Best recurve bow guide

Tuning Your Recurve Bow Part #1

Before you get started, make sure that all the items youll be using on your recurve
bow are instaled things like stabilizers, bow sight, string, quiver, and so on. You
want your bow to be as complete as possible because whenever you introduce a
new component you will likely need to make some tuning adjustments. This is a
critical step that in my experience is often overlooked by archers, particularly those
who are only experienced with a crossbow (which typically require very minimal
tuning, if any).

Our first step is making sure that all the parts of your bow are properly installed.
Lets start with the nocking point.
Perfect Nocking Point Location

Make sure to purchase a nocking point with your bow as they usually dont come
with the package, unless you are buying an entire recurve bow set with arrows and
everything included. When installing the point, make sure it is positioned
approximately half an inch above square.

Square refers to the imaginary line that extends from the surface of your arrow rest
and forms a 90 degree angle with the bow string when in its lose position. You can
use a T-square device to measure that precisely, though it can be done with just the
arrow if you take your time and do things accurately. See image below:
See that red vertical line that I drew? You want to place your nocking point 0.5
above it. You may need to adjust this ever so slightly, but well get to that later in
the tuning process.

At this point its worth mentioning that the nock on your arrow should have a proper
fit for the nock point on your string. As a rule of thumb, you want the fit to be tight
enough so that the arrow can hang freely from the string, with the nock/nock point
being perfectly capable of supporting the arrows weight. At the same time, the
arrow should be able to disengage if the string is given a strong tap (with your hand)
a few inches away from the nock.

Dont let this distract you; many people spend months upon months researching the
perfect arrows before they actually buy their recurve. Yes, the type of arrows you
use is really important. But it is also certain that no amount of research you do will
actually help you choose the perfect arrows for your bow; only practice and time
will help you determine that, as you will never know what the ideal arrows are
before you get to intimately understand the behavior of your particular bow. So my
advice is to simply get one or two different types of quality arrows, try them out
with your recurve bow, see how accurate they are, and then try to improve from
there once you gain some practical experience. Any other approach is just a waste
of your time.
Micro-Tune The Brace Height

By brace height we simply mean the distance between the deepest part of the bow
riser, and the string in its loose position.

The vast majority of recurve bows have a brace height somewhere between 7.5 and
9.75 inches. The brace height of your bow will dictate some of its behaviors, such
as how loud it shoots and how much pivoting your arrow will experience mid-air.
On most recurves youll be able to adjust the brace height by up to 1/2 in both
directions (either increase it or decrease it). How do you do that?

By twisting the string as you string your bow. The more twists you add at the tip of
the string, the more more flexed it becomes, hence pulling the limb tips slightly
away from the riser and increasing brace height. Similarly, if you want to decrease
the brace height, you will reduce the number of twists on the string. The instruction
manual that came with your recurve bow will include the manufacturers
recommendation as to an acceptable brace height range.

Your goal is to twist and untwist the bow string until you reach a brace height that
results in the least noise and vibration when an arrow is shot. Its a good idea to ask
someone to stand next to you and tell you when the bow is being the most quiet, as
it can be difficult for the archer shooting the bow to judge this properly due to very
close proximity to the string.

Step by step:

Simply string your bow, measure the brace height using a ruler, shoot 10 or so
arrows, then adjust the brace height by 1/8 of an inch up or down by adding or
removing a few twists. Make sure to measure the exact brace height after every
change made, note it down, and assign each setting a subjective noise rating based
on how loud it tends to be when shooting the arrows. At this point dont worry too
much about your shooting accuracy.

Once youve found the ideal brace height (which will differ depending on your bow,
string materials, and type of arrows youre shooting), its best to write the exact
height in inches onto the inside of the limbs of your bow, using a permanent marker.
This is a very important value and you want to always have it available on hand.
Note: ideal brace height varies from bow model to another, and can even vary
slightly across two different bows of the same make and model. You should
therefore never rely on another persons suggestion regarding the brace height to
use, and always follow the procedure above to determine the appropriate height for
your setup.

Tuning Your Recurve Bow Part #2

In Part #1 of our guide you learned how to properly install your nocking point,
micro-tune your brace height, and find the balanced limb center on your recurve
bow all of these are important steps to take before you actually begin tuning your
equipment. Now, lets continue.
Centering Your Arrows

As you release the bow string from your fingers, the arrow will tend to wiggle to
the left and right as it clears the arrow rest. This is what causes archers paradox,
and it can be clearly seen in action on the 11 second slow-motion video below:

Our goal when centering the arrows is to kind of make up for this bending motion
that occurs on release of the string. Otherwise our arrow would land too far to the
side of where we were actually aiming, even if we had the arrow point or sight
aligned for the bulls-eye perfectly.

