Kick back relax and join me for a complete guide to setting up your new traditional bow! We’ll cover initial setups and adjustments as well as arrow selection to get you started right! www.toparchery.com/products/6...
Great job! I’m 73 and it’s taken me many years to come to the same conclusion as you stated in this video. I wish you could have had these videos 50 years ago. They would have saved me a lot of trouble!!
Jeff, i don't think you realize that your videos just don't help everyone of us with Archery, but they help us become closer to our creator. Please don't stop your videos they are truly inspiring in many ways. I think we all hunt to have silent times, to speak to Jesus and if we are blessed with a harvest, well we all know where it came from. Thank you and God Bless!
For checking arrow length by myself I put a hole in credit card, old one of course 😁 put it on tip of arrow and draw it back to shelf, and if finger sits in the way I check distance of finger with ruler draw card to finger and subtract distance of finger to back of shelf, and it's also a great technique if you have draw weight pull back scale, you draw it back to we're credit card hits finger, gives you accurate draw weight. Jeff you probably new this but if someone was wondering another great way on these variables, maybe this could help🙏
Jeff, I have just ordered my first ever ILF riser so this video will be so helpful for setting up my new recurve bow. Your videos are always so informative.
Hey Jeff. This is Brian Eberhart. I use to do some interior work for ya years back. my mom ( Krisilyn Patton) did some a well. Just found your RU-vid. Absolutely love it. Your the one one who gave me the advice to start shooting 3 under years ago at the car lot. You're definitely my go to for traditional shooting. I'm definitely a fan brother.
Thank you - I have some Easton Legacy - I’ll try one of those before getting gold tip - just to see if it will change things. I’m guessing it’s the arrow but you start second guessing when you continue with issues lol I wanted to make sure I was in the right thought. Thanks for your videos - I’m always looking forward to new ones. Yes - it is very addictive!!!!!!
I have beaver balls & the limb backing just below the tips. I went a little bit outside the box & found something that's is so custom of a fit it's sick. There's a welding company accessory maker from Europe called Optrel. They make a sweatband that is black & they come in a pair. One pack of these will outfit 2 bows. All u do is take 1 out of the pair & make 2 cuts. The 2 cuts remove the center. Both ends fit your limb bolt area. U simply make a half moon cutout on both of these & they slide up the end of the limb & hold. When I unstring the bow they stay on the limb. Both sides, the top & bottom r covered & they come in black so u can hardly tell they r there. All year I shot 2 ILF recurve sets of limbs & I didn't see any wear. They r made to exact specs so all that is needed is that u cut an accurate half moon. I stealth stripped my ILF riser but I didn't want to add anything to the limbs that was intrusive. I plan to get years of use out of them. So glad u r talking about the ILF Bows. It's like more freedom to play with. Can't wait until 3 Rivers comes out with their new stuff. 😍
Oh man this video is gold. I'm someone who is coming off the street picking up trad bows and starting fresh. There is soooooo much small detail going into getting these things to perform its crazy!
i really want to get a long bow just for a light draw weight and shooting targets all day. like a 30lbs long bow and 1 thousand arrows thrown on the weekend. might sound insane to some but i want that bow i can shoot all day long while being super comfortable and easy to shoot. great for working on form and technique without wearing out the back haha. its also great for allowing others to shoot your bow with you and them being able to handle it and have fun too. its a great bow to have for the whole family or for shooting all day like i said earlier
In all these years, I'd never heard of the reason for the nock position needing to be higher for longer draw lengths. Just thought you have a starting point and you adjust till you get proper arrow flight. Which does work, but it's nice to know the why. I myself seem to always have a knock height of 11/16" to 3/4" at my 29 inch draw. Thanks for all the information you share!
Wish you were around 40 years ago. lol. Thanks for a quality video with great information helping archers no matter how long they have been toxophilites.
I’m using the Hoyt Flemish string that Lancaster has talk about quiet 16 strand and it just feels great. I actually learned a lot about spine weight in this video. The way you explained it just kind of clicked for me. I have 25# limbs and 45# limbs. I’m not ready to go up that weight or I’m not confident that I can. So as of now I’m just working with the 25#. I am finding that weight difficult to figure out arrow spine, most calculators are tuned for hunting and don’t give me clear, accurate numbers. So finding an arrow for such a low weight is hard. I’m using Easton vector 1000s feather fletch, they actually work well but unfortunately I’m afraid they’re too short for my long draw. I’m at close to 29” draw and they make pretty made “novice” arrows for only kids it seems. So I have to go custom. It’s difficult cause obviously I don’t want to injure myself or others, and I don’t want to injure my bow. What spine of arrow for an uncut arrow at 25# draw? As always god bless thank you for sharing your knowledge. It’s priceless truly.
