Hey guys, I have a few questions here that I was wondering if you could help me with...
You see, I finally got to shoot a Hill style bow. Hands down the quietest bow I have ever shot. I shot it just as well as my other bows, and have no idea why everyone complains about handshock. I really liked shooting it.
So then I requested a catalog from HH archery and got it just the other day. After reading it around 20 or 30 times. I know now that without a doubt, I want a Hill. But I had a few questions.
I remember Rob saying, "hill style bows need to have some serious length, as compared to your true draw length, for them to work their magic. too short a length and you will be missing out and not be a happy camper at all." If I have a 28 in. draw, what length is recommended? I was thinking 67 or 68 in.
I've read alot of people saying they are going to get string follow on their hills. Is it recommended I get this?
Haven't decided what model yet but had a few ideas.
Was thinking something like a Wesley special with black or brown glass and a coco riser or a maybe a Cheetah (love the juniper).
I saw Robs Tembo in the "HH bug..." thread and have to say it looks gorgeous too, would consider something alone those lines as well.
I've been trying to keep up with the "HH bug..." thread but didn't want to hijack with all my dumb questions. I just don't want to screw this up when I order in the near future...
Thanks! I really appreciate it.
68" definitely and remember, they tend to run a little heavy so, when ordering, order your accordingly. Good luck and there is nothing like roaming the woods with a Hill bow.
I have never shot a string follow Hill so, can't help you there. All of my Hills have been the standard design and I've never had a lick of troubles with them shooting wise.
My dad just bought a tembo with string follow. I can't tell a difference from his tembo that doesn't have the string follow.
I bought a cheetah this year. 68" 47lbs@28". My next HH will be 70" and 44@28. Like Wannabe1 said, they run heavy.
I absolutely love my cheetah and after a bit of practice i shoot it very well. It's my favorite bow to shoot in the back yard.
What riser wood do you have on your cheetah? The Juniper just looks awesome!
Thanks for the help guys!
I have hills from 62 to 66 in and the longer they are the better they feel and I draw 27 1/2 been shooting hills from around 1986 or 1987
I have a 29 INCH DRAW AND SHOOT THE 70 INCh...TIP TO TIP ITS 72 INCHES!!! Its freaking cool shooting a LONG longbow. Smooth as butter.
Have 3 Hills. All 68". A Wesley , Big 5 w/ string follow and a Redman all smooth . Weights are 55,56and 61 if they are heavier than that I don't know, I just shoot them.
Great bows. I draw 28-28.5
K. Mogensen,
I really agonized over the riser wood and finally went with Coco bolo, and i'm very happy i did.
(http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/ae317/tradsean/Archery/DSCN0079.jpg)
(http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/ae317/tradsean/Archery/p_00402-1.jpg)
Sean, that just made my day. I wanted the Juniper limbs, but wasn't sure if a Coco riser would work. That bow is absoluteley perfect!
I can say now that a 68" 55# Cheetah will be ordered soon.
Thanks so much guys for the help! This is exciting...
Glad to be a help. I've also seen a cheetah with an ebony riser that looked very slick.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0901.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0897.jpg)
I really like the ebony as well but all the Cocobolo I've seen in the Hills is gorgeous.
Sounds like you are well on your way. I'll just add my .02. The length will be just right for you at 68". I have come to prefer the dished grip on a longbow, and to me there is nothing prettier than a nice piece of cocobolo. The nicest Hills I have shot have had yew in the stack, either the Redman or the Halfbreed. You would be hard pressed to buy a bad Hill.
Good luck, and good shooting!
I've had many Hills. Definitely 68 or 70" Length in a Hill is a good thing. I have a 25" draw and favor 66". The coco complements the juniper while the ebony (yum) provides a beautiful contrast. I started out with the locator grips, then went to straight, but have come to really like the dished. The Cheetah was one of my favorite Hills, with the Halfbreed. (I've had many Hills!) Yes, they do tend to run heavy and the deep core tends to feel a bit stiffer, too.
That Cheetah with the ebony is awesome looking!
