I recently picked up a nice Bamboo Viper from a TG member and have been struggling like crazy to get it tuned for shooting off the shelf. I simply could not get the nock high out of the bow. This could be due to my lack of knowledge on tuning, but I never had a problem with my recurves at all. I was staring to get so aggrivated with it that I was just going to put it up and hunt with my Browning Nomad Stalker. Then the idea hit me to put an elevated rest on it. I called Sam Koger about some strings and ran the idea by him and he said go for it, along with some form suggestions. I had one a friend made for me out of vinyl siding and I stuck it on the bow. I was amazed after one shot. It shot like a lazer beam out of the bow. One simple addition took a bow that was causing me pure misery, to a smile I couldn't wipe from my face.
How many of you have used an elevated rest on a longbow? I know I'll not be without one on mine from now on. If you are struggling with going from a recurve to a longbow like I was, this may be your ticket.
Attaboy Jeff, never surrender, never give up!!
Whatever works. I'm guessing you had your nock set too low. Then, the arrow hits the shelf as it leaves the bow, kicking the back of the arrow up. No doubt that an elevated rest gives more clearance.
Jeff, glad that you"ve got it sorted out. Your bow, shoot it anyway you like. I have elavated rests on most of my recurves, gives me a lot better arrow flight.
Jeff... I had the same problem tuning. I found that pressure from my index finger (shooting split) caused most if not all of the issue.
I use one on my A@H made a big difference for me
I had the same problem, and worked meticulously for a year, convinced that it was my form. I've shot recurves and compounds -- all with finger release -- for 25-30 years, and had a lot of coaching in my younger years. While I am nowhere near perfect, I am confident that I am not doing anything bizarre in my release.
I found a way to put pressure on the string, and pull my elbow a certain way, that stopped the arrow from striking the riser, but it was not at all comfortable to shoot that way.
So, I decided to do what a lot of great bowhunters have done... I worked up a small elevated rest for my longbow. Instantly, I got lazer flight. I don't care what the "trad" culture says... I want my arrows to do what I want them to do when they leave my longbow, so I now shoot this on my bow full-time:
(http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc248/romangrayjr/PLXArrowRest.jpg)
I should add that, prior to putting the rest on the bow, I had trouble getting any broadheads to fly straight except for vented Wensel Woodsmans. Now my others, Zwickeys, Magnus, Bodkins, 2- and 3- blades fly just fine.
Been toying with the idea of putting one one my new longbow. I'm getting some screwy arrow flight out of it too.
There is no group of people more set in their ways than trad bow shooters. There are a lot, I'm not saying all, but a lot of trade shooters that have never seen perfect arrow flight when shooting off the shelf. They would be amazed at how a elevated rest would improve their shooting.
QuoteOriginally posted by Archie:
I had the same problem, and worked meticulously for a year, convinced that it was my form. I've shot recurves and compounds -- all with finger release -- for 25-30 years, and had a lot of coaching in my younger years. While I am nowhere near perfect, I am confident that I am not doing anything bizarre in my release.
I found a way to put pressure on the string, and pull my elbow a certain way, that stopped the arrow from striking the riser, but it was not at all comfortable to shoot that way.
So, I decided to do what a lot of great bowhunters have done... I worked up a small elevated rest for my longbow. Instantly, I got lazer flight. I don't care what the "trad" culture says... I want my arrows to do what I want them to do when they leave my longbow, so I now shoot this on my bow full-time:
(http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc248/romangrayjr/PLXArrowRest.jpg)
I should add that, prior to putting the rest on the bow, I had trouble getting any broadheads to fly straight except for vented Wensel Woodsmans. Now my others, Zwickeys, Magnus, Bodkins, 2- and 3- blades fly just fine.
looks just like mine, except I got mole skin on mine.
I've shot an elevated rest on a long bow and it shot super. Go for it!
Ive never done it, but if it works for you, go for it! Theres no shame in making a bow shoot more effectively and accurate for you. That little rest may be the difference between a clean kill, a long drawn out search or not finding your animal at all.
Shoot what work for you, I use a feather rest on all my bows.
doug77
cool. i'm just back into trad, after 30+ years off.
i love my longbows, but my hoyt rest on my howatt hunter was a lot easier to deal with, as i recall.
i'm going to try 1.
joe
its made world of difference in my bow. glad to hear I am not the only one doing it!
