I am working on my 2nd osage stave and have it pretty well tillered and near to a finished state. I intend not to have a shelf and only shoot off my hand.
I have the "problem" that my string lays out absolute center on the handle. As I am RH, it seems I might prefer that it layed out just a bit to the left so that I don't require such incredibly weak and perfectly spined arrows. As it is now, I will have a large paradox to overcome. I was considering actually bending the limbs sideways just very very slightly with dry heat, to move the string just a bit closer to actually being centershot with the side of the handle.
Looking from behind the bow it would be going from:
|
to
)
but just very slightly of course.
Bad idea? Good idea? Comments?
Thanks.
You are much better off with the string running down the center of the bow and thinning out the side just above and below where your hand goes. A bulbous style handle is what I use and at the arrow pass the bow is only about 1" wide so the arrow passes easily. The bulbous handle is widest and thickest at the center (about 1 1/4" or so) and tapers down to about 1" above and below the handle before flaring back out to the width of the limbs at the fades. Dean Torges popularized this style handle. Add a "Ferret's Floppy Rest" and you are ready to go! Your arrows should have a spine weight of about 10# lighter than your bow draw weight. Make them a few inches longer than normal and that will give you 5# per inch less spine weight. Pat