Yes I've done it.

had the same prob with mt G.P did the same as you ."if it dont fit fix it"

Couple of ya mentioned building up a stop to keep my hand from rising up. Thought of that too, but the way the swell was hitting right under the ball of my thumb (as ya can see in the pics) it was also rotating the bow in the vertical and preventing me from a good grip-spread my hand open more than I liked. I'm not gorilla gripping the bow, I hold it fairly relaxed, and with the swell sitting where it was I could never get a repeatable grip-even if there was a stop installed I woulda hadda reposition my hand each shot.

Thanks for all the feedback, didn't want to think I was some kinda maniac for doing surgery on a custom bow. The original grip may have been fantastic for another owner, just didn't fit my hand. And I have a tendency to monkey with stuff if I feel it will perform nicer/faster/better/.....ya get the idea.   :D  

I feel like some others have stated - It's MY bow, I love it, but.....it can be "better" to MY point of view. At least "better" to ME.  

Hey,Its your bow ,make it work the way you want it to.....I have no qualms about taking power tools to my bows if they need it .....

Mike,
LW. But I am planning on refletching all my arrows once I get stuff together. Rebuilding my "stuff" after a loooooonnngg time off. I always see the fletching glued on with this big quill material sticking up. I used to, back in the day, sand that down to almost nothing prior to gluing them on. Sat flat on the arrow and wasn't stickin' up in the breeze ready to slash yer hand. Not to mention they weren't as prone to be ripped off hitting a twig or something, and I thought they flew a tad quieter too. Getting things together as I can. Feathers don't grow on trees ya know!    

I've got a BBO from a Dryad Hunter and I had the same problem of cutting my hand with the fletching.  Like was mentioned above, turned the cock feather and no more problems. Arrows still fly great.

I had that problem when I shot R wing feathers..PR

***UPDATE***

Found a local ARCHERY shop this weekend...FINALLY!
Of course mainly wheelies, but Jeff (the owner) said how he was trying to get together a group of trad shooters.
Told him about all the great guys in here, and how there may be someone in this area that is a member in here who would like to know.
So Howdy Jeff if yer visiting.

That isn't the update though. But it is part of it.

Here's what I'm gonna wrap the grip with:

It's alligator skin, I'm going to lace it with some ivory lacing.      

Right now the grip is sprayed with some satin poly and is hanging up to dry.

The part of the update concerning the shop was Jeff let me use his indoor range and I got to shoot a couple dozen shots before my hand started sweating up. Hadn't poly'ed it yet so quit shooting. But I was putting 5 out of 6 center of the target from 15 yds. consistently. The 6th may have been just outside the ring, but it was still out.
No...I ain't Robin Hood, but that change I made to the grip has made a WORLD of difference. My grip is more natural to me now, and I don't have to shift my hand around to get the right grip. It has really tightened up my grouping, and the bow just feels more a part of my hand now.  

Can't wait to see that alligator on there.   :D

If anyone is interested in Jeff's trad club pm me and I'll give ya contact info.
I invited him to become a sponsor....so who knows.

That leather is actually ostrich.Those are quill bumps that alligators don't have.It is good stuff though and tough.

I should have said,also,that 3 Rivers has a short video on doing the leather wrap.Look where they sell the leather for that purpose.It's a good little video.

The bow in the middle has a grip that I modified to be more like the longbow on the bottom.
In the meantime I modified the top bow too.

Jim...
now ya got me wondering. I coulda sworn that I cut that piece off a larger scrap that had scales. It was a tangled mess so maybe it was ostrich after all. Box was marked "alligator", just went along with what it told me. Either way it was what I was looking for.
Yeah...right after I posted last night I thought about 3Rivers. That was the one I was trying to find again. Thanks for reminding me. There are a lot of good videos on their site

Take a look in the 'how to' section right here on this site for instructions on leather grips.

Yes I have done the same thing.  I have also found that nock height, feather type (left or right wing), and spine effects arrow to hand contact. I always take sandpaper to my feathers, on the leading edge, when they are in the jig. Then I put a drop of glue. No more digging quills outa my hand.  If the grip fits and you don't cut your hand anymore then you did the right thing.

Well, got it on. Would have liked to have gotten it a little tighter, it wouldn't stretch much. (JimB I'm pretty sure this IS alligator after all. Either that or the ostrich it came from had a TERRIBLE skin condition!        ) But it's snug enough and feels pretty good when I grip it, which is all I'm asking. Had to use a black lacing instead of the ivory tone I was planning-it was too thick.
 
May re-do it later on now that I've had a first shot at it.

I gave the grip two coats of satin poly, giving it a day between coats to dry. I never even had to steel wool it to blend the finishes, they blended perfectly on their own.

This was a pretty good learning experience for me. Making the change to the grip has made an automatic improvement in my grouping. I tried a set of three snap shots-starting with my bow pointing down come up to draw and fire all in one movement-no holding-and was able to put all three inside a small pie plate from 15 yds.
It is NOT that I'm a dead shot-some days I hit pretty much everywhere EXCEPT where I'm aiming-but it was quite a noticeably different shooting experience with the new grip. But then that was also because I was shooting with the OLD grip.
~*Hmmmm....maybe I AM a dead shot after all!*~   :eek:          
Like I said, while for someone else the original grip might have been perfect, one size doesn't really fit all.
So for anyone else thinking of trying this, but are fearful of harming their bows-it's not brain surgery, ya can do it. Just take a little off at a time, you can always take more off, just don't try taking a lot off all at once. Ya can't put it back on if ya went too far-tiny bites.

Not because of hand placement, but due to practicing in the Ghillie suit, and the bow string catching on part of the suit.   :D  




God Bless,
David B.

OOoooowwwwwww!

OK BOFF...getcher butt over here and pry my toes apart. They're curled so tightly now I could crack walnuts with 'em!

BTW...whutduya use to haul those big brass ones through the woods?

Leaving that in while ya get the camera out!

I have stuck feathers in my hand too! Reshaping the grip was a good thing to do. I personally would have sent it back to the bowyer for the modifications, but you seem to have done a nice job yourself.

Allan

I wear a glove on my bow hand.