On a recurve that my wife shot several deer with that I recently gave to a kid, the only way I could get arrows to fly well was with a feather rest and boy did they fly. I was about ready to retiller that bow, but I thought I would just try it, pure magic.
Elevated rests Rule :)
I too just slapped rests on 2 of my recurves and am very impressed with the ease of tuning. I know this is a longbow question but the same general rules of mechanics and clearance.
I had the same issues with trying to get rid of "nock high" flight...regardless of how high I nocked the arrow. Don't get me wrong, the flight was really good pre-rest tuning...but fine tuned it with an elevated rest.
Not sure if it's just me or not, but the bow seems even quieter as well?.....Ryan
so what is the elevated rest of choice?
joe
I'm using a Bear Weather-rest. They're almost free and work well. Keep a spare in the pack and all is good.
I prefer the vertical feather rests from 3 rivers because they do not crowd the sight window.
I prefer the vertical feather rests from 3 rivers because they do not crowd the sight window.
VANES???? :scared: :scared: Talk about BLASPHEMY!!! :nono: I hope you didnt get struck down by Lightning for that kind of Talk! :eek:
QuoteOriginally posted by sledge:
so what is the elevated rest of choice?
joe
I've always gotten the best flight with the Hoyt Super Rest. I usually take a black marker and cut a slit in some black soft Velcro to slip over it to " hide" it a little.
I've had that same problem on one of my longbows, nock high couldn't figure it out for anything.But only happend with carbon any skinny arrow as woodies and aluminum flew fine after some tuning but couldn't get carbon shafts too, I kinda think might have been my difference in finger pressure on string due to small shafts. I shoot woodies now, not blaming it on carbons just the way I shoot them.THINKING OUT LOUD I GUESS!!!!!
QuoteOriginally posted by Shakes.602:
VANES???? :scared: :scared: Talk about BLASPHEMY!!! :nono: I hope you didnt get struck down by Lightning for that kind of Talk! :eek:
Oh yes, I will be shooting vanes! I'm not really traditional in any sense of the word, I just choose to shoot recurves and longbows because i like them better. I'm not into the "traditional" rules per say.
I've been shooting the Hoyt flipper style rests since the 60's on recurves. Bout the only thing that hasn't gone up. $2.50 or so for the Hoyt Hunter or Hoyt Super. I like both of them.
I just posted these photos of my Silvertip on a similar post, I have used these toothbrush rests for about 15 years on all my recurves & never wore one out.
Build along link below.
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd377/0419falcon/cf8676e3.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd377/0419falcon/0cd2c5f0.jpg)
http://huntsmanbows.com.au/Brush%20Rest%20p%201.html
I use a modified Bear WeatherRest on my Schafer Silvertip with excellent results. Bow shoots arrows lazer beam straight and is very quiet and forgiving to boot. I won't go back to shooting off the shelf anymore. Got tired of banging my head against the proverbial wall with my nock high issues when shooting off the shelf. Never could figure out what was causing it. I put the Bear rest on years ago and all the tuning issues went away for good. I recently tried a Bear rest on a Morrison Shawnee longbow and had excellent results with that bow too, so, it'll definitely work with a longbow. ~Steve
I use a modified Bear WeatherRest on my Schafer Silvertip with excellent results. Bow shoots arrows lazer beam straight and is very quiet and forgiving to boot. I won't go back to shooting off the shelf anymore. Got tired of banging my head against the proverbial wall with my nock high issues when shooting off the shelf. Never could figure out what was causing it. I put the Bear rest on years ago and all the tuning issues went away for good. I recently tried a Bear rest on a Morrison Shawnee longbow and had excellent results with that bow too, so, it'll definitely work with a longbow. ~Steve
One example of how good an arrow rest can be. I gave a friend a Hill longbow, it was early March of that year. Later in the summer, he told that I put the arrow nock too low, because his arrows were not flying. I told him to check it again to see if it was 1/8" to 3/16" above center under the arrow, it was. He stopped by one day to show me, and could not figure out why those arrows would not fly anymore because they were perfect last March. I thought at the time that they would be on the stiff side , but they flew perfect then and really loggy three months later. The difference was he had fleece gloves on in March and right when he hit anchor, he put a little pressure on the bow with his index finger and flattened the glove material up about an 1/8". That made the arrow nearly a perfect 90 degrees but the softness gave the stiff arrow something to work with and provided perfect arrow flight. With my Hill style longbows prior to that, I was always fretting about lifting the arrow off the shelf when wearing gloves so I pulled them off to shoot, cut the index finger off or tried to hold the bow lower and bridge it a bit to avoid arrow contact. Since then, I have gone to a fleece glove and a very soft deer skin glove; when I shoot normally my finger is within a hair of the arrow to touching the arrow, with the gloves, it rides the arrow up and I still get perfect arrow flight
QuoteOriginally posted by LYONEL:
I just posted these photos of my Silvertip on a similar post, I have used these toothbrush rests for about 15 years on all my recurves & never wore one out.
