Ok so I have Morrison ILF and am having problems with the fletching cutting my hand and it sucks. I called Bob Morrison this afternoon and he was very helpful in giving me things to check first such as the tiller, nock setting ect. Now its late and still having the problem after checking all of this and don't want to bother Bob again tonight. But will be calling him again tomorrow probably.
May need to mention that I am newly dedicated to the trad way of life. Finally sold the wheelies to force myself to stay with this.
So any suggestions here?
Put your hands on a diet! My fat hands use to get in the way. Change your string nock height a little, build up the rest a little, rotate/move your arrow nock a little. Some expert with better suggestions will have the best answer soon. Good luck.
I had/have the same problem. I just rotate the nock a little until it stops hitting my hand. I am sure there is a bigger problem I am masking but it works for me. Will be interested to hear what the "pros" have to say.
I had a problem with the quill cutting or stabbing me that and or the glue on the tip of the quill. Check and make sure your quill points aren't sharp. One glue that almost garuntees to not have a sharp finish is barge cement. Just my thoughts though. i hope it might help.
Run you finger up the shaft to the feather. If there's a bump on the leading edge of the quill then you need to trim it at a sloping angle so that it's smooth. A razor or a very sharp knife is the best to use. If the quill is not smooth it can cut the skin of your index finger.
I cut my hand with rt helical but not left. So I shoot left
Have same problem but only with right wing feathers changed to lefts and no problem. The experts say it should not matter but it sure doe's with me . Shot right handed and now left they cut my hand both way.
MARK
I experiencd the same problem. Drove me nuts trying to figure it out. It seemed to be worse with a bad release. Went back to bare shaft tuning and found something in my form had changed the dynamic spline of my arrows. I ended up making the spline a little stiffer to achieve perfect arrow fight and shot for a week or so w/out fletchings to insure arrow flight stayed consistant and to let my hand heal.
I had this happen when I switched to GT Traditionals and loaded them heavy in the front, LW fletch. Does not happen with Carbon Express or AD Trads. I think it was a weak spine issue because I could not tune it out with knock and shelf changes.
I have several bows and only one gave me that problem it was a B.W. L/B., would even wear a glove. Then either on this site or another I can't remember, Nock! I had the nock to low, readjusted and it solved the problem.
Your nocking point is too low! I have had the same problem before, especially with very short bows. It is not the quill but the feather itself that was cutting my hand. I have had that trouble with a Morrison bow and lately the same trouble with an A handle Bear takedown.
You can always wrap some thread up and over the fronts of the quills if nothing else works. Use a little epoxy on the thread to hold it in place like on a fishing rod and you should be good.
Taper the front of the quills with a sharp knife. Make a ramp out of them that disappears at the shaft level. Then put a drop of Duco on the ramp to really get rid of any rough edge.
I use my hand for a rest and never get cut if I have treated the quills this way.
Jim Davis (Reparrowman)
Hey madjack, I had the same thing happen to me when I first got my Black Widow. It was so bad that I had to wear a glove on my bow hand. I raised and lowered my nock point, turned my nock all different ways, tried different arrows (aluminum and carbon) and even bought a left wing jig for my Bitzenburger and switched from RW to LW feathers.
Nothing I did solved my problem of the feathers cutting my hand, so I called Black Widow and told them what was happening and if they knew something I could do.
The first thing he asked me was if I shot with three fingers under and I answered, Yes.
He then told me to put a nocking point above and below my arrow, I was thinking, "Yeah right", when he told me that but as soon as I got off the phone I tied a nocking point below my arrows nock.
That was about 3 months ago and several thousand arrows later I have yet to touch my hand with a feather.
GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot
Same thing happened to me when I was using Gateway feathers. Switched to Trueflight and that worked for me. The quills are much thinner on the Trueflights. Not saying that they are not, but make sure your arrows are tuned.
I have found that holding the bow "wrong" causes this more than anything else. Try rotating your grip slightly to the outside a little at a time. You may be torquing the bow upon release. If I get into the bow too much I cut myself as well.
Wow, thanks for all of the quick responses fellas. Really shows how this is such a great site. I will definetly be trying some/most of these suggestions and let you know what fixes it hopefully. Anymore ideas are welcomed.
