A little string follow don't hurt nothin!

[barley40]

To avoid string follow in selfbows, everyone knows the wood has to be dry and tillered properly, and yet, and yet, most selfbows will have some string follow. While 4 or 5 inches is undesireable and 2" is acceptable a heavy bow will still shoot hard and quite with little hand shock even with a bit too much follow. Now you can build some reflex into it to make it look like there's no string follow, but the belly wood still compresses and the back wood still stretches. Every bowyer knows that the type wood plays a big part on how much the bow will recover when you take the string off. Don't throw it away til you shoot it!

[NTD]

A wise man has said "Set Happens"  But I still try to keep it minimal.

[hova]

i have bigger things to worry about than set.

and i agree , a little set really isnt going to bother anything. even 5" is less than brace height , which is why i never understood why people worry about it so much...

now if you have more set than brace height...id worry...

-hov

[NTD]

Whoa, now don't get me wrong but you shouldn't write off the set in a bow as nothing to worry about entirely.  Set does rob speed and is evidence of things you could have done better.  Set is feedback on whether the bow was designed properly or overstrained for it's design.  Perfect may be the enemy of good but complacency in poor craftsmanship and under appreciating the pursuit of better is shameful in my opinion.

[George Tsoukalas]

LOL, NTD, I'm not sure his daughters, brothers and wife think he is that wise. Jawge

[NTD]

Originally posted by George Tsoukalas:
LOL, NTD, I'm not sure his daughters, brothers and wife think he is that wise. Jawge

Family is good at keeping us humble aren't they Jawge  

[Aznboi3644]

I just try to get 2" of set or less.

Hell my red oak mollegabet is overstressed for its design...i knew it from the beginning...tillered it pretty quick...has 2" of set but shoots wonderfully and fast enough to kill anything in the arrows path.

I'm still a noob though...hopefully one day I can get all my bows to have 1" set or less.

[George Tsoukalas]

NTD, family is what drives my life. I thank God for my family. Jawge

[Pat B]

If you are worried about set in a bow, wood bows or wood bow building is not for you. Even a bow with 10" of set will kill a deer if you can shoot it well and are shooting appropriate arrows with very sharp broadheads.
 I think the problem that people have with set in a bow is what I call "fiberglass mentality". Wood bows are organic and will give a bit when stressed and have memory unlike a FG bow which basically stays the same no matter if it is contibuously strung or not. It is a matter of preference but for me I like the challenge of making and shooting wood bows and hardwood shoot and cane arrows. It makes me more of a part of the whole situation and a better bowyer and arrowsmith just knowing if I screw up I blame myself and not my equipment. One is not better than the other! They will all do what they were made to do...but can we!

[snag]

Well said Pat. In a world of blame it is nice to stand and be accountable. This process of correction will make us better for it.

[hova]

pat: right on.


-hov

[Jim Dahlberg]

Well said, Pat.

[Pat B]

It's not the tool we should blame but the nut behind the tool! d;^)

[NTD]

You don't solve the problems of mediocrity by extolling it's virtues....

While I may always make mediocre bows I will not make excuses for them and I will always strive to go beyond mediocrity.

[razorback]

We should all strive to make the best bows that we are capable of. Sometimes they will develop set and other times they will not. Much of it is the nature of the wood but the rest is the "nut behind the tool". What ever our skill level I believe we should all try to make the best bow we can. jmho

[Roy Steele]

Wood seasoned right.Wood has memory so don't ever over strees your limbs while tillering. and you can build wood bows with no set with very little string follow.