I was planning on a dished grip for this bow, but I know that may change with time and the more bows I shoot.
Thanks again for the help guys.
RC, not only is that bow a beauty, she is a shooter as well.
I happen to love the contrast of the juniper and ebony in "Keeper Kat" HH Cheetah 66" 56@28.
When I shoot KK indoors I have to be a little more careful as she tends to try to ruin arrows plus she hits my eternity target hard enough that sometimes I get an arrow that actually goes through the target far enough to bury the tip into the wall behind the target.
God bless,Mudd
Mudd, I saw KK in the Fun shoot thread and it is gorgeous as well as a great shooter too it looks like.
Question for all you guys, would it be worth it to ask about getting Yew cores instead of Boo?
Yew cores on a Cheetah. You would essentially have a Redman with Juniper veneers... be very smooth and nice feeling, combining the woods of two of the smoothest drawing Hills. You'd lose a touch of speed, but i doubt enough to be concerned about. Hills aren't about speed anyway. Sounds intriguing enough I might do it myself. I have the juniper, yew and even a piece of ebony!
I think that's the way I'll go if it can be done. I think it would be neat to not have the last lam run up the fades to show off the coco in the riser a bit too, kind of like the Robin Hood special edition they show on the site...
Quick question, hows the clear glass with hill bows? Does it tend to have marks under it or tend to be cloudy?
Except for some fairly old ones, the ones I had were clear. Since I began building, I have very few original Hill Archery bows on hand, and those are all opaque. If you go to my site:
www.dickwightman.com (http://www.dickwightman.com)
and click on Howard Hill Bows, then on Hill Bows Showcase, you will have access to scores of pictures of Hill bows. This is the collection from the old Hill Longbowmen site.
Whats the riser wood of the Redman on the hill site?...been wanting to ask this awhile. I'm just not a hundred percent sure.
i'll echo what most folks have already said, and maybe add a thing or two ...
for a 28" draw length, yes you do want 68" or more of hill bow length. 68" will be fine, 70" will be smoother still but that added 2" will be noticed.
like dick and others, i've grown up with hill longbows and have had dozens of them over the decades. except for the bow's length with regards to yer draw length, everything else is subjective ...
the new and vastly improved craig hill locator handle is what i'd recommend - much more positive a feel for either the 'death grip' or the 'single pressure point grip'.
the slight amount of string follow that craig induces is, imho, a very very good thing that adds a measure of stability without a noticeable degradation of performance at hunting distances. consider that as well.
i'm convinced that boo limb cores are just plain smoother than any other limb cores. make that uber heat tempered 'caramelized' boo, too.
glass color is way subjective. i like to see the pretty limb veneers, so clear is my first choice. second is black, third is chocolate.
i prefer the look of natural limb tips, rather than limb tip overlays. both can handle hmpe bowstrings.
i've had every model of craig hill. i think that less is good, sometimes. the all boo tembo, with only three lams, means less glue lines and perhaps a more efficient limb set. i'll put my 3 lam 54# tembo up against any like-weight 5 lam wesley. :D
take this to the bank - your bow with arrive at least 3# heavier than the labelled holding weight - maybe as much as 5-6# heavier. if you want 55#, order at least 53# ... and hope it won't be 57#. i thought i was slick by ordering a 47@28 70" tembo and hoping for 50@29 - it's 54@29 - i'm not the only one to report this happening. next time i get craig to build me a bow, i'm sending him my easton digital bow scale to use. i'm serious! :)
and lastly, at yer tender young age, are you SURE you want a 55# holding weight longbow?
PS - you should have posted this on the big HH bug thread. ;)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/rfdee/archery/sheba.jpg)
My draw is 28" and I have had several Hill in fact I still own my first, it's a 66" Big Five 49# @28 I'm 5'7" and a 66" bow is plenty long enough for me it's smooth as silk.
Dick, great looking site! Thanks a bunch for posting that link, lots of perdy bows to look at!
Rob, I've been shooting 50-55# bows for around a year and half now. I have a 55# Savannah that I really enjoy shooting.