I’m looking to get into traditional archery, hopefully to work my way into hunting and fishing someday. Planning on asking for a beginner’s bow for my birthday. Thank you so much for this video, and for being bold in your faith. ❤
Hello, my name is Vince and I have that exact bow from Top Archery with 50lbs limbs. I shoot three fingers under and my brace on this bow is set at 8.5' and I draw just under 27" and this bow will shoot almost any 400-spine arrow with total of150grain tip with factory insert, to 250 grain tip and a factory insert like a Lasor beam. Surprisingly its quieter than my custom bows. It just crazy what performance you get for a $120. I can hit a small leaf at 15yds almost every time and a soda can at 25yrds.90% of the time . This bow will make an average shot into a great shot.
Just got a Galaxy Hybrid Long Bow from Lancaster Archery. Shot it I shot some Gold Tip Classics 400's full length total weight 614 grains. I draw 28.5" the bow is 45# and through the Garmin GPS I was surprised to see it's shooting 163fps. Now I need to tune it for sure. Pouring rain here today and tomorrow. Take care.
Greetings Jeff! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge! I purchased the Cairn bow, ordered your recommended arrows Dark Timber from Big Jim, 600 spine 225 on the front end and they fly great! Can't thank you enough. Great to get back into trad bow. Can't wait til hunting season. God bless
Jeff, thank you for all you do for the trad community, it is much appreciated. I would love to hear your thoughts on tunning wood arrows. I have been coming to some conclusions (maybe that is too strong of a word) at least some theories of late and would love to hear your thoughts. Here is my current thinking. Wood arrows (also high GPI carbons) get their mass along the entire length of the arrow. Unless you want a very heavy arrow tip weights tip weights are usually lower. Also, I have found that heavier tip weights cause nock high issues. Which in my mind is due to wood not having the same dynamic recovery that carbon has. All this leads to an arrow that at hunting weight (500-600 grains) will have a low FOC. It would seem that PO cedar would be best as it is light allowing more tip weight and higher FOC’s. However, I have found tuning (nock high issues) with PO and heavy tips. It seems dynamic recovery plays a role here. Have you dealt with wood and have any thoughts on this?
Well I’ve definitely had some issues with PO Cedar shafts and some others as far as tuning and its really tough especially because even if you manage to get one shaft straight or as straight as possible it simply won’t stay that way just from weather changes and shooting alone and they’re very inconsistent in general compared to carbon because they’re natural wood and just somehow affected by humidity so it’s definitely tough but fun and relatively expensive lol so I’m just a really big fan of the carbon arrows for that reason and you can always go with slightly heavier gpi shafts and not so much point weight still achieving the total weight you want especially if you’re wanting around a 500 grain arrow setup 👍🏻
Love the content, man. Keep up the great work. I know it's a long shot, but I have a 10 year old one piece laminated long bow, and I need a new string. I was told not to get fats flight, I'm just unsure what sting I need. I love the bow and it shoots great I've just never had the need for a new string until recently. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it. Thank yall.
Absolutely, what I would do is check the tips to see if they’re built up with phenolic or something really hard if so you can use fast flight Flemish twist and if they’re not you can go with B55 Dacron Flemish twist, if you contact TTT Strings on Facebook Trevor can help you with that no problem, you can send him a picture of the tips and the actual string length 👍🏻
I've been knocking at zero/square, and my arrows seem to fly true. Should I change to a higher nock height and see if they preform better? I'm using floss to nock so perhaps adding twists will raise it as needed. Thanks for the insight and content Jeff! Congrats on a successful hunting season. Hope you had a happy holiday!
Yes sir thanks so very much! Adjusting the brace height from the bottom has a greater effect on the string than the top for some reason and most likely it’s because there’s more string below the nock point than above it to twist or untwist on Flemish strings.
After researching on the internet, there seems to be a difference (maybe in Europe verses US?) in how a person's draw length is measured? I always measured at full draw from the string, bottom of the nock throat, to the pivot point over the deepest part of the bow handle. Some evidently measure from the nock throat to the front of the bow shelf. If I measure from the string to the pivot point, that gives me my draw length, then I add a least 2 or more inches to get the minimum total length of the arrow. Best to start longer in the case your spine is too weak so you can cut off a little at a time to match the heavier point weight and arrow spine to the bow and your draw length. It is magical when it all comes together. It seems to me it would be tough for the new archer to tune a bow with the arrow, if they have not established proper form and follow through with their shots.
