Center Cut Longbows

[longbowinfected]

I am left handed. The bows I use are cut to centre with a piece of thin leather between the arrow so that the arrow is situated to the side of centre [right of centre]. With my 50# bow my arrow spine is 47#, but the ame arrows can be shot out of my two lighter bows.

I have seen charts posted here which indicate the variance i spine required to offset the differential fro centre shot.

The model works and has been found to work from my prspective.

Kevin

[kimall]

So old Adcock has been copying me and didnt even ask me first.
Cheers KIM

[Stephen Georgiou]

i shot with roadie on the weekend and he was using an ELB and the arrows where coming out beautifully. Having center cut on a longbow is not necessary to get good arrow flight as the archer paradox takes away any benefit of center shot, like what is typical of compound bows shot with a release aid. You will get great flight from a longbow irrespective of the offset as long as the arrows are matched to the bow.
Cheers.

[Glenn]

I was always told that a bow cut (or arrow plate adjusted) so that the arrow lined up directly with the centre line(centreshot), would be more unforgiving to shoot then one that was cut to centre or just before centre.

This is quoted from O.L. Adcock's tuning page and may shed some light on the question Coach:

Your side plate in the sight window should be adjusted so when you line up the string down the center of the limbs, a nocked arrows tip will be 1 to 1 1/2 shaft diameters left of the string for a right handed shooter. If possible. If the bow is "cut to center" or not quite center, this may not be possible. In that case use as thin a side plate as you can with the contact point straight above the low point of the grip. Bows cut "centershot or past center" are desirable ONLY from the standpoint it gives you more left/right adjustment capability. Not that they should be shot that way. Bows that are adjusted too close to centershot requires a much higher spined arrow than it's draw weight. This is not as forgiving as one adjusted with the arrow left of center using arrow spines closer to the bows actual draw weight. Not that they can't be shot well, they just can't be shot as well.

I'm not saying that O.L. Adcocks words are gospel, but he's done more testing than most. I've also been told by 3 other very experienced bowyers that the above is true and it makes sense to me.

Kev Whiting told me the same information back in the early 70's and I have laways followed this advise and have found it to work very well for me over the years espacially under hunting conditions. I never shoot my bows centre shot. If people want me to centre shot their bow I will do it if that is what they want but I will always warn them that this is not a good option...Glenn...

[Waltron]

So now this thread has got me thinking...
When you guys are talking centre-shot, I presume you mean that the arrow is passing directly through the centre line of the riser much like that of a competition/Olympic style recurve, where the shelf would have to be cut past centre. As opposed to a shelf cut to centre where the arrow would still sit offset to the left(right handed)?
If this is the case, when shot off the shelf, a centre-shot bow would have to take into account the radius of the arrow the person intends to use.

So now for some clarity. What was it I requested on my Defiant Glenn?

[Coach]

When you guys are talking centre-shot, I presume you mean that the arrow is passing directly through the centre line of the riser much like that of a competition/Olympic style recurve, where the shelf would have to be cut past centre. As opposed to a shelf cut to centre where the arrow would still sit offset to the left(right handed)?
If this is the case, when shot off the shelf, a centre-shot bow would have to take into account the radius of the arrow the person intends to use.

So , does that mean that the Olympic archers are shooting their bows the wrong way ? Or should I say , they should be using a bow where the shelf is not center cut ?

Something to think about

Some of you fellas have said we should tune the arrow to the bow ,,Thats true ,, so wouldnt Olympic Archers also tune their arrows To their bow , even though it is center shot
It would seem that if we can tune arrows , to a ELB ,, we can tune arrows to a Longbow ,, and we can tune arrows to a centershot bow

[Benny Nganabbarru]

It's often said that centre-cut bows allow for a greater selection of arrows. Maybe they do for other folks, but I have found that for me, at my draw weights, I have far more options for arrows when I build that shelf out, or when the bow has hardly any shelf to begin with.