Arrow contact on a Hill bow

[58WINTERS]

Scout9753,
Thanks for your input. I have indeed shot with cock feather in before. The shafts fly equally well either way so I don't pay much attention to orientation especially when swing drawing nocking on top and using a back quiver per Schulz/Hill method.
I think I will clean up the side plate and nock cock in for awhile to see if it moves the wear point.  I considered removing the side plate and using some electrical tape as a side plate just to see what might happen. Brace height is dialed in to the sweet spot per Kirk's advice from other threads.
It shoots well I might tinker a little for fun just to see.

[two4hooking]

Originally posted by 58WINTERS:
Scout9753,
 I considered removing the side plate and using some electrical tape as a side plate just to see what might happen.

Do this.  After a while the black tape will mark your shaft where it contacts the plate.  If your mark is near the tip, the arrow is weak.  If the streak is back at the fletch end the shafts are too stiff.
Also, I gave up on trying to bare shaft tune a Hill style.  Just cut too far from center. Fletch them up and shoot at distance with a mixture of boadheads and field tips.  If they all hit the same you are good to go.

[58WINTERS]

2 HOOKIN'
Thanks for the input.
58

[jeffg]

I heard of using lip stick on the side it does the same thing only quicker.

I have tried the lip stick test on a couple of other peoples recurves that had rather wide shelf space.  However, the bow in the picture does kind of have that test already done. There may be a slight tagging showing on the other side of the leather, if I am seeing it right. I wonder how it would look after a few thousand shots passed over it and those corners were taken down some.
On all of my longbows the crown of the sight is near the lams.  If they didn't come that way, they are that way now.

[jeffg]

Is it possible that the belly side of the sight window/striker plate is just thicker than it should be?

[GregD]

Pavan, Can you explain what you mean by " the crown of the sight is near the lams" Thanks, Greg

Sorry I, did not spell check, iphone is trying to read my mind. I have the crown of the SIGHT WINDOW more near inside of the bow lams. The one place you cannot twist a standard longbow is at the laminations.   I do not believe that one would torque the grip out of alignment as easy with proper hand placement while the bow is under draw pressure, but once that is released, the reaction can turn the grip a bit if there was a twisting pressure in place.    On the bows that I have done myself, the sight window is cut so the belly side tapers in. On bows like my reverse Morningstar, the window has a nice taper and the arrow contact is slightly favoring the belly for its total contact, right where it should be for a reverse grip.    On one of my Hills I did not want to file away the sight window, so I cut a piece of the strike plate leather off on the belly side. That helped a lot, so of course my next step was to reshape the window a bit, move the crown forward by taking material off the belly side and use it with no leather strike plate, that worked even better and allowed me to use stiffer arrows and still not jeopardize the strength of lamination side of the riser.

I should have added that if the bow in the pic was mine and had that contact, the first thing I would do is take the strike plate leather off set the brace right in the middle of the recommended, put the nocking point at the minimum recommended  height below the arrow  and find the arrow that works best. Of course for me that would be a wood arrow cut to the shortest possible length with target points that match my broadheads for my shafts that were to have broadheads and shafts cut to net length for target arrows. With Hill style bows, net length wood arrows are the easiest of all to shoot with target points and blunts.  Just pick the head weight and get some test shafts fletched, (I have gone to four 4" for targets) cut them to the right net length, the arrow that flies the best at 20 yards is the shaft spine you go with.  If I still had concerns about contact, then I would do the lip stick test.

[jeffg]

I had the stricker plate off and the arrows started to wear the finish off at the same spot. I might have to concider reshaping the side plate like you said.

A little at a time and remember deep cross grain scratches are hard to sand out. I should have asked, how does the string line up to the center of the limbs and is there any odd recoil reactions when it is shot? Does the bow seem to turn down, in or out at the shot? I like to be sure that the bow grip comes right where the inside of the base thumb joint meets the wrist. I like to use very thin strike plates, I can always build them out if needed. I reduced the leather strike plate on my bows by shaving them very carefully with a razor, giving them a thin on the edges shape.

Oh, a big question. Where is your arrow contacting your bow when it is at rest with an arrow in it, and also, when your bow is at full draw, how does the arrow contact the side plate?  I just checked my standard Hill style bows and there is a slight gap right your arrow is contacting the side plate.

[jeffg]

Here is a picture of it at rest.

[Skinnybill]

I have a new Tembo 51#@28". I'm using 2016 cut at 30" with 145gr tips. I had to orient the feathers 1 up/2 down.  Paper tunes great.

I took one look at that pic and sent out a PM.

[two4hooking]

WOW!

[Mike Mongelli]

What did Craig say about this?

[jeffg]

I did not get a response. so I contacted him again a said I was sending it back for him to check out. He is going to do that.

Almost like the handle is not at a right angle to the bow, considering the arrow angle, but the string to limbs and handle line is not shown.  The contact point shown in the first pic was not kidding.  If things all line up, sight window, if they don't it's something that I have never seen before.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by jeffg:
 
Here is a picture of it at rest.

The shelf is on the wrong side bro... that's gotta be the problem...