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New Strings

redsquirrel

redsquirrel

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Staff member
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Feb 19, 2014
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Location
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I spent about an hour tonight putting a new string on my bow and adjusting to get it in spec. I'm pretty much there. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to finish tweaking and get my d loop, peep sight and kisser button back on. Then its just practice every night :D
 
I do have my own press. This is the one I have http://www.cabelas.com/product/Ratc...gclid=CPqlhqb1z74CFTQQ7AodcWMAyQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

It is not the best one but it allows me to get the job done. I usually change my string every 2 years. I have not taken my bow to a shop in probably 5 years. For better or for worse I am committed to learning to do everything on my own. Trying to figure out what is causing something to be off can be tough sometimes but once you do it is great to have a working knowledge of how your bow is working. I just got the new string on and did some shooting tonight. It finally all cam together for me on understanding my idler wheel lean yesterday :D

If you are going to do it yourself I would say start early to give yourself time to get things done before you are pressured by the approaching season and give yourself time to get things done. Oh and also be prepared to screw up. I accidentally burnt a couple strands of my bow string a few years ago and had to order a new one after I had just replaced it. That was a tough lesson but now I use glue to seal up all the cut ends except for my d loop which I take extra caution and keep the flame as far from the string as possible.
 
I'm taking the plunge. I hunt with either a rifle or crossbow but have decided to sign myself and my kids up for archery lessons. For myself I plan on purchasing a traditional bow. It will be a longtime before hunting with one. Instead I'm looking forward to the fun of learning how to use one.


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You will find shooting your trad bow a lot more fun and rarely picking up your boat anchor compound. You will learn to shoot it faster than you think. And rarely pick up your compound to practice until right before the season to check if its sighted in like its a rifle. It's addictive.! Enjoy!
 
fawnzy - lessons of some sort are key with traditional bows. I've shot them for years and really recommend that you purchase or borrow the complete set of Masters of the Barebow DVD series. On the DVD you'll see a bunch of successful archers (hunters and target shooters) displaying their process of hitting the mark. As you watch the series I HIGHLY recommend that you consider trying to model your shot after a target archer because it will be much easier to develop repeatable accuracy.

Like was already said, you'll progress quickly and learn to shoot better than you currently anticipate in very short order. The hard part from then on out is doing it consistently!!

Oh, and to keep my reply within the spirit and intent of the thread's subject line, I've made my own strings for years. It is relatively easy to learn to make a functional trad bow string.
 
Good for you Scott!

A lot of guys have no clue how to do anything to their bows. I used to make a partial living off of doing all of that stuff for them, but now I usually just help people for free. I love archery too much to exploit it, so I'm always willing to show people how to do this stuff. Most of it is actually pretty simple.

I also think compounds are more fun than boat anchors. LOL

For me, one of my favorite archery games is 3 spot NAA, (otherwise known as "vegas"). It's a precision game, you have to be on top of your mental and physical form to shoot it competitively. It also hones you as an archer because there are no excuses. It's indoors and a known yardage with no variables. The X is about the size of a dime and guys that win can hit that every time at 18m.

For me the recurve (when I could still shoot one before my shoulder was destroyed) is about getting in touch with primitive archery and getting close to animals. They are both fun in their own ways.

For anyone that has never tried it, I highly recommend shooting a 3 spot (or 5 spot) league. 5 spot can make you a little sloppy though because the X is the size of a vegas 10.






This is how much I love it. lol
 

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Lol that's about how much I love archery also. I would try the same thing. I love tinkering with it all. My friends use to bring there bows to me to work on. There is a lot I don't know but I knew more than them. Lol I just started making my own Flemish twist strings and leather tabs. Tried for a couple months to flint knapp my own stone points but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I wanted to shoot a hog bad with a point I made. Maybe one day I can get some hands on help with it. I really want to build my own bow and take a deer with it. I just need a shop for some room. Barely got room in my garage to make a string.
 
Slowly working my way into being my own bow tech. Only crucial piece of equipment in missing is a press :D

Other than that I have really tried to learn all the ins and outs of my bow and am still very much learning. There is an amazing guide out there (can be found on archery talk) called the nuts&bolts guide to bow tuning. I highly recommend this document. I will try to post a link to it later


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Awesome fawnzy!!

fawnzy said:
I'm taking the plunge. I hunt with either a rifle or crossbow but have decided to sign myself and my kids up for archery lessons. For myself I plan on purchasing a traditional bow. It will be a longtime before hunting with one. Instead I'm looking forward to the fun of learning how to use one.


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Click to expand...
 
