Installed Arrow Shelf On Longbow Today

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Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 637
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Location: Nebraska

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:43 pm Post subject: Installed Arrow Shelf On Longbow Today

Today was a cold windy day so I did a little shop work on one of my birch longbows. I've been wanting to see how an arrow shelf would work on my longbows as I plan on building some with the shelf. Not wanting to get completely involved today building a arrow shelved longbow I just cut some wood at an angle from a 3/4 inch birch dowel I had in the shop, glued it to the birch longbow with gorilla glue, shaped it when it dried, wrapped it with leather, whipped some artificial sinew around it, then tested it in the cold weather from 20 yards and 15 yards. I was impressed with the groupings I got using a bow with an arrow shelf, and I'm not sure but I think I actually gained some arrow speed? Here are a couple of pictures of what I did. Sorry for the one that's a bit out of focus. I wanted a close up and I guess I got to close. The next longbow with an arrow shelf will have the shelf built in as part of the bow. It won't be added afterwards,,, though this method did work very well. These photo's are better viewed by the thumbnail post rather then clicking on them. Also I glued felt on the shelf and bow. It worked alright for my testing purpose and appears to be holding up. Click to see full size image Click to see full size image _________________ Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories:

Steve B
Admin

The Original Archers Rest Webmaster & Co-Admin
Australasia Area Rep (ABA - IFAA)
Posts: 4141
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Location: Victoria, Australia

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:37 am Post subject:

Great job Joe(the bow)M, looks like that would be a better way in some ways to put a shelf on a longbow, would leave sufficient meat on the bow so no problems occured I would imagine. Putting a shelf on the bow does that change its class ?

Club: Phoenix Field Archers of Sale. Victoria , Australia
Bow: Bowtech Commander
Sight: Copper John Ants
Arrows: Gold Tip Pro's
Accesories: Carter Just-B-Cuz

Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 637
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nebraska

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:29 am Post subject:

Steve B wrote:

Great job Joe(the bow)M, looks like that would be a better way in some ways to put a shelf on a longbow, would leave sufficient meat on the bow so no problems occured I would imagine.

Putting a shelf on the bow does that change its class ?

I to wonder if its class changes? Is it now considered a, Target Bow?

I feel the location of the shelf has good potential for usage. What little
shooting I done with it today, the bow performed very well. I would
agree that it does not weaken the bow in any way as no wood was
removed as we see in other such "window/shelf" applications.

Here's another picture. Again I think it's better viewed from the thumbnail
picture here, but go ahead and click on it for a closer look. Sorry it's a bit
fuzzy as well...

Click to see full size image

_________________
Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories:

Steve B
Admin

The Original Archers Rest Webmaster & Co-Admin
Australasia Area Rep (ABA - IFAA)
Posts: 4141
No Commercial Interest
Location: Victoria, Australia

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:30 am Post subject:

I am sure that someone knows the answer to this and we shall find out soon enough, but I must say I am very impressed with your workmanship Joe(the bow)M

Club: Phoenix Field Archers of Sale. Victoria , Australia
Bow: Bowtech Commander
Sight: Copper John Ants
Arrows: Gold Tip Pro's
Accesories: Carter Just-B-Cuz

Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 637
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nebraska

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:17 pm Post subject:

Thank you Steve, I appreciate it. I got to looking in Volume One of the Traditional Bowyer's Bible to see if I could find this application of adding a rest, and sure enough on page 293 they talk about this very thing. They make the comment that, "an arrow rest permits more consistent shooting and is used by those primarily interested in accuracy." They also mention the part about cutout arrow rest weakening a bow. So yesterday I must have been on the right track even without being armed with this information from the Bowyer's Bilble... Their drawing shows a 1/4" shelf, I went 3/8" and after the leather wrapping and felt added to the side of the bow it gave me a 5/16" deep shelf. For now I will consider it an unsighted target bow, though I still would like to hear from others and see what they feel it should be classed in. _________________ Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories:

M Hardman
Cub Poster

Posts: 18
No Commercial Interest

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject:

An arrow rest on a longbow, now this is an idea I'd not thought of. Classificationwise, were I the judge, I'd not think to class you any differently to the longbow without the rest. Why?, because all that rest does is position the arrow the same each time, which is perfectly possible when you have a mark on the bow or a leather handle to judge it by. Were the rest a shoot-through rest however I'd have to reconsider and look at some arrow speeds. _________________ Mike Hardman

Club:
Bow: Grozer Turkish
Sight: 20/20
Arrows: Whatever I can find
Accesories: Thumbrings galore

Mickp
Cub Poster

Posts: 7

Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:44 pm Post subject:

Hi Joe, I looked at the NFAS website and I'm pretty sure that shelves/rests are not allowed in English longbow, presumably for the reason you mentioned, it makes it easier to position the arrow consistently shot after shot. Mike

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Mickp
Cub Poster

Posts: 7

Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:53 pm Post subject:

Out of interest I looked at GNAS also. Arrow rests are not allowed for longbow. You could still shoot the bow with a rest but it will put you into the barebow class. I have seen longbows with quite thick leather handles where the top of the leather could almost be called a shelf and may well help with arrow placement, it would be interesting to know where the authorities draw the line. Mike

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Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 637
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nebraska

Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject:

My thanks to Steve B., Mike H., and Mike P... It would then appear that by GNAS and possibly NFAS rules that a shelf on a longbow entered as such in that class would not be permissable, and very understandable, even though one could probably get away with a heavy leather handle wrap where the top of the handle leather could act as a rest,,, I'm assuming? This was something I did contemplate. I found out today that the application I went with works good for our Archery Target League(s) here at AR. I entered the shelved longbow into the 'Other Unsighted' League, and from 18 meters I felt it did ok with the aluminum arrows I used. It certainly added points to my shooting score over my longbow with no rest which I also shot today in the 'Wooden Arrows' League, naturally using wooden arrows. I do feel that the GNAS rule should be the one recognized for this shelved longbow. Thanks for all your input, I do appreciate it! _________________ Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories: