HH bug got me ... Part One!

[Dick in Seattle]

Something Different  -  I just posted a notice to the Bowyer's Bench re a new page I'm adding to my web site.   I know there are aspiring Hill style bowyers in the thread/group.  (I keep getting emails from them!         i have two build alongs on my site, but I thought it might be interesting to supplement them with a daily narrative shop diary of the actual working process... not a pictorial, but a review of the decisions that have to be made, the problems that come up and how they're dealt with.  Not a process description, but a review of how the process went in one particular case.    I've just started a double bow project, two not identical in woods or design.  The first two days' narrative is now up.  If you're interested, check out the post in Bowyers Bench and follow along on the site as I go.

[stabow]

Good deal Dick I will do that.   
I just got a light weight Big 5 from the St. Jude auction 76# @ 27’’ had a little trouble stringing it and did manage to pull it back 2’’ LOL. Won’t be shooting this one much......stabow

Thanks Dick!

You have good stuff to share and many will benefit from your experience.

[Dick in Seattle]

Boyd (Stabow)...   What the heck you thinking of?!    Reminds me of a couple of years back I was visiting BowDoc and he was telling me about the latest bow Glenn St. Charles had given him to refinish.   It was 85# and Doc was laughing so hard I thought he'd choke, trying to get out, "What does a 96 year old man want with an 85# bow?"          

[Nate Steen .]

Ben, mate...
 
how many of those mates of yours have to inflicted with the HH bug?  They all look to be diehard 'curve shooters....

[Nate Steen .]

One of the joys of stumpin with a longbow while cruisin the hillsides for bear....getting to shoot long shots into the heart of a rootball...40 yards plus....watch out bears  

[

[Mudd]

Here you go Nate.

 

God bless,Mudd

[Rob DiStefano]

nate, the image code is as follows ...

Code: [Select]

[IMG]http://images.imagelinky.com/1308164016.JPG[/IMG]

[Rik]

I forgot to mention something about my recent trip to Vancouver Island, during which I shot the many Howard Hill bows in my friend's collection.

Believe it or not, I actually---for the first time ever---experienced hand shock. I was shocked!  Amazed!  Flabbergasted!

I was shooting a 70-pound, 70-inch Wesley Special, and the first arrow out of it jarred my wrist a bit. I shot it again with the same result. One more arrow and it did it again. I had never felt anything like it.

I knew exactly what the problem was though, he was handing me cedar arrows. YIKES! I haven't hunted with cedar arrows since the 80s.

I asked him to hand me one of his Ash arrows, and the next shot was smooth as silk. I did not shoot another cedar arrow for the rest of the week. It was ash and only ash, and nary a bit of handshock to be found.

I do have to admit, those light little cedar arrows did arrive at the target quickly. They were fast flyers, but I did get to smell quite a few of the ones he broke during our weeklong visit. They did not hold up well at all. Sure smelled nice though.

[Rob DiStefano]

it's not the ash per se, rik - it's all about the gpp weight.  

[Rik]

You are right Rob, but he didn't have any heavy cedars.

He didn't have a grain scale either, so I have no idea what the cedars or the ash weighed. The ash were just enough heavier to get rid of the hand shock though.

It would be a neat experiment to take a bow and several weights of arrows, from 450 grains up, and then shoot them to figure out at what weight the hand shock goes away. There is probably a good equation that could be worked out that could come in handy.

As for me, I am going to stick to shooting arrows 600 grains and up. They feel just right.

[Ben Maher]

Originally posted by Rik:

As for me, I am going to stick to shooting arrows 600 grains and up. They feel just right.

I hear Ya !

[Rob DiStefano]

i need 10gpp or more for any of my longbows and definitely for hills - 11 or more gpp is better yet.

[Nate Steen .]

thanks for the help guys, still getting used to this photo techno stuff...

Ric, with your bow & arrow combos, animals shake like getting hit with a battering ram.  Your penetration success is awesome. But then again, your arrow weights would be around 11 ggp for most other guys.... I've been dinkin' with cedars again, shooting some 535 gr. (8.5 gpp) up against my 620 gr.(9.5 gpp)fir arrows and can tell some difference in the feel of the bow, but it's not too drastic.  I don't think you get a really good feel for how arrow weight dampens a longbow until you jump up to at least 11 ggp.

Funny how in the old days....40s, 50s,60s,70s....guys shot cedar or light aluminums out of medium weight bows all the time and killed everything out there...times and knowledge sure has changed our perspective of what kills animals....  

[Rik]

Nate, good point, and it made me think about something I have not considered before, but should have----my wife's grains per pound.

Ever since we married, I simply made her up some great 600-grain arrows every year and sent her forth to wreak havoc.

Well, I just ran the numbers, and her GPP is 11.5. That seems to be on the high side, but she has won first place many times in the women's division of most of the larger archery shoots in Idaho, and to be honest, has consistently had higher scores than at least 80 percent of the guys.

I honestly don't know how she does it, especially with fairly heavy arrows and a fairly light bow, but somehow she pulls it off.

That's a long way of saying I don't think people need to shy away from semi-heavy arrows because of the fear of not being accurate at long distances.

That being said, when I was a young whippersnapper, I killed bear, mule deer, and elk with light 525-grain cedar arrows all the time. I just seem to do it a whole lot more consistently with heavier arrows.

Plus, it gives us all a good topic to discuss and reasons to try all different combinations of bows and arrows to see what works best for each of us.

[MT Longbow]

Just got my new Wesley , 70 inch 60 @ 29 .....just took it out for 45 shots before dark......holy cow...unreal good.

Ill post pics tomorrw.....


WOW

Patrick

[petertschantz]

Congrats on the new bow Patrick!

[droz il]

Congrats on your new Wesley.  

[Montauks]

Patrick is this your first Hill?

[rushlush]

I recieved my Robin Hood double shelf. It's fun to shoot. Will post some pic's when I learn how to. BTW thanks to all that have posted all the good info on how to shoot them.