a 3/8ths positive tiller VS the 5/8ths it arrived with...but here's the thing...it was faster...waaaay faster.....as in....the words "Holy Cow!" came out of my mouth on the first shot...as Steve said......"It's faster now...isn't it?"....and I nodded yes with a smile...as he went on to explain the number of reasons why that was so...

 1. Was the difference between the previous 18strand endless loop Dacron rope I bought off the pegboard at Bass Pro and a well made 14 strand Flemish Twist string that was on there now.

 2. Was because I had gotten lazy and just crimped on a couple brass nocking points and this string had tie-ons as he went on to tell me that when you go from tie-on's too brass crimp on's?...you just knocked about 5fps off your bow. (and he sent you guys a gift in that "Better Tie-On" thread I posted up)

 3. Was the lack of string silencers (where I had otter balls on the store bought Dacron) and there were none on this bow...yet...

     

and you know you're dealing with a cool cat when you ordered two strings and he hands you (3) admitting he made the first one just a touch too long with instructions to save it for a rainy day.

   

Steve also told me he had a custom longbow client stop by yesterday and went crazy over the beautiful Honduran rosewood riser on this $200 herters of mine....(which I now have $320 in)...and what it means?...I dunno...but it sure made me feel good cause here's what he was working on when I showed up today...as I caught him in the midst of prepping the snakeskins of a customers new longbow for final clear coat and man oh man....I think it was Moccasin Skins on one side and Cypress lams on the other with a solid glass and marblecul riser and what a beauty it was...so I took a couple pix of it...check it out...

   

     

 And how do I know the bow is in fact faster?....my bare-shafts that were tuned in so well are now coming off the bow about 20 degrees nock left and striking about 6-8"s too the right at a scant 12yds...so a complete re-tuning is in order and Yep...it's faster now...this is the bemans after dropping 25grs of point weight going from 125gr points too 100gr points....but honestly?...I dunno what's up with the GT3555's as they had 175's which I automatically replaced with 145gr points and they flew stiff so the 175's went right back in and viola!

     

 Still got a bunch of tuning to do though as the bemans are flying a touch nock high since they are a smaller diameter shaft.

Thanks for looking and L8R, Bill.

[Owlgrowler]

Amazing! on a variety of levels

[Marc B.]

Cool bow and great thread. Herter's had massive risers for sure.

[JINKSTER]

Hey folks...this Herters Perfection Magnum is definitely not a problem anymore and at this point?...I'm fairly certain that with the limb twist and mis-tillering this bow exhibited that it was indeed most likely sold off at a discount as a factory second nearly 40 years ago...but my bud and bowyer Steve Jewett of Bushmen Bows corrected both of these maladies through thermo-mechanical manipulation and removing a slight amount of limb material on just one side of the upper limb and touched up the mis-installed string notch via a small round file to correct the twist issue and then removed a slight amount of limb material from both sides of the lower limb to bring the tillering from nearly 5/8ths positive to a far more respectable 3/8ths positive and at least to the point where I can see a touch of exposed string groove on the lower limb...and the bow is not "finish tuned" yet but the bow is responding and shooting great and I'm loving it.

The other matter I wanted to share here involves the B50 string/strings he made me as follows....

This Herters bow seems to love an 8" BH and starts barking when it gets down towards 7 3/4" BH...so I set the initial BH at 8 1/4"s "TO THE FRONT OF THE STRING" because when it comes to B50 Dacron?...I've seen as much as 1/2" loss of BH within the first 10 shots before..then twist it up and lose close to another 1/2" in 10 shots....then 1/4" and then they seemed to settle in and stabilize...."somewhat"...but this B50 string Steve made me?...first?...is very different than what I'm accustomed to seeing twist wise...as where others seem to put maybe 20-30 twists in a Dacron string?...he twists them until they are just shy of kinking up...and tight...like what you might see on a high end custom FF type string....and several times had mentioned to me that he "uses heat" when making his strings so they "take a set"...and if you take a close look at the strand ends of the braids below?...you can see they've seen some...uhem..."heat"....

   

now here's the thing...I got to put about 20 shots across this bow before having to haul to my parents for Sunday dinner last night...and in between sprinkles?....I got to put about 30 more shots across it tonight for a total of 50 shots...and the bow was still quiet...everything still looking respectable and in order but figured "Man...It's had to of lost some BH by now!"...so I checked it and?...it was now 8 1/4"s too the center of the .100" serving...losing a scant .050" in 50 shots taken....and I just got off the phone about an hour ago with him where I asked the question....

