pro`s and con`s of string follow

cedar · February 17, 2012, 10:34:00 AM

Dave, that Shelton is a pretty bow. What woods? Do you have any other pics of it?

shick · February 17, 2012, 10:57:00 AM

WOW! What an excellent thread. Very educational. I thank you all.
Shick

rushlush · February 17, 2012, 12:07:00 PM

Thanks for all the info, I have a Miller on order and I think its going to be stringfollow.

David Mitchell · February 17, 2012, 02:20:00 PM

John49, the limbs on this Shelton are stained American elm, riser is cocobolo.

dennis rice · February 17, 2012, 03:09:00 PM

I have a all bamboo Apex Predator Cumberland with black glass and it is the most forgiving bow i have ever owned. I have shot my highest score in a 3-D tournament with it. The slight string follow design in the cumberland is a pleasure to shoot and it has plenty of speed a very easy bow to shoot

Shortlongbow · February 17, 2012, 03:14:00 PM

This thread is a conspiracy to make me order a NM Shelton

David Mitchell · February 17, 2012, 03:39:00 PM

Yep, you are correct shortlongbow!

cedar · February 17, 2012, 06:46:00 PM

Thanks David. Very nice. I agree with Shortlongbow about the conspiracy and its working.

Overspined · February 17, 2012, 07:41:00 PM

Of the SF glass bows I have shot, the NM was my favorite. I truly have noticed no advantage over the backset, and I tried to notice! Different draw, but slower(although not by much) and I didn't notice accuracy changes over standard backset.

The bow that IMO absolutely changes things more dramatically is the reverse handle by NM(never shot one from HH). Noticeably more accurate and still good arrow velocity. Ugly, strange at first, but a great twist on a Hill style longbow. Great to shoot with gloves on and so hard to torque. My dad has a bad wrist and torques standard hill bows, for years now he only shoots the whisper because his grasp of the bow is less meaningful. I only wish the shelf was cut a touch more to center, which I am sure is a custom touch any bowyer would do.

I have seen a ton of pics with Howard with glass and reverse handle bows, but mostly older pics pre-glass with the string follow bows, a few with glass I have seen at shows.

RC · February 17, 2012, 07:44:00 PM

Thanks Guys. I`ve bout decided on a Tembo string follow. Now I gotta come to grips on the....grip.I like the locator...I like the straight but shoot the dished maybe a tad better....RC

Shinken · February 18, 2012, 02:52:00 AM

If you are gonna order a string-follow, you should get the NM Shelton for $20 more RC and you could get it with either the locator grip or the dished....

I guess it just depends on how fast you want to get that string-follow in your hands....

Keep the wind in your face!

Shoot straight, Shinken

adkmountainken · February 18, 2012, 07:20:00 AM

my Northern Mist Shelton is the smoothest bow i have ever owned, definitly feel the difference in the begining of the draw. extremly quiet and Steve is a top notch guy!

Buckhorn47 · February 18, 2012, 07:36:00 AM

Since starting to build selfbows, string follow seems to be a natural trend. So far, I find them easier to string using the push/pull method, easier to draw, very quiet release and still lots of "oomph"

Rob DiStefano · February 18, 2012, 08:28:00 AM

imho, a lot of the function and performance of a hill-style longbow hasta do with the longbow's design and the bowyer and the materials.

i've had all three types - backset, straight and bellyset (string follow). overall, the backset typically adds some speed, the string follow adds some "stability".

any limb design can be made harsh, stacky, stiff, shocky - again, look to the bowyer, design and materials.

my primary hill-style is a 69" david miller with backset, and it's every bit as smooth and stable as was my (rip) 70" hill tembo with string follow, only the miller is easily faster (both, very near the same digitally measured holding weight, with the miller being a bit lighter).

sticksnstones · February 18, 2012, 09:41:00 AM

You know how every once in a while you see a bow and it hits you like "Wow, for me and my needs that might just be the perfect bow"? David Mitchell, that NM Shelton is a gorgeous bow and that length, weight, design, woods, all look perfect to me. Congrats on having a great one!

It almost looks like a tiny piece of short deer hair as a strike plate, can I ask what it really is?
Thom

David Mitchell · February 18, 2012, 10:04:00 AM

Thom it's just a piece of brown suede leather that came on the bow--not deer hide. I had a Shelton on order a couple of years ago and found the one pictured on Steve's rack at the Baltimore shoot and just took it instead. I decided that I liked it better than the one Steve was going to make me.

Mudd · February 18, 2012, 10:07:00 AM

RC I think you will be successful with whatever bow you chose but if any of the bowyers are acquainted with your exploits they'll just want to build you a bow so it could get shown off in your "hero shots".

I think it would be like putting money in their pocket...lol

God bless,Mudd

sticksnstones · February 18, 2012, 10:15:00 AM

Optical illusion, it sure looks like fine hair running downward and slightly the wrong direction. If I had one on order and then laid my eyes on that I'd think I'd do the same!

I think you've got a great point there Roy!
Thom

WESTBROOK · February 18, 2012, 10:18:00 AM

QuoteRC I think you will be successful with whatever bow you chose but if any of the bowyers are acquainted with your exploits they'll just want to build you a bow so it could get shown off in your "hero shots".

Mudd, aint that the truth!

Eric

Str8Shooter · February 18, 2012, 01:30:00 PM

I haven't shot as many Hill style longbows as some folks here but I've owned 5 or 6 different ones. Three were reflexed and carbon backed, one was a reflexed-reverse handle, a straight bow and my newest, a Whippenstick Classic string follow.

The carbon backed reflex bows(66"-67") were definitely the quickest but had a lot of taper in both width and thickness. They didn't jar your hand much but they had a definite bump at the bottom. They also were a little twitchy and started to stack just a hair at 28". Good bows that I really liked to shoot.

The reverse handled reflex was a beast. Dang thing was ridiculously slow and quite literally hurt my hand when I shot it. That one hit the road very quickly. The straight bow was decent but also had a fair amount of handshock. Relatively smooth and had pretty good cast.

My newest, the Whippenstick Classic, is a string follow longbow. Out of the various Hill style bows I've owned I can say this one is the best I've shot, IMO. It's very soft on the draw and there is a very, very mild bump on release. It is extremely quiet and the speed is pretty good. It's not as quick as the carbon backed Hill-styles I previously owned but it isn't far behind and the manners are much nicer. It's actually quicker than other Hill-styles I've owned all things being equal.

I think much of the difference between them depends on the bowyer building them but I do know that I'm going to be ordering more of these string follows from my favorite bowyer. I really enjoy shooting them. Mine is so smooth and easy to shoot and so quiet. I can easily overlook the speed difference between this and the hybrids I normally shoot for the simple enjoyment and satisfaction of shooting a very simple design.