Sorry, I wasn't sure if this belonged in the Hill bow thread seein as I don't actually own one yet... ;)
And after thinking it over, I agree, the locator sounds like a better choice.
Thanks again folks! Been a big help.
Ah yes,
the Howard Hill Archery catalogue....Back in the day I would spend hours drooling over the photos of Hill, Swinehart, longbows, broadheads, etc. that was in the early years pamphlet.....really cool stuff and sure to get your Hill fire going! :thumbsup:
echoing what others have said, because I have owned Hill Archery bows as well, 28" draw = 68" bow (if you have small hands you can go to 67" bow) I prefer Tembo model (less lams per given bow weight = less glue lines = better bow speed at lower weights) Carmelized tempered bamboo (like in bamboo flyrods, the 'flaming' makes the bamboo stiffer and more responsive) String follow (makes the bow pull smoother and shoot slightly softer in the hand)
I prefer all bamboo limbs. I don't like combining two woods of varying densities together in the limb. You are in effect dumbing down the best characteristics of each. I prefer yew by itself, bamboo by itself, red elm by itself, etc. But to each their own. sometimes looks are everything. That bow of Rob's is very classy, good performer and good looker without fancy veneers.... :thumbsup:
All this is nice, but I would advise you to narrow your selection and call Craig Eakin direct at HH Archery. Run all your questions by him. He is the bowyer and he wants you to be happy. He will not steer you wrong. My draw length is 1/4" less than yours but I find the 66" length to be my favorite for stunping, hunting and 3-D competition. The 68" I owned was just to cumbersome to travel with. I now own two Hill takedowns which clearly solve my travel problems. One is a 66" "Cheetah" and the other is a 64" "Red Man" with an extra lam of yew. Both are outstanding. The extra weight in the riser of the Hill TD, although minimal, actually adds a feeling of stability which I like. Good luck in your quest. Treat your purchase like it is a one time thing and buy what you and your wallet will be happy with down the road. A good bow, like a fine wine will only get better with age. :archer2:
I love my "Robin Hood". Boo backed yew, string follow (I like it),Texas Ebony riser,beautiful bone tips.. I got it 66" for my 27" draw, works PERFECT for me. I got the dished grip and love it better than the other HH grips.(have had them all). One sweet bow for sure.. I love the way it pulls and shoots. "Gotta learn how she likes to dance, and then dance with her."
I draw 28" and shoot a 70" Big-5. Very smooth, and no problem carrying the length on a 3d course. I'll be hunting in the swamp with it this weekend, might have a different opinion on the length then ;-)
Pete
Come on over to the HH Bug thread, whole lot of fun!
This has been a great thread! I'm glad it didn't get lost in the HH Bug thread. I think it's made a problem for me, though. I was planning to start a new bow today... call it "Bow A". Now my head is telling me , "No, build Bow B." Gonna be a fun day, seeing what I actually end up doing. Hopefully, I'll be responsible and do Bow A. There's no deadline on it but it is for someone else. However, I'll build them a better bow if it's the bow I want to build at the time i build it. Oh, well, the wood will tell me what to do, it always does. Don't know how many times I've gone down to the shop with one idea in mind and the wood simply says, "Nope, don't want to do that," or I'll plan on one type of wood and something else yells at me from a corner, "Use me! Use me!"
I always was one to stir the pot,nothing wrong with 2 HH threads happening! LOL.So many opinions and Chouces in bows to pick from .It seams the more I studied the HH models the more confused I got.When I settled on my Yew Cheetah the woods were purely selected because of where I grew up and it brought back so many memories hunting with my father.He pointed these trees out to me and although he was basically a rifle hunter he told me what beautiful bows these woods can make.When Craig sent me my HH pops wasn't wrong.Yes there are as many reasons to pick certain woods as there are people shooting them.Its all good.
Robert, that combination on yours has got me looking in the couch for coin.
Seems I got the official okey-dokey from my parents. After looking around at some of the other Hills here (mainly Rob's and a Half Breed I found) I'm a little more on the fence. I'm calling Craig tomorrow though and we'll see if we can get something worked out!
