Fast Flight Bowstrings vs Vintage Bows

Q

"I have a question if you have a second.

That [vintage Black Hawk Scorpion] bow I sent pics of. My buddy Forrest made me a string for free but its ff [fast flight]. Will that hurt it?

- Parker S."

The bow in question, a Black Hawk Scorpion:

A

Hey Parker!

Risky. I wouldn't use fast flight on any of my vintage bows.

It was good you asked before trying it. Would be a real shame to see a Black Hawk ruined.

So weird thing... you know how bowstrings are usually 14 or 16 strands, right? So if people really want their bow to shoot faster they can also just make a bowstring that is 10 or 12 strands instead. The weight reduction on the bow string is what makes fast flight string faster, but other strings can do the same thing, you just have to use less of it. It does lower the life expectancy of the bowstring because it is then less durable, but if speed is what the person wants then it doesn't matter.

 

The downside of fast flight string is that it tends to damage bows by cutting into the wood / fibreglass. A friend of mine once experimented with making a bowstring made out of fishing line, which turned out to be a very idea. Even worse than FF judging by the amount of damage it did.

Parker: Ok thank you. I think he just wasn't thinking about it when he made it. What should I use? B50?

Yep.

Also if you ever get into making your own bowstrings, expect the first 5 to be horrible but usable. By the time you make #10 you will be probably be happy with their quality. It is a fast learning curve.

Parker: Ok thank you very much.

Funny Archery Shirt

Okay so maybe it isn't "Haha Funny!", but I still enjoyed it. Archery humour sometimes has a pretty low bar for what we consider to be funny.

And if you don't get the joke, it is because archery is really difficult.

On a scale of difficulty I had a science teacher who explained how different kinds of science is considered more difficult.

1 - Chemistry. Pretty easy.
2 - Physics and Engineering. Twice as hard.
3 - Rocket Science and Orbital Mechanics. Four times harder, because you have to balance the weight of the rocket with the weight of the fuel, the thrust the fuel actually produces, the orbital velocity, the reentry velocity and angle... it gets super complicated in a hurry.
4 - Quantum Physics. Imagine trying to hit an electron traveling at the speed of light with a photon that is also traveling at the speed of light, while on a planet that is rotating at 460 meters per second and orbiting the sun at 30 km per second... and trying to determine where an electron will be at any given moment... theoretically. Yeah, have fun with that.
5 - Archery. Basically impossible to get perfect 100% of the time. There are too many unknown factors that you cannot account for all of them.

Yep, archery is hard.

This is why it is so challenging, but also so very fulfilling. You are constantly chasing perfection, but the realization that you will never achieve perfection. Sure, you get a bullseye once in awhile, more often if you take archery lessons and practice often, but the enjoyment of hitting the target is spliced with the enjoyment in the knowledge that you are getting better. Becoming a better archer, and hopefully closer to that perfection you seek.

Ideally you might even become a better person too, which is a nice bonus. Humbled by the beauty of the universe.

The Traditional Bowyers Bible - Volume I

On a side topic related to archery, for those people who are thinking of making their own bow or their own arrows, I recommend reading the following book:

The Traditional Bowyers Bible - Volume I

The good news is that book isn't that hard to find. You can get it at Basically Bows (Gary's shop at 940 Queen Street East), or you can purchase it on Amazon.

Or you download an epub version of it online for free.

If you are really serious about making your own bows and arrows I can also recommend a local bowyer who teaches bowmaking. I took a course with him years ago before I got married and it was invaluable.

Or alternatively, if books are more your thing, there are also Volumes II, III and IV of the Traditional Bowyer's Bible to check out.

I purchased all 4 books years ago from Gary's shop and they have been a valuable resource both for own bowmaking and also as a source of research for my fiction writing (which features archery frequently).

Win Two Archery Lessons from Cardio Trek

Hey Toronto!

So one of my archery students has run into a scheduling snafu. His boss has decided to give him a lot of overtime, even on weekends, and this has cut into his ability to practice archery / take archery lessons in Toronto.

