How to determine strike plate thickness?

[PaulDeadringer29]

This may be a simple answer to a simple question, but how do I determine the thickness of a certain strike plate? I know I could measure, but I don't have anything that would measure something so thin, plus I don't want to peel off and put back on, possibly losing some adhesiveness. I have some bows with Velcro, calf hair, and the leather Bear strike plate that comes with the rug rest. I'm trying to enter the info into an arrow calculator and would like to be as accurate as possible. Thanks.

[Prairie Drifter]

only accurate way is with a caliper

[McDave]

The other factor to consider is the compression of the strike plate material.  A piece of plain leather doesn't compress very much. Even though Velcro may be physically thicker than plain leather, it may compress to the same thickness as plain leather when an arrow is shot. Even more so with softer materials such as a Martin rug rest, which may be thicker than Velcro, but will compress even more.  The only way to determine the characteristics of various strike plates is to shoot arrows and observe the results.

Just get yourself a roll of double sided carpet tape, or some Barge to re-stick the strike plate if you want to peel it off for any reason.

[Eric Krewson]

I shoot the bow, hit left(I am right handed)my strike plate is too thick, hit right my strike plate is too thin, down the middle, just right.

[mike g]

Eric.
 Can't put it much simpler than that....

[PaulDeadringer29]

That makes sense. I was just wondering what thickness to enter when using a spine calculator.

[The Night Stalker]

Along with what Eric said, you can use double sided blue carpet tape to thicken your side plate. You can layer it with your side plate material to get your desired thickness.

[macbow]

Paul, maybe you could lay something alongside till it looks like the right thickness then measure that with a mic.

[olddogrib]

Paul,
You should be glad I'm bored today, lol. Actually, since your a local Tarheel and provided me with a couple fine Carhartt jackets in trades...a calf hair side plate with backing removed is exactly 0.038 inches thick on a digital caliper. (I had one I had removed that I was hanging on to for use with Barge or Duco in an emergency)  Okay, I'm an archery hoarder!

[Gdpolk]

I gave up on the spine calculator.  It only ballparks you as well as any other chart might work for you.  I just shot a ton of different setups until I found what works for me.  Now I rebuild those same arrows over and over again.

[Todd Cook]

Originally posted by Eric Krewson:
I shoot the bow, hit left(I am right handed)my strike plate is too thick, hit right my strike plate is too thin, down the middle, just right.

You tune like I do!

[PaulDeadringer29]

Thanks guys. So a calf hair plate would probably be the thinnest? Velro is probably more thin then it looks, due to the cushioned nature of it? Richard, I've got a beach trip planned very soon. Those books you swapped me will make for some excellent reading material while on the beach.