Hand shock

[DC]

It's a nice day(but cold) today so I'm going to try a few bows and see if there is a big dif between my RD's and ELB's. I heat treated the weak limb yesterday so I'll let it sit outside today to re-hydrate. I would like to blame my arthritis but it was a different hurt/thump. It definitely irritated the arthritis though and I wouldn't be able to shoot it much.

[DC]

PD was right .I shot a couple of ELB's and then shot an RD. Night and day difference. Hardly even felt the arrow leave the RD. The ELB's didn't seem to kick as bad as the one in question but I'm probably getting used to it now. Good one PD, I'll definitely remember this, thanks

[bradsmith2010]

DC,, I have thought alot about this,, and I am guessing that if you weighed the long bow and the RD,,, there would be a difference in relation of mass weight to the draw wieght,, i am guessing that the long bow,, has more mass weight relative to the draw,,,
its easy to do that,, cause making them longer is traditional,, but adding unneeded mass,,,,, will increase handshock,,
an extreme example would be making one 72 inches ,, 40@ 28,,,
now cut it off to 60 inches,, and re tiller to 40#,,, its gonna be smooth as butter ,, it might take a bit of set,, but it will have less handshock than the too long,, too much mass bow,,,
   yes I feel there is a difference in hand shock with different designs as well,,for example ,, a short sinew backed bow that is light in mass,,, is gonna shoot like a feather,,,   a self bow that is too wide too long and overbuit,, is gonn have a nice side profile and not take set,,, but its gonna kick,, and not be pleasant to shoot,, even though it would have the appearance of being right on,, its mass to draw weight is out of balance,,
    even if I am wrong about the relative mass weight between the two bows,, reducing the mass of the long bow and re tillering,, could have a positive effect on reducing the shock,, if you are not happy with shooting it,, you have nothing to loose,, and might get it to shoot a bit sweeter,,,,, and yes I have cut the horn nocks off one to do just that,,,, it was awful thinking about it,, but when the bow shot better I was ok,, 

[DC]

Good thought so I went and weighed and measured them. Amazingly they weigh the same, 476 grams. They are the same length, 68" but the RD has recurves. And they are both right around 40#. The ELB ain't so L . You can tell that the weight distribution is totally different though. The ELB has a skinny handle so more of that weight must be out in the limbs. The RD is quite strongly reflexed and recurved so the limbs are lighter for the same draw weight. They are completely different animals. The RD has most of the weight in the handle and the ELB has it in the limbs. Sounds like a recipe for more thump in the hand(I changed that from handshock) to me. Oh, I never did get past the temp nocks on the ELB.

[bradsmith2010]

well tht makes since bout the distrubtion,,
I think u are right about the rd having lighter limbs,,
so tiller the long bow to have lighter limbs, ,and that should help,, make the center a bit stiffer etc,,,
good point,, I still think the long bow could go a bit shorter reducing mass a bit,,,but I am just guessing and spit balling,,