How long is too long?

[Phoenix Rising]

Been shooting the longbow today and I have found that I am more accurate if I hold my draw for perhaps five seconds before loosing it. Just a curious point but with the ELB how long should an archer stay at full draw, given the energy dissipation in the limbs?

Andy

[Dreadnaught]

If you hold a longbow at full draw for more than 2 seconds you are ruining it, the wood will take a set and power and cast will fall off rapidly.

[English Bowman]

The longer you hold a longbow at full draw the shorter it's life will be. I don't think that there is a hard and fast rule (although Dreadnaught's advice is good.) but you must be consistent. As Dreadnaught says the power of the bow drops off the longer you hold it, so if you hold one shot for 2 seconds, then shoot the next one exactly the same, but hold for 4 seconds the second arrow will drop lower than the first, so the ideal is to hold for just long enough to make sure that you are on aim, and then loose.

[WuW]

I seem to find the same even though I use an AFB, the longer I try to hold it the worse things get! I see from Dreadnaught and English Bowman that for ELBs holding is bad, does any one know if the same can be said for a glass backed AFB?
All comments/thoughts will be gratefully recieved!!

[Dreadnaught]

Hi WuW
I don't know a definitive answer to your question but would suggest the more wood that there is in the limbs of a bow, the less stress its under the better for long life. If we think about recurve limbs (I had a set of Hoyt wood and glass limbs which were ancient and no apparent loss of performance) they are made to be held for ages but the maple in them isn't much thicker than veneers.
I was reading another thread on AIUK a few days ago where some recurve chaps were saying they left their bows strung for weeks on end with no apparent problems. Personally I would never do that but I am perhaps over cautious,and would not dream of telling them they are wrong

[Furface]

Originally Posted by WuW

... I see from Dreadnaught and English Bowman that for ELBs holding is bad...

That is an unfortunate way of putting it. As has been said, holding for too long can be detrimental. However, this is often taken to mean that any holding is bad, with the result that a large number of longbow archers effectively snap shoot. Two seconds is longer than you think. As above, a) hold long enough to have a settled aim and b) hold the same each time. 2 seconds should be long enough

[stonecold]

I saw a chap shooting at the NFAS scottish nationals and he must have held his longbow at full draw for 10-12 seconds before shooting, the group I was with were staring in amazement as none of us had ever seen a longbow held at full draw for so long ! He did have a spare bow with him that he carried round the course tho

[bogaman]

Russell French, acknowledged by most to be a top class target and clout longbow archer regularly holds his bow for at least five seconds, and often more. I would certainly not recommend this, but it works for him and since he makes his own bows I imagine he accepts the risk of bow failure. Two seconds between full draw and release should be adequate for accurate sighting.

Drawing and releasing a heavy EWBS bow requires a different technique. The 'slashing loose' is appropriate here and given that full draw is achieved that is how distance is obtained.

[not dead yet]

Originally Posted by bogaman

Russell French, acknowledged by most to be a top class target and clout longbow archer regularly holds his bow for at least five seconds, and often more. I would certainly not recommend this, but it works for him and since he makes his own bows I imagine he accepts the risk of bow failure. Two seconds between full draw and release should be adequate for accurate sighting.

Drawing and releasing a heavy EWBS bow requires a different technique. The 'slashing loose' is appropriate here and given that full draw is achieved that is how distance is obtained.

dave thomas also held his bow for about 5 secs or more.
dave and russel hold most of the british records for target
daves bow was a rod lyons of liverpool. he still has the record for fita and distances and that bow 75lb

[Dreadnaught]

Lets face it chaps, the real master was of course Roger Ascham (peace be upon him) and he is slightly vague about it and yet as always so correct. I quote.
"Holding must not be long,for it both putteth a bow in jeopardy, and also marreth a man's shot; it must be so little, that it may be perceived better in a man's mind when it is done, than seen with a man's eyes when it is in doing".
I think that sums it up quite eloquently.
Best regards
Dreadnaught.

[bogaman]

What record is it that Dave holds for distance ?. There have been prodigious distances shot by EWBS members. I would be surprised if these had been beaten. Are we talking of specific bow-weight maxima here ?.

[Del the Cat]

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

Hi WuW
but would suggest the more wood that there is in the limbs of a bow, the less stress its under the better for long life.

Sorry, but (IMHO) this is confusing, wrong or both.
If you said more width of wood then I'd agree with you.
The thicker the limb the more the stress, flex a piece of paper (v thin) it will not take a set, flex a piece of card and it will.
Stiffness is proportional to the cube of the thickness.
This is why we make bows wider but thiner when using poorer woods.
E.G A longbow made out of Hazel would chrysal and snap, yet a wide flat bow of Hazel will shoot quite sweetly.
Maybe one could say the longer the bow the less the stress, but these things don't really scale up, as, for the same draw length, the longer bow would curve less, but would need to be thicker to keep the draw weight up...
It's all a bit complex, for me it's the stave that determines the bow.
If I had the luxury of perfect 7' staves, maybe I'd have more choice in the matter.

so the ideal is to hold for just long enough to make sure that you are on aim, and then loose.
AIM???!!! I'm supposed to aim???
Del

[WuW]

Thanks guys. I shall use the two second rule-it has kept me safe through 19 years of motorcycling and now seems that it will serve me well in archery too! WuW

[steve58]

From watching people around this area the ones who hold briefly while the aim settles generally shoot higher scores than those who loose as soon as the string touches the chin (I can think of one exception though!)

Personal experience, I hold longer than people expect with a longbow and have not found that my bows have lost cast. 5 points off my first MB score on a FITA on bank holiday Monday, so it seems to work for me!