Thanks to all for the help.
Whatever I go with, this is going to be a special bow.
Check out this bow it looks sweet.
http://www.dickwightman.com/howardhill/lbc/lbc.html
If you want 55@28, you best order 52#. Every Hill that Craig has built me has been 4# over ordered (and marked) weight. I have a Wesley Special I bought from another Trad Ganger and it is marked 48@27 but is actually 53@27. Factor that in when you order or you may be a bit over your comfort level. By the way, my Wesleys are the sweetest shooters I have. The others are Big Fives (2), Tembo, and Redman. The sweetest of the lot is a Wesley with four bamboo lams and one juniper on the back under clear glass. She sings in my hands.
Just got off the phone with Jason... :goldtooth:
AND...........?
Details details
Be careful there, boy! Teasin' like that could get you sealed up in a side quiver with no openings! :nono:
:laughing: :laughing:
Take it back, I talked to Jason. My bad. I just talked with whoever answered the phone and later found out it was actually him. Nice guy though. Very helpful.
Yes but, you're not being helpful at all! :banghead: Spill the beans kid, what did ya get?!!! :D
Yeah, inquiring minds want to know. :clapper:
Well I asked for his thoughts on a Cheetah vs. an all bamboo bow like the Big 5 or Tembo. Jason said that they really aren't that far apart and your looking at a difference of around 3-4-5 FPS. He said he personally shoots a Cheetah because he likes the look of Juniper.
So in the end, I decided on a Cheetah. Cocobolo riser and overlays, black leather grip (laced up), and a silver bear inlay. I opted for the locator grip, and did decide on ordering 50#'s. So it should be around 53-55 I'd imagine. No string follow, just straight. (Hope I didn't forget anything.) I figgered the black leather grip would make the Coco and Juniper pop a little bit. I just hope the Coco and Juniper on mine is as nice as I've seen on the other's.
We had a dog pass away on Christmas morning of this year that my dad and I were pretty close too. We called him "Pond Bear" (from the show Ax Men), because he looked like a big ol black bear. That is why I wanted the Bear inlay. I'm also having Jason put "Pond Bear" on the limb instead of "Cheetah". That way he'll be with me wherever I have my bow.
Now for the torture of waiting! :rolleyes: Look forward to seeing your new stick my friend! :thumbsup:
Congrats... nice choices. Your wait will be about the shortest out there for a custom bow. My entry on the board is July 8. I'd have gone with July 1, figuring they'd try to get it out before the holiday, except for the inlay.
Hickory, dickory, doc.
The Hill is on the clock.
How long will it be,
Before we all see,
An arrow touching the nock?
Yea I'm trying to sell a bow right now so I can order a new Hill have a used one but want a new one BAD!!!
Yup, you absolutely, positively, HAVE to post pics when it arrives!
Will be looking forward to pics!!! Congrats
Nice to touch on naming the bow with your Puppy's name . As a dog person [ no kids just dogs and horses ] I have named a bunch of my Hills bow after pooches and ponies , both living and passed.
Longshot
Billy
Herbie
Hood
Wishsong
Pictures? I have to take some of those? Not sure if I'll be able to find the camera and I'm just so busy these days... :dunno:
Jason said 4-5 weeks. I hope I get lucky because I'm going on a camping trip the week of July 11. We'll see though.
Mazeltov!
Well, my projected date for your bow may be off. It's possible threads like this one and "HH Bug" are backing Craig up. I know when the Hill Longbowmen started ordering LBC's a couple of year ago, delivery slowed down by about a week and a half! :biglaugh:
New betting possibility: Will Dick finish his current bow project before Craig finishes K. Mogensen's?
(And OK, already... What's the "K" stand for?)
Dick, I'd take a bet for one of your babies that it's Kiefer ....lol
God bless,Mudd
Hey K!
I see the HH has put it's spell on you. Good goin'. And of course we need pics!
Mudd, ye be correct.
Thanks for the good words guys! Still pretty pumped.
CO, saw your on your way to a Widow! Hope you can get one soon!