To center your arrows, you will need to adjust the cushion plunger or your bows
arrow rest assembly, so that when you draw the bow, the precise center of the arrow
point is positioned around 1/12th to 1/8th of an inch to the outside of the string,
when looking at it from directly behind the string itself. Take a look at the artistic
image I drew below:
Assume that the image above represents what you see as you draw your bow, and
if you were to look from precisely behind the string. The red line represents the
string, the black line is the arrow rest, and the little green line is the point of your
arrow. See how that point protrudes slightly (1/10) to the outside of the string? It
isnt positioned 100% perpendicular to the string, otherwise the tip of the arrow
would not have been visible from this angle (the string would have obstructed our
view of the arrow point). Here is another view:

The image above shows what we would see if looking at a drawn bow from an
overhead view. The red dot is the tip of the string (I couldnt figure out how to
represent that, other than with a small dot), the green line is the arrow pointed at the
target, and the black line is the arrow rest. On the image labeled wrong you can
see that the arrow is perpendicular to the string. On the right image though, the
arrow tip is pointing a little bit to the left (the outside on a right-handed bow; for
a left-handed bow, it would need to point out to the right) of the string.
This concept can be a little difficult to explain in text or even on video. If its still
unclear, please take a moment and try to imagine yourself holding a recurve bow
and then look at the images above again and see if you can visualize what Im
talking about. It usually helps. Your goal is to adjust the rests side loading
attachment or the plunger (if you have one) so that the arrow is positioned 1/10 to
the outside of the string.

Tuning Your Recurve Bow Part #3

In Part 2 of our recurve tuning guide you learned how to properly center the arrows
for your recurve bow. This article is a direct continuation, so please make sure to
read the previous parts before you read this one.
Bare Shaft Accuracy Testing

Now that you have the nocking point installed properly, the right brace height
determined, and your arrows centered, we need to take a look at how your arrows
are flying and how they hit the target to determine if further tuning is necessary,
and if you should get different arrows for optimal performance with your setup.

To do that, you will need a few fletched arrows, as well as few bare shafts the
arrows without the fletchings. You can get some cheap bare shafts online, or you
can just get regular arrows and remove the fletchings manually, thereby making
yourself a bare shaft.
Porpoising

This is the first thing well be looking for. Porpoising happens when the arrow
alternates between rising and submerging relative to its intended flight path. The
image below demonstrates this in action:
Its called porpoising because the arrow behaves mid-flight almost like a porpoise
(a mammal from the dolphin/whale family) does in water. If your arrow behaves as
shown on the image above, this means that the location of your nocking point needs
adjusting. Here is how to carry out the bare shaft test to solve this issue.

Step one: place a target 20 yards away and, aiming for a certain location, shoot two
or three fletched arrows.

Step two: standing at the exact same distance from your target and aiming for
exactly the same location as before, shoot two or three unfletched (bare shaft)
arrows.

Now approach the target and take note of where your arrows landed exactly. There
are two things to consider:

If the bare shafts landed higher than the fletched arrows on the target, this means
your nocking point is installed too low on the string. You will need to move the
nocking point a little higher (start with 1/8), and then repeat the two-step bare shaft
test described above. Keep adjusting the height of your nocking point and testing
until both your fletched and un-fletched arrows land at exactly the same height on
the target.
If the bare shafts landed lower than the fletched arrows, then the nocking point
is positioned too high, and you will need to move it down the bowstring until both
your fletched and un-fletched arrows land at exactly the same height on the target.
For this test to work, it is imperative that you always aim for the exact same spot
when shooting the fletched arrows and the bare shafts; that you stand at precisely
the same distance from your target each time you shoot; and that you use the exact
same draw/aim/release technique.
The goal is to make sure both the fletched arrows and the bare shafts (unfletched
arrows) land at exactly the same horizontal plane.

Below are images illustrating the above:

Important Note: at this point, you do not need to worry about both your fletched
arrows and bare shafts landing right next to each other. You simply want both of
them to land in the same horizontal plane, as this will mean you have successfully
tuned your bow to avoid porpoising. For both fletched and unfletched arrows to
land right next to each other, however, you also need to make sure that they are not
fishtailing.
Fishtailing

Fishtailing is kind of the opposite of porpoising, where rather than the arrow dipping
up and down mid-flight, it will turn right and left. The image below illustrates this
(pay attention to image caption):
To diagnose and fix fishtailing, do the following:

Step one: as before, place a target 20 yards away, aim for a specific location and
shoot two or three fletched arrows.

Step two: using the exact same distance and aiming for the exact same spot on the
target, shoot two or three unfletched (bare shaft) arrows.

Approach the target and take a look at where your arrows landed.

