Pride goes before a fall

[DC]

I took my new booyew to the range and was shooting it nicely. A young fella I know asked if he could try it. He's shot my bows before so I was happy to let him. Pump my ego a bit . He doesn't shoot instinctively and I noticed that he was holding it full draw for somewhat longer than I do. He might also have a longer draw than me. I draw 27.5" but my arrows are 30". Anyway when I got it back it seemed a little easier to pull. It still shot fine so I never put two and two together. When I got home I put it on the tree and it was down from 45# to 42-43#. Still not too concerned. This morning I tried it through the chrono. Before I got one of 170fps with the bulk in the high 160's. This morning they're mostly around the 160. This is with the same arrow as I used before, 435 gr. Now I'm concerned. Would 2-3# draw weight make that much difference in speed? Also, I put about 3" of Perry reflex in it. Does that have a habit of going away quickly. Since the two pieces are fighting each other even when the bow is unbraced I thought that may account for some loss. It was probably still my fault for letting him shoot it but I would probably do it again. Maybe with a few more rules and shorter arrows.    

[PatM]

The bow is now what they used to call broken in.  Hello hysteresis!

[BowEd]

Sounds about right.I think 1# is around 2 to 3 fps.I had that happen to me too with a fellow friend.He was a compound shooter and could'nt believe I had 58# in the hedge at 28".Told him everything about tillering and over drawing and set etc.He still drew it to darn near 30".You can explain it to them but they just don't get it you know.
One time I handed the bow unstrung to a guy.He tries to bend it backwards over his knee.I stopped him.Asked him what he thought he was going to find out.He did'nt know.I keep an eye on my bow at modern ranges or with me at all times.At Mojam it's different.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The bow is now what they used to call broken in.  Hello hysteresis!

Exactly. That's why stretching the crap out of it while you tiller pays off. They wont budge if you do.

[DC]

I do 20-30 pulls when I remove wood. I go to 28". Should I be pulling it a bit farther while tillering as well as leaving it a couple of pounds heavy?

[George Tsoukalas]

I cringe when people ask me to shoot one of my bows. Sometimes I say no. Jawge

[bradsmith2010]

I say no,, unless the arrows won't allow over draw,,
its not that you lost pounds, but also the set from the overdraw,, you lost fps on both,,sounds about right,, still seems to be shooting pretty good,,

[PEARL DRUMS]

If a bow gets drawn 1" past its tillered mark and loses that much punch, ya' got bigger fish to fry.

[PatM]

Those are your options. Paul Comstock wrote a good article on this subject a while back.
 Some people  like to have the wood right on that pinnacle of breakdown throughout the life of the bow(Steve) and others think that getting it out of the way is a better option.

[PatM]

Those are your options. Paul Comstock wrote a good article on this subject a while back.
 Some people  like to have the wood right on that pinnacle of breakdown throughout the life of the bow(Steve) and others think that getting it out of the way is a better option.

  Wouldn't be surprised if the young fella wasn't drawing it  more than that.  A light bow doesn't provide the same feedback of limiting draw.

[bradsmith2010]

sounds like the bow got overdrawn 2 and 1/2 inches,, on a bow that is stressed to the max,, could make a difference,, on a bow that is overbuilt a bit, might not do too much,, but it would do something,, probably shoots pretty good that the 30 inch draw,,

[DC]

  Wouldn't be surprised if the young fella wasn't drawing it  more than that.  A light bow doesn't provide the same feedback of limiting draw.

He normally shot a 30# bow. He thought mine was really heavy but he had no problem holding it a full draw. He's a lot stronger than he thinks. He's moving out of town so I don't have to worry about him any more

[sieddy]

Sorry to hear that- as that bow looks fantastic! I hope you're still getting plenty out of shooting it! 

[DC]

Those are your options. Paul Comstock wrote a good article on this subject a while back.
 Some people  like to have the wood right on that pinnacle of breakdown throughout the life of the bow(Steve) and others think that getting it out of the way is a better option.

I'm still a the point where I get what I get when I make a bow. I can't deliberately over or under build a bow with any degree of accuracy. Overbuilding is fairly easy but I think I would way overbuild more often than not. If this bow was on the edge it wasn't because I planned it that way. My goal is to make each bow a little faster than the last so I guess I'm going to use up a lot of wood

[bradsmith2010]

you can make it faster, but the question is, how long will it stay faster,,,,