John Dudley
Rests
RESTS FOR
THE WICKED
In this second instalment John
Dudley looks at how to adjust your
chosen rest for the best results
L
ast issue we talked about selecting the proper arrow rest, looking
specifically at the launcher style and
fall away arrow rests. We covered the
pros and cons of the arrow rest selection and
discussed what kind of rest to select. Many
people have trouble sifting through all the
marketing hype to decide what is best for
them, so hopefully that helped you determine
which rest is best for you. In part two, I want
to go in to detail on how to adjust that rest
to set your arrow into perfect flight. This will
involve not only mounting your arrow rest in
the best starting position but also learning
how to adjust according to the reading you
are getting from the paper in front of you.
Plus I will give you some useful troubleshooting points to keep in mind when faced with
stubborn paper results.
John Dudley
with his paper
target
the bows that I have worked with this position is a great place to start. I have found that
by starting out with the arrow shaft running
parallel with the bottom of the button hole,
the pulling point of the loop will be directly in
line with the button hole. The pulling point of
the string is important because it affects the
steadiness of the bow at full draw. It’s also
important because the engineers that I have
worked with at leading bow companies all
design cam and nock travel geometry while
pulling from this position. If you pull the string
from above or below the button hole you
will change some of the dynamic forces of
the system.
So first start by mounting and adjusting
the arrow rest so that the bottom of the shaft
of the arrow you are using is in a 90° line with
the bottom of the button hole or rest mounting screw hole. If you decide to use the fall
away arrow rest then you would tie in your
rest cord to the power cables at this point.
After that I tie on the selected nock and loop
configuration that I prefer. There are several
options for loop and nocking point choices,
so to simplify things you can refer to issue 34
of Bow International or check out the article
at www.dudleyarchery.info. Personally I have
always found 90° to be a very good starting
point. Many bows work well in this position
if there is proper clearance and arrow selection, but again, it is only a starting point. After
fixing on the loop or nocking point I then set
the initial centre shot position of the arrow
Setting up the arrow rest
First let’s talk about the initial mounting and
set position of the arrow rest. As a rule of
thumb, I first like to mount my selected arrow
rest to the riser. Then I set the arrow rest in
a position that will allow the bottom of the
arrow shaft to run parallel with the bottom
of the Berger button hole. I set the rest in to
this general position before tying the nocking
point or loop on to the serving. For nearly all
The initial rest
setting with
the arrow in a
90° line with
the bottom
of the button
hole or rest
mounting screw
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Rests
rest. The present norm for this is to set it at
2cm from the inside of the riser to the centre
of the arrow shaft. Some bows may require a
different initial setting but for the Hoyt and
single cam bows I’ve shot in the past, 2cm
is a good starting point. From here I usually
decide to check my arrow flight by shooting
through paper.
John Dudley
The present
norm for the
initial centre
shot is to set
it at 2cm from
the inside of
the riser to the
centre of the
arrow shaft
Paper tuning
Before I get into the ‘how to’ of paper tuning
I want to make a statement. I personally don’t
consider paper tuning to be of the utmost
importance, as I believe it is just a starting
point and a good source of reassurance.
Paper tuning can help identify very obvious
problems and help in troubleshooting areas.
I have of course had many bows that shoot
perfect ‘bullet holes’ through paper and also
shoot perfect scores. But the best shooting
bows I have had over my career have not
always shot perfectly through paper. Regardless of how hard I tried, there were times that
I simply had to either decide on shooting
perfectly through paper or shooting perfectly
on the paper target. Since every tournament I
have shot scores only the paper target, that’s
been the most important to me – where the
arrows land.
The reason that paper tuning isn’t always
the cure-all is because from time to time an
arrow may take a little time to clean itself
up on arrow flight. There are myriad reasons
why, but that’s just how it is. Not everyone
is okay with hearing this because it’s been
ingrained in us that having that perfect ‘bullet hole’ through paper is what we need to
‘tune’ a bow. Besides the paper tuning I also
put a lot of time into walk back tuning, which
not only confirms the shooting up close but
also confirms what your results are at every
other distance. However, paper tuning does
have its place and we will start with it. I usually shoot though paper from about 3m away,
though I sometimes shoot at longer distances
Adjust the
rest to get
that perfect
bullet hole
as well when I’m happy with the results at
this range.
As you shoot through a piece of paper
your arrow will tear through the paper in a
direction specific to its path. When you look
at the arrow’s hole in the paper you should be
able to see the slashes that were made from
the fletching and also a hole from the point.
