# Longbow with no shelf?



## uscg4good (Jan 27, 2007)

Why? How about why not. Because of archer's paradox a shelf isn't really necessary.


----------



## elk country rp (Sep 5, 2005)

what he said ^


----------



## rsarns (Sep 23, 2008)

So it was just made to shoot the arrow off your hand?


----------



## Ringtail (Jul 18, 2007)

English military longbows had no shelf.......


----------



## Warbow (Apr 18, 2006)

rsarns said:


> So it was just made to shoot the arrow off your hand?


Yes.


----------



## elk country rp (Sep 5, 2005)

it just feels better to me to shoot off my knuckle- instant feedback on your release. it seems that my better flying arrows just whisper across my knuckles. the only time i get scratched is with too stiff an arrow & my occaisionally sloppy fletching....
i also like to shoot "switch" out of the same bow- seems like a good habit for hunting.


----------



## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

Cutting a shelf, and more so a sight window, might endanger certain wooden bows- ELB's most notabley. They're also not necessary. A cut out shelf provides a very hard surface across which the arrow must pass. In my opinion, this isn't something you really want. Your hand is softer, and therefore has a little give. For hutning the effects are obvious- less noise. From a tuning aspect, it seems there is less "hard" contact- jsut at the peak of the knuckle. A small leather shelf glued onto the side would work much the same way, but giving a more consistent spot. You'll be hard pressed to find a rest for a recurve that's jsut a hard piece of dowel rod stuck to the bow- but most longbows are shooting with much the same thing, or worse (and many recurvers too).

Also, before the 1940's I believe, shelves weren't very popular. No one bothered. Bows with rigid handles were jut beginning to flourish, and the idea of cutting a shelf in hadn't taken off. Even in 1950 when Howard Hill filmed "Tembo" his hunting bows had no shelves.


----------



## Flint Hills Tex (Nov 3, 2008)

About the tuning thing, Kegan, it seems to me that shooting off your hand just adds another variable to form, depending on how consistently you grip the bow with your bow hand, especially since the longbows with no shelf usually have no "formed" grip. 

I also thought that the whole idea behind cutting a window into the riser was to overcome archer's paradox and improve accuracy.

I know some folks love shooting over the hand. Bearpaw, a German Trad manufacturer even makes a special glove for this.


----------



## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

A rest is the best- it's consistent, small, and with very little contact. It's also not very hard. When shooting off the shelf, your arrow has to bounce off of a hard, stiff platform. So that extra consistency might only be slightly better than shooting off your hand, considering the arrow has to be tuned to flex around two stiff areas now. That's why you never see anyone shooting off a shelf in the Olympics- but an elevated rest.

Of course, there about a dozen other variables in there, especially with centershot bows. Suffice it to say, between a non-centershot longbow with a little, hard shelf and one you shoot off your hand, there's probably only the slightest difference in shooting, and more a matter of personal opinion than anything else.

And saying bows without shelves aren't made with grips for consistency is a broad, rather short-sighted comment. Most of the time it's a bow made by a person making it for _themselves_, so they can style the grip however they need it.


----------



## stiknstring (Aug 27, 2008)

If your arrows are bouncing off the bow or the shelf there are tuning issues that you need to address.


----------



## LifetimeArchery (Apr 4, 2008)

No shelf just means it is a more 'primitive' design as others have said. To alleviate arrow contact, wear a thin leather glove on your bow hand. Bow gloves with open palms and short fingers are made and available from BearPaw Archery. I believe Kustom King is selling most of the BearPaw line of products. If the bow has been dormant for a long time, ease it back to life by short drawing it slowly and listening for any cracks/pops. Good luck!


----------



## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

LifetimeArchery said:


> No shelf just means it is a more 'primitive' design as others have said. To alleviate arrow contact, wear a thin leather glove on your bow hand. Bow gloves with open palms and short fingers are made and available from BearPaw Archery. I believe Kustom King is selling most of the BearPaw line of products. If the bow has been dormant for a long time, ease it back to life by short drawing it slowly and listening for any cracks/pops. Good luck!


Or you can just wrap the fronts of the feathers with thin thread and cover it with glue. Should also help prevent feather damage.


----------