Thanks Matty. I had to go to the bow shop to have them fix a peep for me about 6 or 7 years ago and decided that was enough. That year my christmas list was exclusively tuning equipment. I've been doing my own stuff ever since, learning as I go. Sometimes I struggle to get something right but if I am changing strings I make sure that I start in early spring to give me plenty of time to get it ready by the fall ;)

I have also had 2 shoulder surgeries, although they were both on my left shoulder (I'm righty). I will never be as strong as I once was, and I'm a little shakey sometimes. I'm sure I could rectify that with even more practice but I try to shoot nightly starting in the spring. I will practice further but if I can hit a 3 inch dot consistently at 25 yards I am happy and that is what I limit myself to in the woods at this point.
 
Yeah I never made my own broadheads swampsnyper, so that's beyond me. I do know a person that did/does though. I was always more into the compound side, but enjoyed hunting with a recurve.

Scott, I hear you. I've been working on archery tackle since about 1995 and I've seen the good the bad and the ugly sides of it. A lot of "pro" shops try to make everything seem way more complicated than it is and they act like only they can do it. It's really not true at all. There's also a lot of "upselling" at a lot of places for stuff that is totally unnecessary and don't even get me started on how they "tune" bows for people.

In fact, this thread has inspired me. I'm going to try and put together a video for this site. I'll go over step by step of every single thing I do when I get a new bow, how I set it up for me, tune it, practice, etc. (may take me a long time, but I will try to put it together)

Also, Derek, look at making your own press if money is tight (cause no doubt nice presses are expensive, my last press was like $500, ouch and that's cheaper than a lot of the new ones) The simplest thing to do is get the split limb brackets for the bowmaster press and a ratchet strap. Instant portable press. If you don't do a lot of work on bows you don't need anything more than a bowmaster or ratchetlok press. I've owned/used both. They work great and are extremely handy to bring on trips too.


Oh and yeah I feel your pain on bad shoulders. Both of my shoulders are all messed up. I was told I would need surgery on my right shoulder for certain but never did it. It's gradually getting worse over the years, but I can still shoot most days. I just keep bow weights very low. My hunting bow is about 55ish I believe and my target bow is about 38 I think. It's not optimal for speed, but it keeps me shooting. I did come to a point where I couldn't shoot recurves anymore though because of the no letoff. That is disheartening, but I still have my compounds so I'll enjoy the heck out of them while I can.
 
Matt... and once you know what you are doing... you find out that all of the bow techs at the shops don't necessarily know what they are doing! If you can put a video together that would be awesome! I think it would help out a lot of people. :D

I shoot low poundage also. I'm right around 55 usually and I'll even drop that a bit if it helps. If you are able to get your shoulder fixed, I would try to take care of it sooner than later. Your body will heal much better from the surgery while you are in your 30s than if you wait until you are in your 50s or later. Someone I worked with in there 60s had problems and they wouldn't even do the surgery on them anymore. I'm not lecturing, just want to see you be able to use your shoulders for as long as possible :D

Derek, I agree with Matty on the press. I am eventually going to get one of the nice ones that I can mount on a work bench, but I have been using a ratchetlok press for the past 7 years and it gets the job done. You can't beat the price either. http://www.amazon.com/Ram-Products-2537 ... B003DQNQGS
 
Thanks guys. I hang around archerytalk.com too a fair amount and have creeped a lot of the DIY presses and have looked into the ratchetlok ones too. When I get my own place again (Wife, two children, and myself, are currently squatting at the inlaws saving money for a new home) I think i'll probably build a nice bench or stand mounted press. But for now i might have to order a ratchetlok press because i'm always wanting to tinker with string accessories.

And more importantly I just found out the g5 meta titanium peep I put on my brand new strings are prone to cutting strings :shock:

So I want to get that off ASAP and replace with a RAD super deuce... but the nearest shop/tech is 20 minutes away and when you work, have kids, etc. making time to visit the pro shop can be hard!
 
I started doing my own stuff on my recurves and longbows didn't need a bow press and the pro shops would try to talk you into a compound anyway if you brought it in and asked them to work on it. When I switched back to compounds due to my shoulder bothering me I didn't like the fact that only the most rudimentary adjustments could be done without one and for a lot of stuff without a press you were dead in the water. Also some bow manufactures used to only provide certain specs to the dealers and if you requested them they would give you the phone number of a local dealer.

While there are some things that you can do the majority of them can be done easier and quicker with a press and some things like changing strings or tuning or cam timing and lean a bow press is a must. My buddy got one two years ago and he has helped quite a few guys who had their bows tuned up at the bow shop and the big difference is that while the bow shop may get your bow in spec, they don't have the time or inclination to spend several days or evenings getting everything just right, and no one will work as hard as you will to make your bow shoot perfectly! Also in many instances after shooting for a while the string will stretch and screws and bolts need to be tightened so it may require a little TLC to get it back where you need it.

I've always felt that no one will be as diligent as you when it come to your equipment so I try to do as much as I can and learn as much as I can to do it myself. One other thing I could recommend is a program by Pinwheel Archery it has helped us in many ways and saved a ton of money on arrows by being able to recommend a selection of arrows based on our current setups and the thing is accurate to within 3 or 4 fps.

Roger
 
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