Great tips & tutorials. Question: One of my longbows (a 58-inch AMO, 45 pounds reflex-deflex flatbow) is shooting all right but the velcro pad on the shelf is constantly eroding from the outside-initial part of the pad/shelf. So much, so that I changed it a couple of times and even ditched the velcro for a thicker leather shelf pad. Even the leather is getting marked and lightly eroded by the arrows. Why is this happening? Cheers. Thanks for sharing.
Great video. I assume you are using the soft side of Velcro strip to quiet the bow? Not sure if you are into stump shooting and if you are it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on it…
Hello Jeff, I am looking to get my first bow ever. I am looking at the tbow 62 ilf per your recommendation a few video's back. I have measured multiple ways and have a 26 inch draw. Im lookong for a good hunting and target strength. With my short draw would you recommend a 50 pound since it would only be 44 with my draw or should i go higher? You videos have been very informative for a newbie. Thank you.
Thanks for all your help i have been watching all your videos. I got a bear grizzle 35# with a draw length of 27 1/4 " What do you think about a gold tip 500 traditional arrow with 150# point weight? Where did you buy you arrow lock from on your hunting bow?
Hoping you can find time to respond, new to archery (recurve at least) I’m trying to find a good starter bow for practice and small game hunting, I’d use like 25-30 lb, anyway any recommendations would be appreciated, already watched a bunch of your videos, it’s been really helpful so I appreciate it
Jeff thanks for all the tips this channel is great! I’ve got a tuning issue going on myself I shoot a 64” long bow at 45 pounds at 28” and am trying to tune a hunting arrow was wandering what spine I should use for a 29.5” draw. I want a 500 plus grain arrow what do ya think?
I’m thinking a 400 spine cut 30.5-31” with 100 grain brass inserts that’ll easily get you there especially if you’re pulling around 48-49# at your draw 👍🏻
Thanks, is there anything wrong with using the small diameter black eagle instinct arrows for a longbow with a cut to center shelf. I heard somewhere that these help with the center shot on those kind of bows?
@@travisholcombe6982 no sir they shoot great just go with one size stiffer spine in them like a 400 because they tend weaker but shoot amazing out of longbows 👍🏻
when the arrow isnt large enough to take the energy from the bow, it leaves energy behind in the bow which makes all that noise and shock. its not only uncomfortable to shoot but its terrible for the bow. thats why shooting a bow with no arrow is such a terrible thing to do....all the energy goes from the string right back into the bow and breaks it. so, with the laws of energy and conservation of energy, you have to have an arrow sufficient in matter weight to take the energy from the string and keep it from going back into the bow riser. once you acheive that balance, you have a silent and powerful shot thats comfortable and no hand shock etc. a well tuned arrow to bow set up will be the difference between loving shooting and hating it haha and your bow will last so much longer if you get it right
It’s a Bone-A-Fide target, they were at the Tennessee Classic a couple years back and I bought it there, they have adhesive backed target faces in realistic photo quality for them!
I'm sorry to bother you brother. But as you said that split, 3 under is different. What if you string walk? I'm a 3 under shooter but I usually draw with my index finger 1/4" below my nock. This gives me a better visual of my arrow. Would I need 5/8 set nock point? And is that 5/8 from shelf height to bottom of top nocking point? And 1 more question. Would you happen to have any 2117 cutoffs laying around that you don't plan on using, I'm makings footers for some arrows that these work great on. I'll pay for them and shipping if you do. Thanks
Hi Jeff - I’m a compound shooter switching over to recurve. I have a beginner Black Hunter #45lbs my draw length is 261/2”. I have been bare arrow shooting a 500 arrow. It’s been a struggle getting it to shoot straight- First shooting tail left - I added FOC 100gr. Insert and 125gr head. After several tries moving up to this weight. It’s better but a little to the right but if I back down FOC it shoots left again - it’s frustrating. What would be your suggestion to try.
@@goatfarmer8957 only if you’re left handed would that make sense to me but generally a 500 cut 28” with 200-250 will shoot good from a setup like that so it is very puzzling however all arrows behave differently even in the same spine that’s why I typically use Gold Tips because they are much easier for me to get a bare shaft good 👍🏻
Maybe a dumb question but is there a way to measure your draw without a bow? I shot compound bows for years back in high school, but have always wanted to get into trad archery. I just ordered a bow, but I was thinking of going into the local archery shop to make some upgrades once it gets here, it’s and ILF bow, just looking at where to start
I’m about to get into shooting recurve. I’m gonna start with the spyder xl from 3 rivers. I’m a 30 .5 “ draw and it’s a 64” bow. I’m gonna start out with 35 # limbs. What arrow should I start with to try and get tuned? Thank u
You should be fine with a 600 spine using fairly light point weight especially to get started shooting targets then you can go up to a 500 spine and add heavy inserts and points for hunting, you’ll probably need an Easton Legacy arrow because of your long draw length, they are longer than most which only come 31”
Hi Jeff. I ordered a Sanlida royal x8 recurve 45 lb. I strung it up and the brace height is 5 and 1/2 inches. Did they send the wrong string. String measurement is about 57 inches? Thanks Henry.
