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does a bow with a shelf perform better
bradsmith2010:
I have made and shot bows both ways,, my hunting bow has no shelf,,it is easier to be consistant with arrow placement with nocking point and shelf,, but I have neither,,,and like it ok,,
but never noticed a difference in performance with chrono,, thoughts,,????
I have a really nice plum bow Marc made,, no shelf or handle,,it shoots really well with great cast,,what can I say,,
bassman211:
All personal choice Brad. When I make a replica bow no string nock ,or shelf. When I make bows for myself I always cut a deep arrow shelf ,and install a string nock. If I make a bow for my friends, or family I let them make the choice. Either way is fine, and chronies don't lie if set up properly. My shooting is more consistent with a string nock, and arrow rest. For others it may be the opposite.
bradsmith2010:
I like both,, just gravitated to the smooth line of no shelf,,but what ever you like to shoot,,,someone stated that no shelf robbed cast, i had not experienced that ,, that I know of,, just interested to see what others thought were,,, as always,, hope to be learning,,
superdav95:
Interesting topic! Not that I have a ton of experience with comparisons but I did do a little experiment a while back with 2 of my bamboo bows. One had a shelf and one incidentally did not (I’ve since added a shelf on the other one now). At that time I preferred a shelf. I found that both shot well with negligible difference if any in chrono speeds. The one difference I noted was the noise the shelf bow made compared to the off the knuckles bow made. One could argue that more noise in this case could mean loss of energy thus speed. Perhaps this is the case but what I noticed out of both 40lbs bows were good speeds out of both and were comparable. I’m putting finishing touches on a different 40-45 lbs bamboo/sinew bow now that has no shelf or knock point. I may add a knock point later on but right now this bow is dead nuts accurate for me. I think a lot of this may be the fact that it’s very well balanced and light in the hand and don’t have to struggle to hold on target. This bow is likley up there with my smoothest draw bow to date with zero handshock either. It feels like every ounce of energy is put into the arrow. Accuracy would even be better with consistent knock point I imagine. I make sure I square up by eye with the riser handle before I shoot so it’s fairly consistent but knock point just makes sense to me. The shelf I could add on too later I guess but at this point I love the silence of this bow the way it is. I’ve made other bows similar with homemade feather shelf’s and hair pass that cut noise down still not as whisper quiet as this bow. To eachs own I guess and like bassman says personal preference. I’ve not seen much difference in speed on my limited testing. FYI
Pat B:
For me, no.
I like a bulbous handle and make the arrow pass about 1" or slightly less. Years ago I started using a floppy rest mainly to protect my thin aging skin on my hand and I use it on most of the bows I make. I sometimes add a small leather rest but I haven't cut in a shelf for quite a while. I prefer not to. To me it's a possible weak spot. I do have a couple of modern glass bows that have shelves and I shoot them pretty well but I imagine that is mostly due to being closer to center shot. I vary rarely ever shoot these bows.
I don't think a shelf adds performance but it probably does affect how well some folks shoot.
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