Recently though I'd been toying with taking off a little draw weight, also my draw length has dropped a tad and is nearer 27" than 28".
Having been shooting in the tri-lam longbow at a good 28" draw, I realised that twister by comparison felt "stacky", that's to say I'd get to about 26" draw and it then felt stiff and unyielding instead of lively and supple.
Over the Years Twister has taken a little set mid limb (more on the lower) but is still good by my test of putting it belly down on the floor (unstrung) and seeing how many fingers you can get between grip and floor. One or less is good, which is how Twister is. Two is ok, 3 is poor. It was a superb bow, but maybe the two of us aren't quite what we were, so I thought I'd ease off the outer limbs a tad and maybe that would make it feel smoother, take some stress off the mid limbs and ease off the draw weight.
To get myself in shape too I've rasped a bit off my belly ... just kidding... I've re-instated the dozen push ups night and morning.
Unfortunately I didn't take a pic before doing any work, but this first pic shows the tiller after I'd eased off the tips a tad and lost a few pounds. It's at 40# at 28" where it probably started out and nearer 45#.

I've heat treated the mid section of each limb with the limbs strapped down and a slip of wood about 4mm thick under the back where the set was. That effectively pulls it into the merest hint of reflex so that when the heat treating is done and the strapping off, the limb is about straight.
It's now about 40# @ about 24" which gives me some room to re-tiller whilst keeping a decent draw weight. I think what I need is about 40# at 27" and I'd like the bow to have it's original speed and feel.
I've done a little more work now and actually shot it. Here's an after heat treating both pulled to just over 27"

The difference in curve is pretty subtle but if you look at the chalk marks on the wall behind the right limb you can see in the "after" picture the limb is nicely on the curved line whereas in the first pic the tip is pulled inside that line with more of the bend in the middle/inner limb.
I'll probably quit while I'm ahead now!
Maybe this last pic shows the difference better, I've done the 2 ellipses and this time you can see they are flatter and the tips conform to the curves better.

Right you can plays spot the difference now!
No comments:
Post a Comment