"Steve...are you certain that this string material is in fact B50?"

 He laughed and said...

"Yes...it's the only B50 I have....why?"

 So I explained the above to him and he said....

"I told you it wouldn't move much and it's because of the way I make my strings."

 as he went on to explain that remember I told you I use heat?...and then went on to say....

 You know Bill...all of my strings used to move no matter what material I used...of course the less stretchy stuff would move less and the more stretchy stuff would move more but they all moved some and it used to irritate me as to why....and it didn't all come together for me until I watched a movie on "Lariat Makers"....and how they used heat to get their strands to take a set as they have no memory until they do and you have to use heat to get that done and done correctly.

Now I didn't ask him exactly how he applied it or what kind of heat he used but man is this one stabile butt B50 string!

I'm loving it....the bows loving it...and like I told Steve?...I can't tell a difference between this B50 string and some of the best FF stuff I've ever strung on a bow...simply amazing...and another thing I thought was real cool?...that I really didn't take into consideration?...as I thought the gold colored string would just look great with the tones of the rosewood riser?...I also noticed today that it seems to match the mustard colored Farbenglass on the front of this bow spot-on!

So here's some eye candy of my geometrically corrected and finished 1975 Herters Perfection Magnum and I think it came out great!

 

 

 

and I haven't bothered fine tuning it yet (as I "THOUGHT" I'd need to be shooting this new string in) but can tell already she's going to be a smoker!

 

I think it turned out real well for a 40 year old $200 bow and an extra $120 for twist removal, tweaking in the tiller and (2) new custom strings that are blowing me away!

Thanks for looking and L8R, Bill.

[slim_grim]

Sweet. That Rosewood is nuts.

[Stumpkiller]

There's a lot of life left in the old girls.

I'm partial to the old one piece risers of rosewood, sheuda, imbuya or zebrawood myself. Some are irreplacable now.

Glad yours worked out.

[Paul/KS]

Nice save..  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Looks Great!

[JINKSTER]

Thanks everyone...I'm thrilled to pieces with it and every night I get home from work I see it hanging there on the wall and I just smile...then throw on a pot of coffee and head out back with it...and yes.....the chunk of Honduran rosewood (which appears to be "Presentation Grade" btw) is sick looking and super huge and weighty and at-the-shot just sits there dead in my hand...if a bowyer today had a chunk of Honduran rosewood this massive?...they'd be trying to get 2-3 bow risers out of what was dedicated to just this one.    

Thanks again for looking, Stay safe and Happy Shooting! Bill.  

[cacciatore]

Great story about those strings. Thanks for sharing

[muddyIA]

That's a great looking bow.

[Ssamac]

Beautiful bow and terrific post - learned a lot
I have not seen/held/shot many Herter's but any I have seen are terrific shooters. $320 ready to fire is terrific for a bow of this quality
Good luck with it and thanks for the story and pics.
sam

[acolobowhunter]

I still have my Herter's Perfection Stika that I bought in the early 1970's.  It is a 65# bow.  I shot and hunted with it for nearly 20 years and it still shoots good, but much slower than todays bows.

I also still have the catalog I order from and the original receipt - $50.00.

I always loved the massive grip.  Could never get today's bowyers to make as big a grip on a bow.  Wow $300. at today's market, maybe I should sell it.

[JINKSTER]

Thanks folks and?...

   

Originally posted by acolobowhunter:
I still have my Herter's Perfection Stika that I bought in the early 1970's.  It is a 65# bow.  I shot and hunted with it for nearly 20 years and it still shoots good, but much slower than todays bows.

I also still have the catalog I order from and the original receipt - $50.00.

I always loved the massive grip.  Could never get today's bowyers to make as big a grip on a bow.  Wow $300. at today's market, maybe I should sell it.

acolo...just for grins and giggles?...I punched $50 in 1970 into an "inflation calculator" and this is what came up...

