holmeguaard help advice needed

[Rcdeer]

well Del, that makes sense. (yes! the picture helped!)  still a lil nervous about taking any wood off there...I had a holmegaard before..broke in florida,,,  broke my heart. had a mollgebet,,broke in n.y. (was only 3 weeks old we weren't attached yet,,) this one was made according to holmegaard plans he had.. hard to tell from pic but it's way closer to a holmegaard than not.. and I really enjoy shooting it..even to the right...lol..I may have to try several things to get this right.(or left as case may be) jus hate to scale any wood off here if not a necessity.. Thank You! you all are great! knowed this was place to come!!  thanks again! any other suggestions are welcome! RC

[Arrowind]

Many bows shoot fine with the arrow resting off center. There needs to be a harmony between the bow and your arrows. Its possible that your arrows are too stiff and don't bend/paradox around the bow when shot.

Agreed.   Try shooting arrows spined at 45#, 40#, or even 35#.  You will get straight flight. 

Your bow is not center shot so you need weaker arrows as ryoon explained.

[Rcdeer]

Bradsmith and Del..brace height is 6"...same as thumb/fist thing.could maybe raise it abit..will try lighter arrows first...maybe longer if i can find some..before I get to need filing!  sure do appreciate all the advice!!  way way ahead of where I was this morn! THANK YOU!!

[bradsmith2010]

just because a bow is not center shot,, does not always indicate need for  light spine arrows,, if you have to shoot a 35 spine arrow from your 50# bow then something is really not matched( or you may not be drawing the bow close to 28),, maybe the bow is not really 50# or has a cast similar to a 35 pound bow,,
a well made 50# bow,,not center shot will shoot at a 29  inch arrow 50# or 60# spine drawn to 28 inches very well, I would have to say that going down in spine is not necessary most the time,,, it may be possible that you are not drawing the bow to the draw length that would make the bow weigh 50#,, making the spine of the arrows too stiff and shooting to the right and yes the string alignment is probably part of the problem,,I have been making bows for more than 20 years and have never had to shoot a 35# spine out of a 50# bow to get perfect arrow flight,,

[Rcdeer]

Thank you for your input again Brad,,  I figure shooting a lighter spined or even tryin a longer arrow cannot hurt to try..as for the bow #, I checked it @28" and it is a #50.. also know...close as I can..that I am drawing 28" as for "cast"?  I have no idea..im just goin to try a few things that do not involve changing the bow and see if they change anything..if not,may try the nock a touch and maybe try Del's idea with the rasp..we'll see if weather coops monday  thanks! 

[bradsmith2010]

you have the right idea,, try the things that are not bow aggressive first,,  you will get it tuned in

[Rcdeer]

"he said hopefully!"  lol

[bentstick54]

If I read your early posts right, your arrows are flying good, but consistently grouping to the right. What type of aiming method do you use. Sounds to me like you are not adjusting to a selfbow, and is not an equipment problem. Where you shooting recurves or compounds before?
I shot recurves all my life until about 4 years ago when I decided to make my 1st Osage pyramid selfbow. I was getting good arrow flight out of wood and carbon arrows both,  it grouping consistingly to the left. I always shot subconsciously"instinctive", and ended up training my self to "gun barrel" or look down the shaft to establish my line. Solved the problem all together. Now if I pick up a recurve I have to purposely aim left or I will be way right.
If I hold one of my selfbows out with an arrow nocked it angles off to the left just like you described.

[Rcdeer]

thanks for your reply bentstick!  but i have not shot a recurve or compound bow in years..selfbows only...first holmegaard I had..I had to learn to shoot with both eyes open,,an eventually got lots better with it,,till it broke,,,..this one you can actually see the strung arrow aiming off the rest to the right..haven't had a chance yet to try any of the ideas above but I'll get to it soon.  course,,,i could improve myself too!

[bentstick54]

RcDeer, I forgot to mention that I am right handed shooter therefore my arrow pass is on left side. I put a 28" arrow on one of my braced pyramids and hAve the same situation you describe. If I measure from a line of the center of my handle(string) , 90degrees over to the point of the arrow, the point is 4" out to the left. The arrow shaft touchs the closest point of the handle/arrow pass to the string. If the arrow is pointed at your target and the bow is pointed six inches to the left, if the arrow is flying straight, the arrow should fly where "iT" is pointed.
Almost everyone that shoots one of my pyramids has the same problem. They try to shoot them with their hand pointing to the target and not the arrow, as if they were shooting a bow with a deeper cut in arrow pass. Once I show them to point the arrow and not their hand, it falls into place.
I am not an expert but just my experience. Good luck.

[mikekeswick]

You need to adjust the side of the handle. The bow will not fold in half because you've tweaked the shape of the side of the grip.
Filing nock grooves won't make hardly any difference and isn't a good idea. Heat is unlikely to work just how you want especially without any bow making experience.
BEFORE you start messing with spine etc the arrow when nocked should be touching the middle of the grip. Get this right first. Then you can 'tune' your arrows to the bow.
Adjusting spine to get arrows to fly out of a bow that needs work is a little backward 
If I was picking arrows for a 50#@28 with a 1 inch or so wide handle (not to be centershot) then my starting point would be 45# spine. As you get closer to centershot you would be getting towards 60# spine.

[Rcdeer]

Bentstick..I shall put that on list of things to try,,,but that'll be like startin all over!  lol,, but be interesin to see what happens  thanks!
Mikekeswick..."You need to adjust the side of the handle. The bow will not fold in half because you've tweaked the shape of the side of the grip."  I have no idea what that says,, I've read an reread..jus don't get it..

[J05H]

Mike is trying to tell you basically the same thing I did. You want to take a little off the arrow pass, so that your contact point is where you want it, and it won't take much. Certainly not enough to weaken your handle in any meaningful way.

Here's a visual aid to show you what we mean. The green "x" marks the arrow contact point. You just want to rasp a little off so that you move your contact point forward as shown on the right in the pic.

[Del the cat]

+1.
That's exactly what I was sayin' and I did a pic too...
except I want a gold star 'cos I said it first
Del

[mikekeswick]

Del - you've got to admit it is a good picture tho!

JO5H - That's it! A picture paints a thousand words!
RCDeer- Do what's in the picture do not bother with anything else. It's a simple fix.