@@henrystamper they’re supposed to be 56” you can probably twist it up enough to get it to around 7.5” and you will have to keep twisting it up as it settles 👍🏻
Well with me it would be a bow between 43 and 45# fast enough to hunt with heavier arrows and still smooth enough to shoot a lot without fatigue and every bow is different, like bamboo core limbs draw smoother than maple core at the same poundage and that’s one reason I like ILF bows because I can run lighter limbs for super accurate 3D shooting and slightly heavier limbs for hunting but most importantly it’s the grip for me, it’s gotta fit me perfectly or I will never be satisfied lol, I’ve got several budget bows I’ve worked the grip to my liking and simply respray them with Krylon 1311 Matte and they’re as good as any custom bow out there and some I can just shoot well like they come but I like a slightly narrow grip personally and that’s what I like about Black Widow they’ve got so many grip options plus they’re amazing shooters!
Season is over here so I'm going to replace my string. Going to start at square one again as I'm not 💯 happy with flight. I find black eagle tend weak in general.
@@instinctiveaddictionarcher8998 I'm shooting BE vintage 400 cut to 29.5 . My draw is a fuzz over 28 " pulling 51 (on the Amazon scale) on my Hoyt buffalo. Anything more than 140 gr total up front and it shoots weak. I'm sure everyone from can be better, but I feel its good enough to test. Release is clean. Now my bow does have the x-short limbs and I didn't know if that plays into it.
@@instinctiveaddictionarcher8998 I'm finding that the 5mm legacy trad shafts act a little weaker than the standard carbon legacy shafts. Do you find that to be the case across the board? Smaller dia equals weaker spine?
Just got my bow.40 pound black hunter .26 1\2 drew So will I be pulling 34 pounds an what arrow I have 400 &500 30 inch the 400 looks to fly best with125 tip.should I start cutting the 500 an try?
Well a 400 is definitely too stiff for anything under 48 pounds or so but having said that, most black hunters and I’ve got a couple are cut way past center which will allow them to shoot a stiffer arrow than normal but even a 500 is borderline unless it’s at least 30” especially with a 125 grain tip, the actual correct spine is a 600 for your poundage but sometimes and quite often they actually come in heavier than labeled so you’re probably good with 500’s and you really need to bare shaft test one to see exactly how much point weight you need for sure and if it’s a longbow not the recurve that’s definitely what I’d recommend for you 👍🏻
Did you have to request from TTT strings to have both nock points adjustable? The one I ordered after watching your channel came with the top one snug, and the bottom one was adjustable. I found a video of them making them and they said the top one is supposed to stay secure. I'd prefer having them both adjustable and be able to nock my arrow between the two
@instinctiveaddictionarcher8998 I was trying to adjust it with a pair of pliers and it wouldn't budge. I'll try it again and see if I can get it loose
@instinctiveaddictionarcher8998 you are right. Took all I had to get it to budge, but I finally got it where I needed it! Thank you! Also, I watched your other videos on how to grip the bow, and it made a tremendous difference in my groups.
@@richardstheman1 he’s got a couple of guys helping him now and I’ve had some come in too tight but even those usually loosen up but you may have to let Trevor know and he’ll probably send you another one 👍🏻
Hey Jeff I was wondering if you could help me out. I’m trying to order a set of custom strings from TTT for my Sanlida Hermit. I was looking on their website and I couldn’t find where it tells you the AMO. I have the 19” riser, website says it measures 60”. Do you happen to know the proper string length to order? Let me know if you can, thank you.
Yes sir Trevor knows exactly what size they need just let him know in the message it’s a Hermit and I do believe they’re 57 1/2” strings he knows for sure 👍🏻
We don’t at this time, we sold out the bow building shop in 2022 but I still work from home and am actually working on the new archery shop now hopefully up and going for the public again in late spring and yes sir I’ll have a full website and online ordering for pretty much everything as well as custom arrow builds 👍🏻
Now, the way you explained this is not right. Because, when that arrow leaves the string, it will be the same height no matter the draw length. Once that string returns home, and the arrow leaves the string, it’s the same no matter draw length. Now maybe there is another reason for this, but your explanation is not correct.
On a compound that is true but not on a traditional bow, a low nock set will cause ramping and poor flight because the shelf is not dead center of the bow.
