Dam… It’s been too long since I shot my bow. 20 years. It’s a Howatt Hunter Recurve. It’s an oldie but a goodie.
So, an arrow question. All arrows have one odd color flight. Does the odd color face into the bow, or out? It has a rest, and not just bear felt.
I always presumed it was out, so the fletchings wouldn’t get caught on the wood of the bow. If it’s out, then the other two are close to flat against the bow.
Ahh. I think you are right. Bit of a brain fart on my part.
I hadn’t shot for about 20 years, then I picked up a bow in Costa Rica at a resort and stopped because I was winning so many tee-shirts :). I still sort of have it.
A buddy of mine has taken up bow hunting and practices near my house in the valley at his friends house. Gonna see if an old shooter like myself with a re curve is any match for a new guy with a compound. I suspect that I will be quite humiliated. 
What are friends for.
Can’t find my arm guard. Got the finger glove still though. I’ll be the guy with duct tape on his arm.
In a pinch a plastic shin guard like kids wear to play soccer can be taped or tied around your arm (some even have an expandable elastic sleeve you can just slip your arm through). Be sure to have the plastic on the inside of your bow arm.
No kids. No plastic shin guards. Good Idea though.
I got burnt in Costa Rica wearing the guard they provided. It wasn’t much of a guard, the bow was pretty good though. It was a silly ‘contest’ really. Just fun.
But I did at least get people to take their watches off. Well, they just saw me do it. That would be a hurtful and perhaps expensive rash. Not many things hurt like that string rash.
I think I can make a reasonable guard out of duct tape, two layers sticky to sticky and then tape that to my arm with electrical tape. I might imbed a split cedar shim or something between the duct tape. Or… hmmm…. Now I’m thinking about this.
If the arrows are nocked right, it’s out.
Additional info: If you keep the top of your hand in line with top of your arm you shouldn’t have the string/arm issue.
Out. Right. errr. correct. Brain fart on my part.
Odd color out.
ehh… The top of my hand is in line with the top of my arm. Has to be for a heavy bow or good shot. Or I would think any bow. Maybe I misunderstood your post. I shoot with two fingers, and I’m pretty strong. There is only one place the nock can go on the string (forget the term -finger savers? They serve as nock guides on the string). My hand and arm are always inline. No choice.
I’m not a regular shooter, and its been years. And perhaps I have some pretty big forearms or something. Bad stance perhaps. But boy catch the rash once and well, you don’t want to do it again. Been there done that as a kid.
I wonder if this is more of an issue with re curves than compound bows? Maybe it’s not an issue with compound bows. Never shot one so I don’t know.
I know I am getting some of my terminology wrong. I hadn’t shot for years when I picked up a bow again on vacation. I shot quite well with an unfamiliar bow and arrows that, well, where less then optimal. I surprised myself and want to start shooting again.
IPS PlainJain’s talking about the alignment between your bow arm and the bow.
My bow arm rolls, the direction my elbow points is pretty much a line parallel to the major axis of the bow, this puts a lot of my forearm in the path of the string. Ideally your elbow should be pointing to a line that’s more or less at a right angle to the bow. If I hold my bow plumb I have to roll my elbow out of the way or I get slapped, so I usually hold my bow at ~45° rolling my whole arm out of the way.
CMC fnord!
'Course none of this solves my bigger problem, being cross dominate! 
(And closing your dominate eye ain’t the bestest idea.)
Generally odd color faces out, but if the arrows are spined correctly it really doesn’t matter due to Archer’s Paradox.
I sort of suspected as much. Since you may shoot many times and then all of a sudden clip yourself. I’m an instinctual shooter and don’t use sites. So that pretty much means I go with the flow and let my body do the work. Doing it wrong once in a while for sure. Maybe I’ll try shooting more off plumb. As I said, It’s been years.
Excellent video!
Very cool vids (watched some of the related ones). Watching the flex of some of those arrows is something. Not sure what the ‘spine’ is on my arrows, never heard the term before to be honest. I suspect the spine on my 20 yo hollow fiberglass arrows are similar to my own spine, a bit creaky and unpredictable. Perhaps I should fill them with beer, works for me 
My shoulders are hurting just from thinking about shooting again.
Unless it is me who is now misunderstanding, this isn’t quite true. I nock the string so the arrow goes below it and I shoot three fingers under that. It allows you to sight right down the arrow. I think it’s called the Apache Draw. Anyway, I shoot a recurve and instinctive.
Missed the edit window.
Spine refers to the stiffness of the arrow. High draw weight bows work best with stiffer arrows and low weight bows work best with ‘softer’ arrows.
Pretty sure enipla has Finger Savers on his bowstring.
My childhood pinch draw evolved into two/three under draw/secondary/tertiary release hybrid mess. I love it 'cause I hate it when the arrow falls off the rest and it puts your thumb in exactly the right place to put pressure on the shaft.
CMC fnord!
Ahh, I see. Still, to maintain accuracy wouldn’t you want a crimped nock on as well?
You shot with three fingers under the arrow? So, on is still on top right? I always thought that the release with even two under would stress the string in such a way that it would give the arrow and odd kick.
And use crowmanyclouds, the finger saver link you put up is similar to what I use. Almost have to with a two finger draw. And I still use a very thin leather finger(s) glove.
What’s odd is I don’t even know the draw weight on my bow. It was purchased, used, around 1973 by my father for me. It’s a Howatt Hunter, but the previous owner scratched off the draw weight. Odd.
This is what is on the ‘stock’ (?) The first two lines are hand
written.
(scratched of part) @ 28"
HHV (or maybe HHU) 27 39- 62"
Howatt
Hunter
Yakima Wash.
NE PLUS
ULTRA
I’m guessing that it is about 45lbs @ 28" draw. Can anyone decifer the rest of it?
heh. Lot’s of stuff is coming back to me. Nice to see some other archers on the dope.
No, I shot with the pointer, middle and ring fingers under and no finger on top (similar to this). When nocking the string, use an arrow square as usual but put the nock above the arrow. When drawing, the arrow is held in place by the “pinch” of being trapped between the top (pointer) finger and the nock. As noted in the link I provided earlier it feels a little awkward at first but it’s easily gotten used to. Most of my shooting was small game hunting and I can attest that this method works very well for snap shooting.
I haven’t noticed any odd kick. In fact I find this method to be quite accurate.
First line would be the draw weight at full draw (28" in your case). Can’t imagine why anyone would scratch the draw weight off of a bow. Maybe a former owner was embarrassed by a light weight?
62" is likely the string length, but you’d expect to see AMO (Archery Manufacturers Association) in front of it. They got together years ago to codify string measurement techniques for recurve bows, among other things.
HH shows up on lots of Howatt Hunters. Nice bows.
The 27 39 might be part of the serial number. The folks at Trad Gang may be of help to you.
