stacking (Page 1 of 2)

Hi Tawfiq,

That is very strange that you are getting that at 30".  Even with a regular-length bow, I can usually pull back to about 32" or so with no feeling of stacking.  Usually, the bows will reach a certain draw length and then just stop, but are smooth to draw up to that point.

T

Tawfig,
I've noticed that I can draw to the corner of my mouth using only my arm muscles, (about 29") I can draw further using arm muscle but it feels as if there is a solid wall I'm pulling against. If I let my back muscles kick in at this point it's smooth to anchor at my ear, 33".
On the up side if your knee itches you don't have to bend to scratch it

Tawfiq,

I have a few korean bows, Songmugung and Yeonmugung and I want to show you some pictures. This Yeonmugung bow is marked as 45# @ 28" but I weighted the bow and the scale shows 48# @ 28". When I draw this bow the limbs become almost parallel, but I feel the bow starts to stack only at 34.5", and the bow is the shortest model form Yeonmugung.

here is Ginni drawing his semi-hornbow from Songmugung, 74# @ 28"

also, here is my 66# @ 28" Yeonmugung, janggung- the longest version made by the bowyer, also can be drawn to 34", and the stacking feeling appears after 33"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5J1BGnh7VA

The weather is getting cold and the Hwarang becomes much harder to pull than during summer.  Ginni has the same experience.  What about others?

During summer, I could draw the long version of the 70-5#  YMG to 32".  Right now, the winter weather is making it very difficult to draw past 31"  Unfortunately, I do not have a bow weight scale.

That is very true with lower temperature they seem to be harder to open. I keep mine inside the house so when I go outside to shoot they are OK at the beginning but as soon as I take a short rest while they hang outside they seem to harden so now I bring them back in and put them near the radiator.

Actually with the real horn-sinew bows ( Manchurian and Hungarian) the hardening in winter feels much more radical so relatively carbon bows seem to be less affected.

There is of course another factor one should be wise not to  forget and that is with age our muscles and just about everything else get tired sooner, so some of the staking may be an excuse for old age.

Reasonable observation, but my original underlying point is that if one cannot be shooting at full aperture we will never be shooting the Korean bow correctly…and now that Korean archery is increasingly going international it would seem reasonable, and in their interest, for the manufactures to make some of their carbon bows a little longer for those extra long arms of some of their foreign clients. If now some of their bows come in “short”, “standard” and “long” sizes then why not encourage them to make the “extra long”? It would make some of us very happy.

Kaya has an extra extra long bow?  Is it in their catalogue?

hello ererybody,

I'm new to this forum and interested in traditional Korean bows.

I’m looking for a bow.  “longbow”, “mongol”,  “horsebow”,  ??  you tell me

Draw weight ~25lbs. at draw length  37 inches.  Is this possible?

my story:
I've been studing Kyudo for 3 years.  but I train with a traditional western club.
I would like to participate in some of their activities but the Japanese bow is not very apt.
I'm looking for a bow that will let me shoot without too many problems.
I want to continue with the oriental (thumb) style of shooting.

the draw weight must be light (25 lbs.) as I have a sholder  problem.

I live in Bourges, France
if there is anything else you need to know,  please ask.

thank you for your attention,
Bill Kleinsmith

Hi,
Bluelake mentions a " janggung"  and a "jang janggung " as being long versions.
is there an adderss where I can ask for the specs.?
thanks,
Bill bourges

Technically, "stacking" is the point where the bowstring exceeds an angle of 90 degrees from the end of the bow. That is one reason why recurves can be so much shorter than straight limbed bows and be comfortable to draw.  In the photo of Ginni above, you can see that, right at the tip, the string angle has started to exceed 90 degrees.  He must have felt a major increase in draw weight the last inch, but he is obviously a very powerful archer.  As bluelake says, for most of us it will feel like we have hit a wall.  On a force draw curve, the line goes almost vertical at this point.

Non-technically, "stacking" is defined as that point in the draw length where the weight seems to go up much, much faster than is typical for the draw.  Between 25 and 28 inches, a modern recurve or longbow will gain about 2lbs per inch.  Beyond that the rate might start increasing to 2.5 -3 lbs per inch, which might be noticeable but when it reaches about 4-6lbs per inch you will know it.  The tricky thing about long draws is that our bodies are much stronger beyond a Western draw to the corner of the mouth as we bring the back muscles fully into play.  This allows us to tolerate a fair bit of "stacking" as we draw past the jawbone.  Again, look at the photo of Ginni above and see how the muscles across the top of his back are developed and how his shoulder blades seem to be coming together.  He has trained himself to use all the muscles together when drawing and holding a bow.  While the bow was probably pulling over 90lbs at his draw length he appears perfectly relaxed.  In the video I've seen of him shooting, he makes it look easy....but we never do get to see his target 

That's my problem, the arrows go where THEY want, not where I want!