After shooting the 90# Yew bow to get some arrows through it (ok I was prob' only pulling it to about 28" so nearer 80#) I went back to my 70# but noticed it was jarring my hand. Now people talk of "Hand shock" and they often talk abouth the bow being too heavy at the tips or ppoorly tillered... In my opinion that rarely the case.
Why was the 90# ok but the 70# jarring? The big difference is the grip The 90# is made form a stave with a naturally rounded back, also, due to the big
knot at the side of the grip, I allowed extra thickness there. The result is a big well rounded grip. By contrast the 70# is Ash backed Yew and the Ash back was cut flat on a bandsaw, ok the edges are slightly rounded. basically a flat back has corners that jar the knuckes or bones of the hand.
To improve matters I added some thick leather to the back which was carved and rasped to a nice curve. I then added a leather grip over that. The bow feels much smoother to shoot and hopefuuly I'll give it a good work out on sunday.
The bow had never been properly finished and the grain of the Ash had raised a lot. I sanded with 120 grit and gave it a wipe of Danish oil, suddenly the bow went from looking like a scruffy old workhorse to a gorgeous shiny thoroughbred.
Video of fitting the leather grip here :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ibiymsESQ
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