Shall I modify my arrow shelf

[Odie]

Hi,

I have a longbow that has an arrow shelf like this (see photo).
In my opinion this particular handle is not a very succesfull design, as it is difficult to achieve consistent arrow placement.
I was thinking of tinkering a little bit with that handle and cutting out the shelf a little bit more (I do not want to cut into the handle any deeper, than the current deepest point of the sight window).

I want to shoot the bow off the shelf, and add a small arrow rest made of wooden match or something like that (so as to have the arrow as close to the hand as possible).

If I understand correctly what I read on the net, the pivot point is loceted at the very face of the handle (straight grip).

My question is:
Shall I make a flat shelf or maybe a shelf that slopes gently down, from the belly/face towards the back?

Do you have ny other remarks, about what I should pay attention to etc?

I definitely do not want to damage the bow :)

Handle photos (for some reason I could not upload them as attachements here):
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h64/Odie11/dscf0003s.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h64/Odie11/dscf0004s.jpg

Cheers and Thx for feedback

[dwalk]

i would at least 'flatten' it to put some sort of rest/plate on it.

[edmott]

right angle the shelf -- you need that surface.

[Odie]

OK, I have another question conc. the side of the sight window (its angle to the vertical plane od the bow center line).

Since the bow will not still be a centershot after the modification, if I make the side plate parallel with the plane of the bow the arrow will touch the side plate at ONE point only (at the face of the bow). Is this desirable?

Or perhaps I should model the side of the window (or the strike plate only), in such a way that is has some angle in relation to the bow plane, so that when the arrow is on the shelf, it touches the WHOLE side plate at once?

Hope I am making myself clear. I do not know much about woodworking, but my brother does, and I have to explain it to him clearly what I want to achieve.

Cheers

[dwalk]

don't go too far past center ... and yes you can adjust by gluing an arrow plate in the sight window after you make your final cut.

remember, the original english longbow was NOT cut away for arrow passage. a bow like that is more finicky in arrow spine selection due to the paradaox. a bow that is cut to/over center can actually shoot a larger selection of different spined arrows as its not as finicky due to less paradox.

:cheers:

[dkicker]

could someone modify a longbow to put in a shelf if it dosen't have one to begin with?

[Floxter]

dkicker, most bows without a shelf also have a very narrow riser. As a consequence you're probably better building up a shelf on the outside of the riser, rather than cutting in a riser. Too much cutting and you'll seriously weaken the riser.

[dkicker]

what kind of glue works best for that? I doubt elmer's wood glue would do it.

[Floxter]

You could build up a shelf simply by glueing together pieces of heavy leather together to the side of the riser and wrapping the whole affair with a grip wrap. That's the way they used to do it when shelves first appeared on bows. Barge cement will do the job. It's available in most hardware stores or from 3Rivers Archery. You could also just go with a simple stick-on arrow rest and avoid a shelf all together.