Ways To Shorten Brace
 

I will likely buy a new bow by the Summer, and some of the ones I am considering have braces that I would like to reduce by an inch or so. I have seen at least one guy build a new grip that gets the throat closer to the string. I was wondering if it would be both possible and safe to build some sort of spacer that would allow me to use the original grip? If so, could it be made of wood? Could I attach it with epoxy? What kind of glue is used for most grips?
Also, if it works, do I just order my normal draw increased by the size of the spacer or new grip?

Thanks for any help.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Not really sure, but don't overdraws and some drop away rests effectively decrease brace height?

Fritz

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

I don't think so. That just allows you to shoot shorter/lighter arrows. Shortening brace gives a longer stroke, not just a shorter arrow. You need your bow hand moved back or string moved forward.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

From my understanding the only way you can gain power stroke is to order a bow longer than your current draw and the "grip" will reduce the draw length back down to what fits you.

If you simply add the "grip" on the same draw length bow, you effectively lower the brace but gain no additional powerstroke.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Right Rangeball, I probably should not even have asked about what draw length to order. It would seem that adding whatever you added to the grip, whether by spacer or larger grip, would be what you add to your normal draw, but I was just thinking there may be something I had not considered.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

adding a larger grip or an overdraw does NOT change the brace heighth of any bow.
the only way you can change the brace heighth of a bow is to shorten the limbs which also changes your A to A and your string and harness length.

best thing to do is to find a bow that has the desired brace heighth you are looking for.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Uhm, this is simply not true. How are you measuring brace? From the grip, right? If you construct a grip where the throat is closer to thestring than the original, it is inescapable that you have changed the brace, and will now require a longer draw length.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Not really, you have just changed where you measured it from, And you changed where your back anchor position will be. But the bow will still have the same power stroke..

Chronograph your bow, make your grip change, chronograph bow again using same arrow, it will shoot the same speed... Why because you only changed where you hold the bow and where you anchored...

A least I think anyway. Try it and report back....:eek:

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

I think we can make everybody happy if we insert the term "effective" brace :)

Since the grip addition will make the bow "effectively" draw too short when one uses their same anchor point (and who wouldn't), you need to increase the draw length of the bow to put your "effective" draw length back to where it was, which gives you the additional powerstroke...

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

OK Rangeball, use "effective" if you want. ;) The change has the same "effect" as if your bow just grew more reflex. Anyhow, I never intended to argue over semantics or the concept in general. I was just hoping there were members here who had either done this or knew more about it. Thanks for the replies.

I will check with my buddy who is both an engineer and a woodworker, but unfortunately, only a gun hunter. If he is unsure about a shim or spacer, I'll just get him to make a replica grip from the stock one, with the extra wood needed to move the neck back.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Changing the draw length is what Pmantel forgot to mention. Do what Range ball said and then your Power stroke changed. Seems like a lot to go through for a few feet per second though...

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

you have not changed the brace heighth, you have only made the draw longer which will effectively make the bow aproximately 11 FPS faster give or take but the effective brace heighth or the reflex of the riser has remained the same
agin I say the only way to change the effective BH is to shorten the limbs.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Or, on a single cam, you could long string it, which will increase the draw length, increase the a-a, increase the draw weight, and decrease the brace height.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Nope. If I just made the draw longer, how would I be able to shoot it? Under this theory, which is wrong BTW, all I would need do is buy a longer draw bow, or use a longer draw module on such a bow. Doing that would make the draw too long for me. By moving the grip back--toward the string--I am now drawing too short by the amount the grip was moved back. I now must change draw by that same amount to get back to the same anchor. In the process, I have also increased stroke.

Think of it this way. What part of your body is affected by either reflex or deflex of the riser? Answer-The bow hand. Why? The grip. Take a look at the bow company with the grip out in front of the riser(I can't recall it right now). Are you also saying they did not change the brace of the bow? If so, we need to symply agree to disagree. But, you are wrong. ;)

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

pmmantle I only build bows for a living
I am glad you are able to answer your own question:D

Rey you are partially right Long stringing the bow will indeed shorten the brace heighth but it will make the DW less will make the a to a longer thus not making the bow any faster so you have really made a futile attempt to reduce the brace heighth to gain speed but have really just complicated things and will also make it a pain in the rear to get the cams in time (not too bad for a solo)

but the bow will also shoot like crap the best effective way is to shorten the limbs, string and harness.

but better yet just go buy the bow that has the specs you are wntimng from a bow

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

Bigppapa. I did not answer my question. I never asked about the concept, only if people had done it, and if a spacer could be used instead of making an entirey new grip. I was worried about the potential problems of stress with a spacer as opposed to the grip. Fortunately, there are some bows with specs that would make this not something I want to do, but as I said in my first post, there are others I would like that have huge braces in the context of my tiny draw(26.5 to 27).

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

BPS, correct me if I am wrong, but as the a-a gets longer the weight goes up. When you tighten a limb bolt to increase poundage on a bow the limb tips get further away correct? Likewise, as you loosen the bolts to decrease the poundage the limb tips (and a-a) get closer. Long stringing a bow will cause the a-a to go up, and theoretically will cause the weight to go up.

Last week I was helping out at a local shop and we long stringed a guys bow to get his drawlength longer. This also took his draw weight up some in the process.


I agree that the best way to get the desired specs is to buy it that way from the get go, but sometimes that is not economically feasible.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

I do know 2 guys that put spaces behind their grips in order to change the effective draw length on the bow. ALthough the powr stroke and actual draw length did not change, by moving the grop back it effectively changes how far they actually drew the bow. It did not increase the speed in any way, but it did get noticeably louder.

For a point of reference, here is the table for shortening/lengthening cables and strings:

Sting and Cable shortening Table

On a 2-cam bow:
Shorten string, leave cables the same = shorter draw, lower weight, little change in BH
Lengthen cables, leave string the same = shorter draw, lower weight, slightly lower BH
Shorten cables, leave string the same = longer draw, higher weight, slightly higher BH
Lengthen string, leave cables the same = longer draw, higher weight, little change in BH
Shorten string and cables by the same amount = same draw length, higher BH and higher weight
Lengthen string and cables by the same amount = same draw length, lower BH and lower weight.

On a 1-cam bow
All the same, except for last 2 - to keep same draw length, you need to shorten/lengthen the string by 2X as much as you do on the cable (because the string goes between the ends of the bow twice, not once).

The actual amount of change varies depending on the bow and the amount of cable/string change.

A slight addition -- if you shorten both strings and cables(cams now clocked same as before, only you have a higher brace), you get the same power-stroke, but the actual draw wlngth will be longer by nearly the amount you increased the brace.

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

rey
My apoligys
If you are only adding length to the string it will bring up the poundage as you mentioned but I was under the assumption you were adding a longer power harness as well to keep everything in sync
My Bad[X(][:o]

RE: Ways To Shorten Brace
 

No problem. Sync????? What is sync????? You mean we need to keep everything in sync????? Now, what fun would that be, it would be easy to tune a bow that way.