RE: (TFT) re: fine bows. -> Thorn after Stan

[Ed Thorn <prophesor@yahoo.com>]

--- rsmith <rsmith@lightspeed.ca> wrote:
> Hi Ed, everyone,

> 	Do you have any personal expertise 
> with archery?

More than most, far less than some.  And sadly little
of it recently.  But a little surfing will find you
the same things I say, from other pens.  You needn't
trust a phantom.  :)

> 	In what ways physically could the bow
> give the user a higher adj DX? You mention
> 'suppleness of draw'

The overall shape of the bow limb and the materials
its made of both affect how the bending of the limb
feels.  I guess you might chart the pounds-of-draw vs
draw-in-inches, to show this objectively.  But
subjectively, some bows, of equal weight and draw,
simply draw more... sweetly.  Consider the force put
into the bow in a certain range of it's draw... let's
compare the first 6 inches with the last 6 inches.  If
more of the power is in the first inches of draw, then
it's applied in the last inches of release, when the
archer has least control of the bow.  If more of the
power is in the last inches of draw, it's applied in
the first inches of release, when the archer has the
most control of the bow.


> Why would stiffness of arrow help?

Because if an arrow is not stiff enough, the thrust of
the bow actually _bends_ the arrow, which then
straightens and re-bends over and over like a flying
guitar string.  You have no control over how it bends,
and of course your finely-trimmed fletchings and
finely-honed broadhead are part of this fluttering.

Now...  Beyond a certain ST of bow (and I have no idea
where that mark is), you really have no choice but to
allow your arrow to bend and 'swim' through the air;
you're putting _so_ much power into the shaft, and
most of it in the last inches of release, that the
materials available just cannot offer enough 'spine'
(the correct term).  But if you want the ST, and the
range and punch that go with it, you take the flutter
problem.  Or use a longer limb on the bow, to apply
your power over a longer period of time.  Or shape
your limbs like a recurve, to apply more of your power
earlier.  Or use hollow metal tubes instead of wooden
sticks for arrow shafts.

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