Raise the nocking point. My Predator tears me up good if it's to low. The first one hurts, the second one darn near brings tears to your eyes!
GLENN
John Strunk showed me a little trick a few yrs ago and now I can shoot off my hand without getting cut. Do as said above with a drop of glue at the end of the quill and when its dry take another arrow with a field point and roll it over the edge of the quill. It will make the feather and the shaft smooth...PR
trimming works ok....but if you trim first, then take the shaft of a screwdrive (the round part) and firmly though not so much as to dent a cedar shaft...rub the leading edge down going from point to nock right on the leading edge and mash it down...THEN add your glue over the tip, you'll fix this problem!!! YOu can rub pretty hard if you dont come off the feather itself...gaining more pressure as you go from the point of the taper to the thicker pith portion of your feather...makes a very very nice smooth edge!!!
I could never trim mine all purdy like Troy Graziada can...who happened to learn from John Dodge, famous west coast arrow builder who Bob Burton happens to be a protege of or so the story goes....Either way these men make very nice arras..mine, well are more functional then purdy ;)
I had the same problem for a long time. I even wore a glove on my bow hand. I tried everything. I even got pieces of feather stuck in my hand. I still have a scar from issue. The one thing I did to stop the problem was to concentrate on pulling the bow with my middle finger. Too much pressure with the index finger was the culprit.
Tune your bow, try different arrows. I had this problem when I was shooting carbon arrows out of my Saluki Turk, switched over to 1816's and no more cuts.
went through the same thing a while back. thought i had perfect nock placement. Finaly in frustration, moved the nock up a little and it went away. I have not changed a thing about the way I do feathers or anything else for that matter and have not cut myself in years and a couple of hundred bows later.
BigJim
You can probably just shoot cock feather in to move the offending fletch away from your hand, assuming your nocking point is correctly located.
I was surprised when I tried my new selfbow shooting the arrow directly off my fist. I thought the feathers would cut my hand, but they did not touch it. I don't know why they did not, but I believe they were LW feathers (I'm right-handed) and I always use a big drop of fletching cement over top and bottom ends of the feathers when I fletch.
PUT A DAB OF GLUE ON THE FRONT OF THE QUILL TO COVER UP THE POINT.YHIS WILL HELP, I HAD THE SAME PROB. A WHILE BACK.
Same thing happened to me. Raising the knock seemed to do the trick as I recall.
switched from RW to LW, and problem went away.... YRMV.
If your shooting cock feather out like most, try shooting with the cock feather in. Another option is to place your hand a little lower on the grip area of the riser. Higher hand placement will get your hand close to the arrow shelf and to close to the feathers. Good luck. :banghead:
When you put your feather on the jig sand the front of the quill down. Then when you glue it on put a drop of glue at the front of the feather. This will smooth out the front and glide over your hand. There is another issue that is causing the problem via, wrong spine, low nock point or grip. Keep tweaking cause imho the best shooting bows have shelves that ride the arrow that close to the hand.
I'm right handed and right wing ouch, left wing not a problem.
raise your knock point,Bob's bows need high knocks.Then keep rotating your feathers a little at a time and you will find a sweet spot in the combination of both.Works for me anyway.good luck
With all due respect to everyone, I don't think that raising your nocking point should be the solution. It may keep the fletching off your hand, but it is not good for your tuning. There should be only one nocking point, the right one!
The reason I say this is that when you raise the nocking point, the effect is to lift the arrow off the shelf at the shot, which introduces another vector to the forces involved and complicates the whole dynamics of the shot. Your arrows have to be absolutely perfectly matched to each other to shoot the same under those conditions. It also messes up your spine requirements. A higher nocking point needs lower spine than a lower one. That's why you set your nocking point first, when you're looking for the right spine.
Been there, done that, found a better solution. Do whatever it takes to move the feather off your hand, but messing with your tuning is not a good idea!
Agreed Don. If I am using an arrow, and just raise the nock point even a little, my arrows are no longer hitting the speck I am looking at, but they shoot low. I can notice very small changes in nock points after a new string is settling in and I can tell when I need to adjust it. 1/8" makes a huge difference for me