In archery, is it difficult to switch back and forth between a short bow and a longbow?
Mari Chan asked:
Just to put this out there, I don’t do archery or anything…I’m working on a book and have been researching about archery for it. But…sadly, although I’ve found info on different types of bows, I can’t find anything about the specific differences between them or explaining any of the lingo.
I’m completely archery illiterate…so please try to use words I can understand. Thank you…
Just to put this out there, I don’t do archery or anything…I’m working on a book and have been researching about archery for it. But…sadly, although I’ve found info on different types of bows, I can’t find anything about the specific differences between them or explaining any of the lingo.
I’m completely archery illiterate…so please try to use words I can understand. Thank you…
Gort posted: 04 Mar at 6:28 pm
You would find the short bow less desirable than the long bow just because of the stacking problem in the draw of the bow.
Compound bows get around this by using cammed pulleys that let the pressure off as the draw reaches its full length.
Recurves use a different trick of geometry to appear longer to the string as they are drawn reducing the string angle and the stacking problem.
solon_zhu_new posted: 07 Mar at 8:05 am
you will pretty much be used to the tension on the short/long bow and you’ll have moreor less power on your drawback because of that tension change.
targetbutt posted: 07 Mar at 8:53 pm
Talking about 2 traditional bows, it won’t be hard at all. I shoot Olympic style recurve, and I don’t find it hard at all to switch to a longbow. Well, I wouldn’t switch permanently, since I just don’t like the handshock that comes with a longbow, but I can shoot it just fine. I have a few friends who owns and shoots many different types of bows, hunting recurves, horse bows, traditional korean bows, longbows. They would alternate between the bows every week or so.
Once you got the basics down, they all pretty much shot the same way, just different feels to them. This also depends on the make of the bow, some short bows will stack, some don’t. I have a very long drawlength for my height, drawing at 31 1/2″. At this drawlength most poorly designed bows will stack. I’ve drawn back a custom made 64″ recurve, it’s a well made bow, and felt pretty smooth to draw. I’ve also drawn some 68″ recurve that is poorly made and felt the stack at about 30″.
FYI, stacking is a characteristic of the limbs. When people say that a bow stacks, it means that it climbs up in poundage as you draw it back faster than expected. A rule of thumb for limbs is, it adds 2 lbs of draw weight for every inch you draw it at around 28″. So if you have a bow marked at 40# @ 28″, and you draw it back 30″ you expect it to go up to about 44#. If it goes up to 50# then that bow stacks. If it only goes up to 43# then it’s smooth. Smoothness is also a feel though. I’ve drawn two bows, same riser two pairs of limbs, to the same draw weight, one bow feels lighter to me than the other. Yet when I put it on a digital scale, they both weigh the same.
Now the term longbow, doesn’t always mean a bow that is long. A longbow is different than a recurve because the string doesn’t touch any part of the bow other than the limb tips. A recurve has the string run along the limb for a few inches. So there are longbows that are short, as a matter of fact, my friend’s longbow is shorter than my recurve.
Have to add some more, now if by short bow you mean a compound bow. There’s a different story. Most people using compounds will find it hard to switch to a longbow. Because most people I’ve ran across with compounds tend to ignore proper shooting form, because the bow allows them to do that. Compounds are those bows with wheels btw. Most compound shooters uses a mechanical release to shoot. There are a few types of releases, a thumb release a regular trigger release and a back tension release that I can think of. People using back tension release will fare better when they switch, because this type of release forces the shooter to use proper form.
archerdude posted: 11 Mar at 4:37 am
Short bows and long bows, when of the same design, usually have the same general characteristics, so it is relatively easy to switch from to the other without accuracy suffering unduly. However, since “Shortbows” are often a different sort of creature than the “Longbow”, they are built differently and shoot a bit differently.
What makes any bow a “shortbow” is its length, not necessarily its shape, although shortbows are usually made in a Recurved design. A “Recurved bow” (where the tips curve back away from the archer) can be either a short bow, or a long bow — but it is still a Recurved Bow; the recurved tips add “power” to the bow, while allowing the bow to be a relatively short length. “Longbows”, on the other hand, are usually straight-limbed and the tips do not “recurve” away from the archer; Longbows are generally longer than Recurved bows of the same “strength” (this is called “Draw-weight”) due to needing the extra length to achieve the same amount of “power” without being excessively hard to use. “Compound Bows” are another critter entirely, in that they behave like a Recurved bow, but are designed like a Longbow (except for the handle) with wheels on the ends; the big difference is they have “let-off”, which means only that the archer does not hold the full amount of the bow’s “strength” when the string is fully drawn back (like any other bow, Compounds can be long - or short); a person who can easily handle an “80-lb” Compound bow will most often have difficulty controlling an “80-lb” Recurved or Longbow.
Whatever the bow’s actual design, the longer it is the easier it generally is to use; this is where “stacking” comes in. A bow that “stacks” is one which quickly gets “harder to draw” the further the string is pulled back; this another reason Longbows are made as long as they are. Compound bows can be any length, and still be extremely easy to use.
The problems in switching from one type of bow to the other arise from the differences in the shape of the bow’s handle and what is known as the “arrow shelf”: Recurved and Compound bows generally have a “pistol-grip” handle, shaped to fit the hand in a natural (”straight-wrist”) position — and Longbow handles are generally shaped so that the hand is brought into a somewhat un-natural (”broken-wrist”) position (hold your arm and hand out in front of you, with your palm facing to the side and your hand in line with your arm - now bring your hand “up” without moving your arm, so your thumb points in a generally “up” direction). Hold a “pistol-grip” bow with a broken-wrist grip and accuracy suffers; hold a broken-wrist grip bow with a straight-wrist grip and accuracy also suffers. Constantly switch from one to the other, and back again, and your grip will never be consistent — and your accuracy will always suffer.
The “arrow shelf” is where the arrow sits on the bow: Recurved and Compound bows generally have a deep (”center-cut”) shelf, where Longbows generally have a shallow (”minimal”) shelf; the amount of shelf dictates how the arrow will react to the bow, which affects accuracy. An arrow made for a center-cut shelf will perform poorly with a minimal-shelf bow — and vice-versa.
Hopefully, it should be be obvious that as long as the bows are of the same general handle and shelf design, and the same “strength”, it shouldn’t matter if one bow is shorter than the other. Except for when one bow is a Recurved or Longbow, and the other is a Compound bow…there will be problems due to that “let-off” on the Compound bow; in this case, the amount of amount of physical strength needed to hold the string fully drawn back is what matters, not the “strength” (Draw-weight) of the bow.