$50 of 1970 dollars would be worth: $301.20 in 2013

$50 of 2013 dollars would be worth $8.30 in 1970


and while I'm not familiar with the Sitka model?...I do know they came as long as 72"s the way herters measured them from tip-too-tip...my Perfection Magnum is marked as a 60" bow but only takes a 53 1/2" string which makes it about the size of a 58" Bear Grizzly...and the one word that doesn't come to mind when I shoot this bow is "slow"...as I would most definitely not describe it as such and while I'm sure it's not as fast as todays fastest offerings?...it does possess 3 key elements that are typically indicative of the makings of a fast bow...

1. Dramatically recurved limbs...(enough so that I physically could not string this bow with a "slider type" stringer and had to purchase a "Dual Cup" stringer just to string it)

2. An extremely solid, massive, stabile riser with limb fades that are nearly non-existent.

3. Very light limb tips that are spooky thin.

But "Speed" is not first nor foremost when I'm selecting a stick bow for myself...because if that speed comes at the cost of smooth and dead at-the-shot?...then make mine a little slower please. LOL!

I paid $200 for the bow TMD...then $75 for some limb twist removal and re-tillering by a professional bowyer...who also made me two new (and fantastically built) custom ordered B50 Flemish strings for $40 (@ $20ea) complete with catwhiskers and while the total was $115?..I tipped him $5 and paid $120 telling him his beers are on me tonight! LOL!

But for the smile this bow puts in my heart just looking at it?...an the smile it puts on my face shooting it?...and the fact that it's one of (what seems rare) Honduran Rosewood models?...it would take at least $400 to get it out of my hands right now...and I'm fairly certain I'd say no to that!      

now I'm a 55 year old diabetic...so I can only handle about 30#s when I'm "form shooting" but also love to snap shoot slightly heavier bows....like my 37# Bushmen R/D Longbow and this herters...but I foolishly attempted to form shoot this herters just to show folks just how massive and dead-in-the-hand this bows huge riser is...hope you enjoy and L8R, Bill.      

   Shooting The Herters Perfection Magnum

[JINKSTER]

I'm loving this bow and yes I feel honored (if not downright privileged) to own it...and since owning it?...I've heard all sorts of stories about Honduran Rosewood...everything from it being illegal to import too illegal to harvest up to an including rumors that some illegal harvesters have been executed in foreign countries who prize their Honduran Rosewood as a national commodity...and since I can not confirm any of that?....and have even found websites where it's for sale in certain sizes by the board foot?...one things for certain...everyone who's seen the grain, quality and mass of this riser has gone ga-ga over it!

Including me!

Now the following was real risky to accomplish by myself if not downright stupid...but even though my name is in fact Jinks?...I always seem to pull off stupid pretty well! LOL!

And I myself have been curious as to what the exact physical weight of this stout and chunky butt Herters Perfection Magnum is but alas?...I don't have a suitable scale to weigh it...so I tried to find words to describe it....the first time I toted it across my backyard I thought to myself...

"Dang!...this thing feels like I'm carrying a laptop in a briefcase!"

but honestly?...maybe not quite that much...but dang hefty....and to me?...felt almost exactly like this one 60" Herters...(which is really like a 58" AMO Bow like a Bear Grizzly)...feels like it weighs as much as my 66" Bear Polar and my 64" Bushmen longbow together!...as I held the herters in one hand and both of the two other bows together in the other hand and yep...sure seemed dang close to me!

and that's when I came up with this risky...(if not stupid)....idea...as I headed out to the garage and grabbed a 36" long 9/16ths steel rod and a 1' long piece of S.S. round stock I had in the garage...marked the center of the 36" long steel rod and did this.

 

and even with the center mark?...it still took me several minutes to find that balance point...and then?....I ever so carefully.....

did this.....

 

now granted...the herters is skewed an inch or two outboard while the bear and the bushmen are skewed a couple inches inboard but on the herters behalf?...also take into consideration that the Bear Polar has at least 4 ounces worth of (13) .45cal lead balls suspended in clear silicone behind the factory sight groove cover-plate...take those (13) lead balls out of the bear?....and the herters would be flipping the other two over the ladder!

 so maybe that will give you folks a rough idea of just how much mass is in the Honduran Rosewood of the Herters Perfection Magnum's riser and L8R, Bill.

[JINKSTER]

and now that I have it all dialed in?...off comes the tab...on goes the glove....and back to my favorite way of shooting..."instinctive snap"  

Hope you all enjoyed and L8R, Bill.

   Instinctive Snap-Shooting W/ Herters