The real shooting center, the place where the arrow passes, is actually
one and one-quarter inches above the geographic center, and the hand
consequently is below this point. Your finished hand grip, being four
inches long, will be one and a quarter inches above the center and two
and three-quarters below the center. This makes the lower limb
comparatively shorter, so it must be relatively stronger. Your bow,
therefore, when full drawn should be symmetrical, but when simply
braced, the bend of the upper limb is perceptibly greater than the
stronger lower limb.
You will find the bow we have made will pull over eighty pounds, even
after it is thoroughly broken to the string. It is necessary,
therefore, to reduce it further. This is done with a spoke shave, a
very small hand plane or a file. Ultimately I use a pocket knife as a
scraper, and sandpaper and steelwool to finish it.
Your effort must be to get every part of the wood to do its work, for
every inch is under utmost strain, and one part doing more than the
rest must ultimately break down, sustain a compression fracture, or, as
an archer would say, "chrysal or fret.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98