Build along link below.
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd377/0419falcon/cf8676e3.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd377/0419falcon/0cd2c5f0.jpg)
http://huntsmanbows.com.au/Brush%20Rest%20p%201.html
I put one of these brush rests on my longbow last night and man, what a difference between it and the vinyl siding one. I'll never have to do without one again. Thanks for the awesome idea. It works perfectly.
thats a great idea Lyonel thanks for the tip, gotta try this one
I can' t take credit for the idea of this rest I was originally shown this rest by a friend by the name of Alan Podlich about 15 years ago, Alan or Pod as his friends know him is a well respected bowhunter a bit of a legend really in my part of Australia. This man has taken more game than most of us would dream of over many years & was one of the really early members of the Australian Bowhunters Association and was always very helpful when I started in archery. Also thanks goes to Mark Kimber for listing the tutorial on his website Mark is an expat Kiwi who now lives in Australia & is the builder of Huntsman Bows which in my opinion is the best made recurve in Australia, Mark is also one of the most dedicated exponents of Traditional Archery . Hopefully passing the knowledge on will help benefit Traditional Archery every where as I have learnt a lot from people involved on this website who also are happy to share there knowledge to promote Traditional archery.
I can' t take credit for the idea of this rest I was originally shown this rest by a friend by the name of Alan Podlich about 15 years ago, Alan or Pod as his friends know him is a well respected bowhunter a bit of a legend really in my part of Australia. This man has taken more game than most of us would dream of over many years & was one of the really early members of the Australian Bowhunters Association and was always very helpful when I started in archery. Also thanks goes to Mark Kimber for listing the tutorial on his website Mark is an expat Kiwi who now lives in Australia & is the builder of Huntsman Bows which in my opinion is the best made recurve in Australia, Mark is also one of the most dedicated exponents of Traditional Archery . Hopefully passing the knowledge on will help benefit Traditional Archery every where as I have learnt a lot from people involved on this website who also are happy to share there knowledge to promote Traditional archery.
Hey Lyonel what is the material you are using for backing. I tried moleskin and the brush moves a little.
It's just thin leather as per the build along.
Great build a long, Lyonel! Thank you for sharing this with us. I now have another thing to do before deer season. That is to get out those 2 or 3 bows I've put up that I could never get good arrow flight out of and build a rest for them. There is hope for them after all!
IMO, a good thin leather to use would be veg tan kid skin. If you don't have a leather supplier near you check with a shoe repair shop. That is if any still exist in your part of the country! Veg tan kid skin (kid skin is goat hide), or veg tan calf skin is thin but still stiff enough and tough enough to do what is achieved in the build a long. And with the veg tan leather one can die it to what ever color you like best.
Thanks again! Great thread.
K.C. <><
Just put one on my self-bow, wow works great!
Sorry I didnt read everything
No problem, enjoy!
Glad you were able to make that bow act right! I made a big one-piece calf hair rest for my recurve, but had to re-fletch half of my arrows (offset 5" feathers) to get them to spin just right. Now, my 2 blade muzzy's fly really nice and true. Good Luck
QuoteOriginally posted by LYONEL:
Alan or Pod as his friends know him is a well respected bowhunter a bit of a legend really in my part of Australia.
A true giant of bowhunting ... here in Oz or elsewhere , one of my heros as a youngster !
Hey ,if it works ,go for it. Some good info....
Getting bows to shoot and arrows to fly is what makes archery so much fun.
Having shot longbows and recurves for many years, I have always shot better off the shelf, or hand because it is easier to shoot instinctively with the arrow near the hand. The bow can be shot vertically, or horizontal, from an elevated position, or tree stand. IMO the elevated rest works fine for target shooters, but it is the nemesis of traditional bowhunters.
G. Fred Asbell talks about it in his new book, and considers it key to the style of shooting he uses. :readit: