I am new to the traditional thing and I see a lot of references made to bow stacking. Could someone define this for me. I did a search on the thread and that was unrewarding. Thanks.
A traditional bow will gain a certain amount of poundage per inch of draw--2-3# per inch is very smooth--up to a certain point. When you reach the point where the bow starts to jump up in pounds--for example, going from 2-3# per inch to 5 or more--this is when it starts stacking.
Hope that makes sense.
Chad
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"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
During the draw of a traditional bow, as the draw length of a bow is increasing as you are pulling the string back, the draw weight is increasing. At some point the weight will begin to increase very rapidly and the limbs will begin to straighten out and will not work linear anymore. This is called stacking. If your actual draw length is beyond the limits of the bow, you will probably experience this. For example, I have an old Bear recurve and it is measured at 45# at 28" . I have a 31.5 inch draw however. At full draw on this bow I am actually pulling 58#. I experince stacking on the bow at about 29 inches. After 29 inches, I actually feel like the bow will go no further, because of the rapid increase in draw weight. BTW, I don' t shoot this bow much.
Usually a bow performs at its best just before this point of stacking.
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Thanks to both of you, that explains it very well. Another question, how do they make traditional bows with longer draw lengths to prevent this? Does it vary between bows? I can see on a shorter bow how this would be much more of a problem, do they change draw lengths or just make the bows themselves longer?
It depends on the bow. Some bows are made longer for longer draws, some can be modified to handle a longer draw. I know of a 56" recurve that will handle a 30" draw, where in another style a 60" has to be modified to handle it. Some longbows would require a 68-70" bow, where in a different design a 64" or shorter will work. This is one area where getting a custom bow, made for your draw, is a bonus.
Chad
__________________
"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
One thing to look at on recurves is how the bow is built. How much of the bow is
riser section and how much is working limb?? You' ll be amazed at the difference there is between many production type bows. Even more amazed at the difference in the way the two bows will feel..
The longer the riser section the shorter the bending capabilities of the limb compared to an equal length bow with a shorter riser section resulting in a longer limb.
Another question, how do they make traditional bows with longer draw lengths to prevent this?
Remember that the bow will perform at its best just before it starts to stack. Therefore most production traditional bows are made to fit the average archer. Personally, I have to either build my own bow, or have a bowyer make one for me. I choose the later, because by the time I get everything that I need to make it, get some experience, and put in the time required, I could have the bow designed to my specifiactions and made by an experienced bowyer.
A lot has to go into the pysical design of the bow in order to get a specific draw length and pull weight. Try taking a look at this link to get some more info:
Define stacking please
