HH bug got me ... Part One!

[Kapellmeister]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
Swinehart... who later made his home in Emmaus,...

One of his contributions lives on in Emmaus at the Unami Fish & Game Association where Swinehart designed the region's first field archery course in the early 1950s. He served as club president in 1954. The hillside range, although redesigned, continues to host 3-D target shoots by the Traditional Bowhunters of Unami.

Wow!  I had never heard of him and he's from my own little town!  I shoot on this range every week!     :cool:   Thanks for the very informative post, Rob!

[Mudd]

This book(thread) just keeps getting better and better.

Thank you to all who are responsible for making it so.

               

[Terry Green]

Rod DiStefano is a WEALTH of information...much more the Wikapedia of today than most people think....he's just quiet about it.

Trad Gang will always owe him an un-repayable debt.

This is one of my long time most favorite pics......yeah, I got lots of favorite pics....and this one is near the top of the list....

[Mudd]

Hey T "This is one of my long time most favorite pics......yeah, I got lots of favorite pics....and this one is near the top of the list...."

Are you speaking of your avatar pic?  I like it as well!

God bless,Mudd

Originally posted by Terry Green:
Rod DiStefano is a WEALTH of information...much more the Wikapedia of today than most people think....he's just quiet about it.

Trad Gang will always owe him an un-repayable debt.

Haha...."quiet about it"  

I am happy Rob does not keep his experience bottled-up.  Rob spent tons of time with me via PMs several months back while I was in China - he is always eager to bend over backwards to ease the learning curve and.


Actually, I appreciate all of you for your contributions to this thread...awesome!!

[dragonheart]

Does anyone has any photos of John Schulz's "Natural" longbows.  I would really like to see some photos.

I could go for some photos of JS naturals myself.  Always wanted one, never got one.

Question: I had a fellow,compound shooter, stop by and try to sell me 3 unsharpened Hill broadhead and 3 field point arrows for an antique price.  RW straight offset fletch, much like I bought in the 70s. I told him no way. We got to talking and the next thing was "How do you sharpen them?" which I did rather roughly and quickly - file, jewel stick, then dremel buffer, I did a light zip on one side with a Grizzly file just to show him. He went out and got one of his arrows, carbons with tiny plastic fletch and expandable things. Looking at it he said 'what's wrong with it?" I said "I was looking for the cork screw and the can opener blade". then he got defensive, pried a blade open to show me how it could cut a dollar bill, it could not. he then did it with the Hill and both sides would slice right through it. You ever see someone have that light bulb moment?  "Will they shoot out my bow?" "No way" "You got a bow that will shoot them?"
We shot the field points out of my bows, they flew best out of a 55 at 27" Hill. I have never ever seen anyone pickup on the swing draw, anchor deep, release thing faster than this kid.  He has two questions that i cannot specifically answer.
1. If your bows with the back bend have no hand shock with fast flight strings, why do they make those string follows bows,would'nt they shoot slower?
2. I like pictures of the locust on that Cougar, would that shoot as good as the others?

[dragonheart]

Pavan,

Sounds like an educational day for that young man.  Hope he takes heed to the teaching.  Easy for folks to get sidetracked with all the misinformation these days.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by pavan:
... He has two questions that i cannot specifically answer.
1. If your bows with the back bend have no hand shock with fast flight strings, why do they make those string follows bows,would'nt they shoot slower?

if you mean a hill style with backset ("reflex") versus bellyset ("string follow"), imo the string follow will not be as fast at longer ranges but will be neck and neck at 15-20 yards and will probably do it with more "release stability".  i prefer string follow hill style longbows.  ymmv.

2. I like pictures of the locust on that Cougar, would that shoot as good as the others?

sure, just like dark hardwood hill longbow risers always shoot better than light colored risers.   :D

[Mudd]

Don't you love it when you can see things start to click a bit for someone who thought they knew all they needed to know...lol

Good job Pavan!!

Thanks for representing us and doing such a good job at it too.

God bless,Mudd

[Nate Steen .]

Pavan

Rob D is correct with the string follow.  because the bow isn't trying to recoil to a point in front of your hand, the bow sits quieter in your bowhand, lending to the stable feel.  A well made string follow bow is just as fast as a reflex bow, but not with the same designs, you have to make them a little different.  With real heavy arrows over 11 gpi, the reflexed bow will shoot faster because of the built in pre-stress in the limbs....

you have to decide if the tradeoff is worth it....

I never got around to getting a string follow, (if it ain't broke don't fix it. Then since i had some injuries to my release fingers that were slow in healing i was not sure which way to go.  So i went left handed for a time, now I shoot one day left and the next day right.  It's embarrassing, but the only string follow bow that i have ever shot, other than a heavy one that i built many years ago that was only a slight string follow,was a Miller bamboo.  There was a man with all bamboos bows at the Coon Rapids shoot, he gave me his name and phone number which I lost. We went out to shoot and my wife said that I could get one of his bows, but when we got back his booth was tore down and I could not find him. Anyone know who he was?

[canopyboy]

Originally posted by pavan:
... my wife said that I could get one of his bows, but when we got back his booth was tore down and I could not find him...

That's gotta be one of the saddest stories told on this thread so far.

[swampthing]

My straightlimb Miller Old Tom, with just a kiss of stringfollow, about 3/8", shoots arrows of a similar GPP just as fast as my old 1/2" to 3/4" backset Hills. Now up the backset amount 2"-3" and that will be another story all together, but we ain't comparing them to 2-3" strinfollow's either. Most I've seen are 7/8" or less following the string.  

[StanM]

Here's some pics from when I shot a Hill style bow.

images no wider than 640, please

 

 

 

 

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Stan, that is impressive!

[Overspined]

I have a Hill Robinhood I have been messing around with. It is 70" and a touch under 50#.  I regripped it and messed with the shelf a little and I think it us time to tune it in with some arrows. I put a FF skinny string I made on it and will shoot tapered cedar. The arrows I am shooting now are close, and I am liking the feel of a string follow. It is definitely a softer feel when you loose an arrow

[Rob DiStefano]

matt, i've got a 70" tembo that's 54@29 and started off by spinning up a 12 strand b55 dacron string.  it shot fine with that string but i just knew it could do better so i spun up an 8 strand d'02 string with 12 strand padded loops and the bow just felt smoother on the release, and quieter too.

[Overspined]

Rob,

I really noticed the difference when I shot Dacron and a little heavier FF and then changed to the skinny FF during my shooting session with another Hill bow.  What a difference the skinnier string made.  I never would have guessed.  Also, I would go skinnier but don't know what I would do to make sure my nocks would fit. I shoot classics on woodies.

[Rob DiStefano]

matt, there are lotsa ways to make an arrow nock fit well to a center serving, like double serving just then nock area, or using increased diameter serving thread, or padding the serving area before spinning on the center serving.  some folks just wind on flat dental floss and check as they go along to get a perfect fit.  lotsa ways to do it!