#1: If bare shafts hit the target noticeably to the left of the fletched arrows, it means
your arrows have a stiff spine. Do one of the following, depending on your options:

Reduce the tension on the plunger spring or move the rest assembly closer to the
riser, thereby re-centering your arrows and moving the arrow points closer to the
string.
If your do not have a plunger or a rest assembly, you can address the issue by
using heavier arrow points than what you are using. Say if yours are 100 grain, you
can try 125 grain.
Try increasing the brace height a little and see if that helps.
If none of the above options seem to help, it likely means that you need to get
arrow shafts with less spine/stiffness than your current ones.
#2: If your bare shafts hit the target noticeably to the right of where the fletched
arrows impacted, it means your arrows have a weak spine. Do the reverse of what
you did above:

Increase the tension on the plunger or move the rest assembly further from the
riser so as to re-center your arrows and move the arrow points further away from
the string.
If the above is not possible, get slightly lighter arrow tips and see if that helps.
See if decreasing the brace height of your bow by 1/8 2/8 will help.
If none of the above tweaks help despite your efforts, it means that you must get
new arrow shafts with more spine/stiffness than what you have right now.

Please note: I created the images below assuming that you are using a right-handed
bow. If youre a leftie, everything will be reversed; unfletched arrows landing too
far to the left will indicate weak arrow spines, while unfletched arrows landing too
far to the right will indicate a stiff spine.

The goal at this point is to make sure that your arrows land as close to each other as
possible, by making the necessary tuning adjustments and changes as described
above.
Tuning Your Recurve Bow Part #4

In part 3 of our recurve tuning guide, you learned how to conduct the bare shaft test
for figuring out proper arrow spine and alignment. Today, well be discussing a
very important aspect of any bow tuning regimen.
Proper Clearance

Clearance refers to the arrows capability to clear the bow without the fletchings
on the arrow making direct contact with the bow. Improper clearance significantly
reduces shooting accuracy and results in poorer arrow grouping, so its very
important that we address it.

First, were going to need to determine if and where clearance issues are occurring.
To do that, you will need one of the following:

Dry foot powder (for Athletes foot); a good and cheap brand is Dactarin.
Talc
Dry deodorant (the kind that leaves annoying white stains on your clothes)

Try not to use dry foot powder in a can, as the layer of powder it creates is way too
thick, making it useless for our clearance test and also annoyingly difficult to wash
off. What were going for here is a substance that will stick firmly to your bow and
arrow (more on this in a moment), though not so firmly that no trace would be
created if you were to glide your finger across the substance. The substance also
needs to be clearly visible to the eye (non-transparent).

Say you decide to go for the dry deodorant. You will want to apply a generous layer
to the following areas:

The part of the arrow shaft between the nock and the fletchings (though not the
nock itself as this wont help)
The fletchings
 Two inches of the arrow shaft below the fletchings
Arrow rest

Now go ahead and shoot a fletched arrow, while being careful not to disturb or
touch the layers of substance you applied when drawing, aiming and shooting.
Release the arrow, but make sure you are aiming at a hefty-enough target thats
capable of stopping your arrow without the fletchings digging into it. The next step
is examining whether there are any visible markings that have appeared on the layer
of dry deodorant.

The most common problem is arrow fletchings not clearing the rest properly.
This will be clearly identifiable thanks to the skid marks on the rest and the
fletchings themselves. To fix this, begin rotating the nock on your arrow in the
smallest increments possible, making sure to re-do the test after each nock
adjustment. Repeat this as many times as possible until the fletchings achieve
proper clearance.
If the above doesnt help, you should try some lower profile fletchings, such as
the parabolics.
Make sure that youve completed the bare shaft test, and particularly that youve
fixed any porpoising issues you might have had, as an incorrectly installed nocking
point can reduce the fletchings capacity to clear the arrow rest.
As a last resort, try and re-center your arrows so that the arrow point becomes
positioned even further to the outside of the bowstring. This will likely cause the
arrows to fly a little stiffer, however thats better than shooting an arrow that does
not clear the rest properly.

What If Nothing Works?

While the above will solve clearance problems in the vast majority of cases,
sometimes nothing seems to work. In which case, the most important thing to ask
yourself is this: is the fletchings inability to properly clear the bow having a
negative impact on my shooting experience?
Sometimes its easy to get caught up trying to fine-tune everything to absolute
perfection, and this can make us forget the real reason were doing it so that we
can shoot more accurately and have more fun while doing it. There are cases were
theory seems to be screaming This Should Not Work! but for some reason it does
work, and works just fine. So just because you notice smudges on the dry deodorant
does not always mean that your accuracy will be affected; if you are consistently
shooting tight groups at 30, 40, 50, 60, or whatever other distances you think you
should be doing fine at, then it means your bow setup is tuned just fine (though
theoreticians will disagree of course :).

If despite all of the above you still feel that youre not getting the most out of your
bow and you strongly believe it is a clearance issue, please leave us a comment
below describing the type of tuning youve done so far, and well do our best to
help (we monitor comments daily).