Fortunately, I am not starting from scratch for my 2012 bow. Shortly after I came upon Alevekiu's bows, I couldn't resist the temptation to try shooting the foot bow class at the Salt Flats. At first, I figured that the best approach was simply to string up and shoot the Alevekiu bows. Given a modern string and top notch arrows, it should shoot better than it ever has before. Even better, it could help lend some credibility to Alevekiu's distance claims. Unfortunately, I quickly found that the release mechanism and rails were very sensitive and unforgiving to the arrows I already had. The arrows, nock, fletching all had to be perfectly fitted in order to make it work. Otherwise, clean arrow flight was impossible and the chance of a misfire almost guaranteed. A few test firings into a foam target with a light set of limbs and I realized it was going to take a lot more work to get these bows shoot ready than I had time for.
I needed to come up with another plan. I borrowed one of Alevekiu limb holders and built a new set of limbs for it. I built a new chassis and discarded the crossbow rail arrow guides in favor of a suspended arrow rest. The trigger system was new also and required three iterations before I has something I was happy with. The first was based on a compound mechanical release but I was disappointed with how clean it loosed the arrow and I was concerned about the durability of the release with the heavy draw of a foot bow. I'd shoot an arrow and it would come out tail high. Without changing anything, the same arrow on the next shot would come out tail low and sideways. This just wouldn't do.
The second release was based on Alevekiu's crossbow style release, but it wasn't a very forgiving system either. I found it was going to take some work to get this one figured out and I didn't have the time.
The third attempt was based off a latch release from a truck hood. A little cutting and grinding and I had something that I was finally thrilled with. It worked much like the hood & loop releases that I used with my hand bows.
The next problem was the arrow rest. The arrows are often shorter than the bow is drawn so what is the best way to handle this? Many issues can arise just from the action of dragging the arrow backward across the arrow rest. The arrow can pop off the string leading to a dry fire, or it can pop off the arrow rest leading to a misdirected arrow into the bow or shooters foot. I had to do something different. My solution was to develop a carriage system so that the arrow and rest were drawn together. It worked great and was easy to tune. I had a bow resembling a shooting machine where all I had to do was pull back hard and as soon as it hit a predetermined draw point it fired. AWESOME!
There was no time left to do much more with it, I quickly packed up and drove to Bonneville. Once there, I ran into one major shortcoming. I didn't have a bow press to string this contraption! The set of limbs I built had a pretty light draw weight for a foot bow but it was not light enough to use conventional stringing techniques. I managed to string it using a combination of clamps, muscle, and stubbornness in the hotel room the night before the shoot. I heard a disturbing "tick" and a small puff of dust come from somewhere but didn't see any visible issue. I was a little worried since I had dropped the bow earlier which left a pretty nasty ding in one of the limbs. Yet it drew back and seemed OK so "game on".
Out at the flats, I took the bow out for a few 300-400 yard test shots at partial draw with some heavy slow shooting arrows. It worked great and I was having a blast! It was time to take it to the shooting line and try a full round. My first shot was with my heaviest flight arrow and I set the trigger to go off at about 2/3rd draw. I pulled back and the bow fired but instead of a clean "thwack!" it let out the most horrible sound. The bow unstrung itself and I hadn't a clue as to what happened. I checked my feet to make sure I hand no new holes there. Next looked over the bow. A quick check and I found that one of the nocks sheared off the limb tip where I had not shaped it properly. Too big of a hurry. Oh well, there was time for another round after lunch.
I shaped a new nock groove and struggled with the stringing again. My friend James came to rescue and we just about had it restrung when the limb emitted a strange sound and I saw pieces of it go flying across the salt in different directions. I looked at James and he had a look of shock on his face. Fortunately, he was more surprised than hurt. Too bad for the bow however. My chances of shooting foot bow in 2011 were over.
I needed to come up with another plan. I borrowed one of Alevekiu limb holders and built a new set of limbs for it. I built a new chassis and discarded the crossbow rail arrow guides in favor of a suspended arrow rest. The trigger system was new also and required three iterations before I has something I was happy with. The first was based on a compound mechanical release but I was disappointed with how clean it loosed the arrow and I was concerned about the durability of the release with the heavy draw of a foot bow. I'd shoot an arrow and it would come out tail high. Without changing anything, the same arrow on the next shot would come out tail low and sideways. This just wouldn't do.
The second release was based on Alevekiu's crossbow style release, but it wasn't a very forgiving system either. I found it was going to take some work to get this one figured out and I didn't have the time.
The third attempt was based off a latch release from a truck hood. A little cutting and grinding and I had something that I was finally thrilled with. It worked much like the hood & loop releases that I used with my hand bows.
The next problem was the arrow rest. The arrows are often shorter than the bow is drawn so what is the best way to handle this? Many issues can arise just from the action of dragging the arrow backward across the arrow rest. The arrow can pop off the string leading to a dry fire, or it can pop off the arrow rest leading to a misdirected arrow into the bow or shooters foot. I had to do something different. My solution was to develop a carriage system so that the arrow and rest were drawn together. It worked great and was easy to tune. I had a bow resembling a shooting machine where all I had to do was pull back hard and as soon as it hit a predetermined draw point it fired. AWESOME!
There was no time left to do much more with it, I quickly packed up and drove to Bonneville. Once there, I ran into one major shortcoming. I didn't have a bow press to string this contraption! The set of limbs I built had a pretty light draw weight for a foot bow but it was not light enough to use conventional stringing techniques. I managed to string it using a combination of clamps, muscle, and stubbornness in the hotel room the night before the shoot. I heard a disturbing "tick" and a small puff of dust come from somewhere but didn't see any visible issue. I was a little worried since I had dropped the bow earlier which left a pretty nasty ding in one of the limbs. Yet it drew back and seemed OK so "game on".
Out at the flats, I took the bow out for a few 300-400 yard test shots at partial draw with some heavy slow shooting arrows. It worked great and I was having a blast! It was time to take it to the shooting line and try a full round. My first shot was with my heaviest flight arrow and I set the trigger to go off at about 2/3rd draw. I pulled back and the bow fired but instead of a clean "thwack!" it let out the most horrible sound. The bow unstrung itself and I hadn't a clue as to what happened. I checked my feet to make sure I hand no new holes there. Next looked over the bow. A quick check and I found that one of the nocks sheared off the limb tip where I had not shaped it properly. Too big of a hurry. Oh well, there was time for another round after lunch.
I shaped a new nock groove and struggled with the stringing again. My friend James came to rescue and we just about had it restrung when the limb emitted a strange sound and I saw pieces of it go flying across the salt in different directions. I looked at James and he had a look of shock on his face. Fortunately, he was more surprised than hurt. Too bad for the bow however. My chances of shooting foot bow in 2011 were over.
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| 2011 Foot Bow Drawn |
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| Boom! |
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