Rather than have his archery lessons go to waste however he has asked me to donate them to a worthy student who needs help. So he purchased 10 archery lessons, got to use 8 of them, and had 2 lessons remaining.

So that is two archery lessons up for grabs. The value of the lessons is $120 CDN, and not redeemable for cash.

But how do I decide who is worthy? How do I tell who REALLY wants the two archery lessons?

What if I had some sort of contest, or a draw, or maybe a combination of the two?

I am thinking a combination of both a contest/draw. So how would that work?

Well, I am going to make it a social media contest, and the number of entries determines how many times a person's name is put into the draw.

How to Win Two Archery Lessons from Cardio Trek

1. If you want to enter your name in the draw the first thing you have to do is post an archery themed image on a social media account (Twitter, Instagram, your blog/website, etc) and include a link to www.cardiotrek.ca/p/archery-lessons.html

2. The site must be publicly accessible by non-members so that I can view it and confirm the archery image and link exists without needing to join/login. eg. If you post the link on a private Facebook account or a private group I cannot see then it doesn't count.

3. Then you need to email me via cardiotrek@gmail.com and include the link(s) in your email to where you posted on social media platforms to be included in the draw.

If you have any questions about this contest or cannot wait to book your archery lessons, simply email me. You can always just book your archery lessons and then maybe win extra archery lessons. That works too, right?

The contest is also open to former students who want more archery lessons, so that is certainly an option too.

4. For each time you posted on a different social media account your name will be included multiple times in the draw, using the following system:

1. Posted once on social media = 1 copy of your name in the draw.
2. Post twice = 3 copies in the draw.
3. Post thrice = 5 copies in the draw.
4. Post four times = 7 copies in the draw.
5. Post 5 times = 9 copies in the draw.
6. Post 6 times = 11 copies in the draw.
7. Etc. The formula is X + (X-1) = D. Or X2 - 1 = D. Whichever. This system rewards the people who put the most effort in to the process, while still giving the person who did one Twitter post a chance.

So for example if you post on 10 different accounts your name is included in the draw 19 times. Remember - Posting on the same social media account multiple times gets you nothing extra. It only counts if you do it on multiple different social media platforms.

5. The winner will be randomly chosen from a hat (my brown Ducks Unlimited Hat) on May 28th (after the May 2-4 Long Weekend) by my toddler son Richard. I will record the draw on my cellphone, mostly because Richard is a toddler and very cute. So it is rather mandatory that when he is doing something adorable that he is being recorded. :)

6. Everyone who enters the contest automatically gets 10% off the purchase of one archery lesson. So even if you don't win you can still sign up for archery lessons and get a discount. Note - This is not cumulative with my Seniors Discount or my Veterans Discount. You can only get 1 discount at a time.

7. If you win the contest you can also choose to give your archery lessons away to a friend using one of my Gift Vouchers.

Doing my Income Taxes / Veterans Discount

So I am doing my income taxes today and looking at my records for 2018.

And sometimes I come across some weird numbers, which I realize are either due to the Seniors Discount or I was offering some kind of sale at the time.

I also realized that, overall, offering a Seniors Discount doesn't really cost me much, but it sure is a highlight when it comes to teaching archery. Teaching archery to seniors is very enjoyable and it gives me a whole fresh perspective on the sport when conversing with such enthusiastic students who are really there because they love the sport so much.

I have been offering a 10% seniors discount for years now and I plan to continue to offer the discount.

I have also considered offering a Veterans discount, for anyone who has served in the Canadian military - with proof of your military service, such as a Veterans card. It wouldn't take much convincing to get me to offer that, so I really should make it official. Lets do that right now. From now on Canadian Veterans (with proof of service such as a Canadian Armed Forces veterans card) get a 10% discount.

Who gives their kid the first name Jones? That is clearly a last name.

Note - The 10% discount is only applied once. If you are both a senior and a veteran you only get the one discount.

And for fun, check out the photo below of someone in 1965 using dynamite on the end of an arrow to destroy ice jams on a river. Because hey, why not. Sure hope the archer didn't hurt himself.