Brace height..... just bought a bow square :(

[tradtiger]

Think of a guitar string being in or out of tune.
Adjusted by winding or unwinding the peg. Equals shortening/lengthening.

Makes sense in my head at least.

Need to consider: Harmonics, cancelling sine waves, correct frequency and other science-y stuff like that, I'm pretty sure. White noise may even be involved.

Or you could just experiment until it's quiet and shoots straight, then write the BH down on a piece of tape as suggested above.

[Junkers88]

I'm going to take Sunday and shoot a couple and then make a twist, shoot a couple and make a twist. I checked it when I got home today and the string (although a year+ old) has settled almost .5". I guess all that time at a really short BH never got it stretched properly. I'm hoping that the .5" of settling is what has thrown my shooting off this last week.


Richard.

[DRT]

No doubt it is a pita to fine tune but it makes a big difference. Age of a string doesn't make as much difference as shots through it. The strings I get seem to have stretched until at least 300 shots are put through them. Also seem to need to put a fee shots through one if I leave the bow unsprung for a while.

Gary

[DRT]

Just thought I'd mention it's Wednesday. Went out and sent half a dozen arrows down range. Okay but the two 3 arrow groups were a little more open than I'd like. Second 3 I really focused on form and follow through but results were still not satisfactory. Check the BH and it was at seven and a half inches. Seven and five eighths to seven and three quarters seems to be the sweet range for me on this stick. Couple of twists up and the next 15 yard group of 3 . . .
Check your brace height often!

Gary

[RickBarbee]

Here's a pretty good rule of thumb for finding the starting brace height for a bow:

For Hill style longbows:

I start with 1/8th of the AMO length of the bow.

On these bows I also look at how the string is coming out of the string notches/nocks, and try to get a brace height, that coincides with as straight a loop as possible.


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For recurves & hybrids:

Due to differences in riser/handle geometry, I start with 1/10th the length of the bow, then take my measurement at the fade out of the top limb.

Here's an example of why to measure at the fades:

I have two 64" bows.
Both have the same style/profile limbs, but one has a deflex riser, and one a reflex.
The deflex shoots best with an 8.75" brace height.
The reflex shoots best with a 7.5" brace height.
Both measure exactly 6.25" at the top fade.
Both have almost exactly the same limb profile when strung.

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Those are just my starting points.
I then tune/adjust (up/down) brace height from there, until I find the spot where the bow is quietest on the shot without string silencers.
That quietest brace height is also almost always where the bows performs the best.

Rick

[Matt_C]

I finally bought a bow square because for the life of me I can't figure out the tail high flight on my 60lb bow. I think I may have suddenly made more questions than answers.

Brace height varies by bow or by shooter or both? What I mean is the BH on my 45 and 60 going to be different even though I shoot them the same way?

Results from the bow square. Measured to the back of the shelf.

45lb, BH 6 7/8", nock 1/2" above shelf. Shoots fine, rather loud but bare shafts are nock centered on the target.

60lb , BH 6 1/2", nock 3/4" above shelf. Shoots better than the 45 accuracy wise but is louder and bare shafts are tail high.

What I need is advice on how to get rid of the tail high on the 60lb'r. Any advice would be great.

Richard.

Richard, check your timing on your cams. The youtube can show you how.

[DRT]

Richard, check your timing on your cams. The youtube can show you how.

Our bows don't have cams, wheels, cables etc. This is all about traditional. [emoji106]

Gary