The basic idea behind paper tuning is to move
the arrow rest position so that the point of
the arrow and the fletching all go through the
paper in a perfect path, thus giving a bullet
hole, or simply a hole with the three fletch
cuts. If you are really lucky the initial rest setting we did earlier will give you a good paper
tear result, but if not then you will need to
move the rest to compensate and correct the
arrow’s path. Adjustment to the arrow rest is
most easily done with minimal changes and
that is why a micro-adjustment arrow rest is
a good choice.
Here are the simple rules of adjustment
for paper tuning:
• For the horizontal tears, you move the arrow
rest in the same direction that you want the
fletching of the arrow to go in. For example:
if the fletching tear is to the right of the point,
you would move the arrow rest to the left
because you want the fletching to go through
the paper in the same position as the point.
Likewise, if the fletching tear was to the left
of the point you would move the arrow rest
to the right.
• For the vertical tears you move the nocking
point in the direction you want the fletching
to go. For example: if you have a high paper
tear, or one that has the fletching tear above
the entry point, then you ultimately want the
fletching to be lower. So you would move the
nocking point down. However, moving the
nocking point is not very practical so instead
you can achieve the same thing by adjusting
your arrow rest up. Many people get confused
by this when checking paper tear. Just try to
remember: for the horizontal rest adjustment
you must go in the same direction as you
want the fletching to go, but for the vertical
tears you must adjust the rest in the same
direction you want the point to go.
Take a look at the photo of the paper tear.
My first arrow through the paper gave me a
high-left paper tear. To adjust this I moved the
arrow rest to the right and also up, as depicted in the arrow I drew on that tear. Moving to
the right means I want the fletching to move
to the right, and moving the rest up means
I want to raise my point towards the fletch.
After the adjustment I shot the arrow again.
In the second tear you can see that my horizontal adjustment was now perfect, but my
vertical adjustment was still slightly off – note
the small high tear. To adjust for this I raised
my arrow rest up slightly again – which is the
same as lowering the nocking point. Finally,
on the third arrow you can see the result is a
perfect bullet hole through paper.
There are a lot of variables that come
into play when paper tuning. Sometimes your
paper tears are consistent to one place
regardless of the adjustments you make to
the arrow rest. If that happens then most
likely there is another problem that you will
need to fix for the arrow to respond to the
adjustments that you are making. The following are some common troubleshooting tips
for this problem.
High paper tears
• An arrow spine that is too weak will often
result in constant high paper tears. To correct: lower the peak weight; use a lighter tip
weight; use vinyl crest wrap; or use a heavier
spine arrow.
• Launcher blades that are too stiff will give
constant high paper tears. To correct: try
using lighter blade stiffness or lower the blade
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Use an old
lipstick or
powdered foot
spray to check
the fletching
clearance
angle, thus weakening the blade.
• Poor fletching clearance will probably result
in a high bounce off the arrow rest, leading
to a high tear. To correct: check the clearance
using powdered foot spray or lipstick. On the
launcher blade rest, the blade angle can also
greatly affect clearance. Lowering the blade
increases clearance.
Low paper tear
• An arrow that is too stiff will give lower
tears regardless of rest placement. To correct:
increase peak weight, increase point weight
or use a weaker spine arrow.
• Launcher blades that are too weak will also
often give low tears or inconsistent up and
down tears. To correct: use a stiffer blade or
increase the blade angle.
• Having a centre serving that fits too tightly
to the arrow nock can cause the arrow to pull
down when it is shot. It is important to have
an arrow nock/serving fit that is not too tight.
An arrow’s nock should be able to come off
a centre serving cleanly before it travels any
more than 1.5cm from a brace position.
Left-right paper tears
• Left and right tears that won’t correct them-
John Dudley
Rests
selves are usually due to hand position or riser
torque. Focus on a torque-free grip with the
hand in a neutral position on the handle.
• Tears that don’t change can also be related
to poor clearance. Often if there is contact
between the arrow rest and the fletching it
can result in both porpoising and fishtailing.
Again, use foot spray to help locate the clearance problem area and make the necessary
adjustment.
• If the archer has a lot of facial contact with
the string or comes into contact with the arm
while shooting, it can have a big affect on the
left-right tune. Keep string pressure very light
to the face and do not shoot in a way that you
hit your front arm.
Once you have got a paper tear result
that you are happy with you can move on to
making sure your groups are equally good at
every distance. When it comes to the arrow
rest set-up this is all you need to know. In the
past I have written articles on conquering the
HIL and on French tuning, so you might also
want to read those to take your tuning further.
I can promise that if you combine all these
methods there is no better set-up. The more
you can do yourself, the better able you will be
to identify what is holding you back.
For more information: www.dudleyarchery.info
Facial pressure can cause fishtailing
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