Trying to understand brace-height

[islandpiper]

The more i learn, the more I realize i don't know. 

Can anyone tell me the reasons for certain brace heights, pros and cons, tuning issues, power/speed/longevity issues, etc?

How do I know when I have it right?   What happens if I get it wrong? 

Standing here, shuffling my feet, whistling quietly, waiting for guidance.........Piper

[sailordad]

well i aint no expert,however personal experience tells me
too low of a brace height causes wrist slap from the string,can also amplify faultsin your shooting as the arrow stays on the string longer.
a higher brace height is more forgiving when shooting,easier on the wrist too. some bows will shoot better with a higher brace,some shoot better with a lower brace height. just my 2cents worth

                                                                             tim

[islandpiper]

That leads me to PART TWO:  I finally own some arrows!!    Stood out behind the house and killed a pizza box, many times, yesterday.   Noticed that many of the shots sort of dolphined, up and down in flight and I was shooting consistantly high and to the left (right hand shooter) .   My new hickory bow was braced about 4 1/2" and it ATE UP my wrist till i put on the wrist guard (new , bought it from the same place as the arrows). 

Maybe I'll skip breakfast tomorrow and kill the pizza box again before I leave for work.  I made a new string and the brace is now about 5 1/2".

Now, keep in mind that I know nothing about shooting.  So I could have every bad habit known to the world of archery. 

Oh, by the way, I got my first, "Oh, you mean there are still wooden bows?"  remark on Tuesday. 

piper 

[benjamin]

Lower brace heights favor longevity, speed, soft let off, and less set. Heigher brace favors less wrist slap, cleaner arrow flight,... easier to spine arrows , less feather scraping during draw. The happy median is where you are comfortable. I like 4 1/2''-5'' brace from the belly. I hold my bow just on the palm of my thumb so I've taught myself to not to need a wrist guard at that height. My feathers are 4''ish long and close to the nock so scraping isn't a poblem. Mind you I have good arrow flight with my style but I might need to be a little more picky with arrows than another archer. I've heard it said that a good trade off is 6'' with a 6' bow, 5'' for a 5' bow and so on. Haven't played with that theory but Tim Baker has so there's probably a good deal of truth to it. Too high a brace height shortens the life of a bow and lowers eficiency. Hope it helps.

[benjamin]

As for high and left, your arrows are just a little too stiff and and your nock point might be slightly too high. Maybe 1/8'' or slightly more. Try short drawing and inch and see if that cures it. If so, sand the shafts lightly, and I mean lightly till full draw flight improves.

[islandpiper]

benjamin, thanks for the info.   I'll compare some of the wood shafts with the Wally World carbon ones which are stiffer and see if they shoot differently.  Remember, I don't know how to shoot.   I'm just a woodworker, specialized and professional sure, but still just a woodworker and coming into the whole archery thing late in life.  So, I have just been nocking, drawing and shooting by "feel" more than anything else.  Due to some rather complex eye surgeries my vision makes it hard to see the bow, the arrow and the target all together.   I can focus on any one thing pretty well, three at a time is tough.  So, I'm just a "point-shoot" archer right now.   I'll probably never be good, but I don't want to spend all my time in the woods searching for arrows.  If I can build good bows and give them to guys who will use them in good spirit, I'll be happy.   

But, I still want to hit the pizza box......

piper

[JackCrafty]

Piper,

It's amazing.....I've spent over an hour looking for youtube videos that might be able to help answer your questions.  You would think that there would be plenty of them on how to properly shoot a bow.  Well, there's more info (good info) on shooting atlatls than bows......amazing.

Anyway, this video is grainy but the archer has excellent form. Watch the video as many times as it takes to understand the form.  Stand up straight, bow perfectly vertical, body angled slightly toward the target, smooth draw, smooth release, follow through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z72Me_k03LA&feature=related

As far as only being able to see one thing at a time, you might actually have an advantage over people who want to look at everything while shooting.  Here's a video that demonstrates how to shoot by just looking at the target.  Basically, it's called instinctive shooting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtTyOf8OCKg&feature=related

I must warn you, asking archers how to shoot a bow is like asking a violin maker how to make a violin sound good.  Be prepared.

[JackCrafty]

Oh yes, brace height.  Well it's simple....brace it as low as possible without having the string slap your wrist.  You can twist the string to make it shorter by and inch or so....you don't have to make 20 strings for different heights.   

[islandpiper]

Jackcrafty, i hope that bowyers are nicer than violinmakers.......get ten of them together and they call each other names and lie about what they are doing and have done......then curse the first 3-4 who leave the room.  Where you bowyers seem to be sharing knowledge openly, violinmakers will trade varnish recipes, but not the REAL recipe........

Just the nature of the business.   Probably goes back to the earliest days when the old Italians sent their sons to other makers to apprentice, in part to gather information about the competition 

I'll review those vids.   Thanks for your effort AND TIME!!

Piper

[JackCrafty]

Jackcrafty, i hope that bowyers are nicer than violinmakers.......get ten of them together and they call each other names and lie about what they are doing and have done......

Have patience my friend.....you'll soon see how very similar we all are.....oh yes.....

[Pat B]

I use my fistmele to set brace height on most of my bows. That is the distance from the bottom of my clinched fist to the top of an extended thumb...about 5 1/2" to 6"...for me.  That gives me fletching clearance with no wrist slap and good arrow flight. The lower the brace height the longer the power stroke and the higher the shorter the power stroke. Somewhere in the middle is where your arrow will fly best...if they are spined correctly. With self bows you want arrows spined about 10# less than draw weight. Extra length over 28" will decrease the arrows spine by 5# per inch and tip weight over 125 will decrease the arrows spine.
I usually set a nock at about 3/8" above horizontal and I nock my arrow on top of the nock. 
   There is a sweet spot for each bow/arrow/shooter combo and it is up to you to find your own sweet spot. That comes with experience.     Pat

[TRACY]

IP, I start out at 5.5"-6" and twist or untwist my string as needed. If it slaps my wrist, them unstring and add a few twists to shorten my string and increase brace height. I generally gauge it by my fletching just clearing the rest and adjust as needed. Every bow and every shooter are different, so there is not a universal number for brace height. I suggest trying different brace heights to actually feel the difference for yourself. Good luck

Tracy

[kayakfisher]

Well you get ten of us together and we call it a good time ,something like MO Jam or Tennesee Classic and man the things we learn and share . Like what has been stated earlier measure the fletches on your arrows whatever they measure is where you want to start the brace height.Anywhere from five to eight inches is good. Nocking point plays a important role to where you place the nock of the arrow on the string.You may have to slide it up alittle or down a little while shooting,A bow is like a living thing ,it was a living tree and like all living things it has a spirit and will talk to you.Right now it is slapping your wrist telling you your holden me wrong and need to adjust my brace height.The arrows are saying your putting us on the string in the wrong place,or to stiff spine.The pizza box is saying how can you hit me if'n you dont keep both eyes focused on me ,It will all come together
          Dennis

[possum]

Your eyesight is a blessing if you wanna shoot instinctive style.  All you look at is the target where you want to hit.  I really liked that second video.  I was thinking your high and to the left was a stiff arrow and nocking point low causing the arrow to "dolphin" it's way to the target.  But I'm a lefty and transposing stuff in my mind is a dangerous proposition at best.

possum

[George Tsoukalas]

See Selfbow Care and Tuning.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/