Is my Herters IBO legal? Sounds like it isn't.

"The shelf may not be built up in a manner that will give the archer an advantage in terms of feather or vane clearance. The intent is that the shelf meets the side of the riser (strike plate) so the built-up shelf may not be a pyramid that provides clearance and separation from the bow riser."

I don't know where your copy of the "rules" came from. Here's what the IBO says for the Traditional (TRD) class regarding the shelf.

"The shelf may be built up and the side plate may be built out with a hard material that has a minimal consistency of wood. The shelf and side plate may be covered with a softer material that is no thicker than 1/8 inch. TRD archers will shoot from the orange stake."

IMO, if that raised rest on the CD risers is legal, your's is.

Here's the entire guidelines for the TRD class. Copy and pasted from their website:

"Traditional (TRD) A recurve or longbow shot with fingers directly contacting the bowstring using a glove, finger tab, or bare fingers. Archers may use up to two (2) nock locating devices, but they must use the same nocking point and anchor point for each shot and the index finger must contact the string in the same place for each shot. The index finger must touch the nock of the arrow. Face and/or string walking are not permitted. No sighting device of any kind may be used. There shall be no markings on the bow or bowstring (intentional or accidental) that could be construed as sighting marks. No type of draw check or clicker may be used. All arrows must be the same length and weight. Aluminum or carbon arrows must have screw-in field points; wood arrows may have glueon points. All arrows must have at least three (3) feathers or vanes no less than four (4) inches long. No stabilizers, counterbalances, or weights of any kind may be attached or built into the bow, except a quiver clearly designed to hold arrows. Arrows shall be shot off the hand or shelf of the riser only. An arrow side plate (if used) may only extend one (1) inch above the arrow. The shelf may be built up and the side plate may be built out with a hard material that has a minimal consistency of wood. The shelf and side plate may be covered with a softer material that is no thicker than 1/8 inch. TRD archers will shoot from the orange stake."

It was here: http://www.ibo.net/traditionalrules

I enjoy shooting this bow so it would be fun

What you pasted is from the longbow classes, not recurve.

Ah! Good

So based on the 1/8 inch material, a feather rest would not be legal, but a rug rest would?

Sounds like it would have to be a mighty short feather rest.

Yup

So you can do this?

As long as the side plate doesn't have a spring (plunger-type) or cushion built in, yes.

I settled for the "old" Martin adjustable side plate for my 23" Hoyt Nexus riser.

The main detail with JSD's bow seems to be constructed from material left over from forming the riser. That material, or the WF riser are not "built up". The process was reductive.

How about a string suppressor?..... not talking the launcher rest or the stab/stand.... just the string suppressor itself, I didn't see anything not allowing one....

That picture is not Ok in Trad but is Ok in the RU class , if they were only an 1/8 thick they would be Ok in Trad LOL

My furniture pads are right at 1/8" thick. But you could also get into a 'what is soft material' discussion too...the pads I have are really stiff. But you can fluff it up on the surface a little.

JSD,

As I understand the rule, it doesn't matter if the material is "soft" as long as it's no more than 1/8" thick and is on a rigid platform.

Kevin, you rascal. You do have a way of throwing a wrench in the cog sometimes. :^)

Calvin,

If you're still watching this thread, is the old Martin side plate I posted on my Nexus okay?

K, only the build up has to touch not the 1/8 pads ! Jim if the side plate came all the way down to the shelf it would be. adjustable side plate is ok it just needs to touch the shelf and be solid. they are not overly picky as long as there is no big gap on the hard part, the 1/8 in pads do not need to touch. I hope I said this so everyone understands . LOL

John that Herter's is OK !! It's fine

Any restrictions on a wrist strap? No stabilizer

Don , No you can use just about anything as long as it doesn't look like your trying to add weight to the front of the bow. VooDoo while it doesn't say anything about that, someone would call that a back bar . That would be a ask when your there and see what they say. I personally would not see it that way but I'm not in charge of anything they do . LOL

Well the guy that made the rule, clarified it to me cause his bow was set up that way, cause I called him on it ! LOL

Thanks Calvin, the "bar" that mounts the supressor is a hollow fiberglass tent pole, it was an experiment to decrease the vibrations only as my neck has been broken 3 times and it does calm those vibrations down to a tolerable level for me.... I will ask as the TAS worlds will be here next week and I'd sure like to use it there....

Voodoo I'm not sure that TAS cares and as long as it's not a piece of steel, not sure why they would. But you never know, show, ask, and explain why. see what they say. Cal

A feather rest can be put right against the side plate. So why would that not be okay?

It was just so much easier in the 60's. And then Bill Pierce (former owner of Proline) showed up at a tournament wearing golf shoes. lol

X2 George St wrote.

Yeah Kevin. Some rules are silly when looked at from vintage eyes, but they are rules no matter what the purpose was. Feather rests were used in the 50's on bows, and those setups would not be considered traditional in IBO's words, but ILF bows with adjustable side plates are. Okay then. 8^)

The PSAA isn't much different when it comes to a "traditional class." Someones idea of what it's supposed to be isn't what it used to be. We just have to adapt if we want to compete. As an old fart plus class, I just have to choose my poison accordingly, but I can compete in several classes with just the change of material pretty much. Maybe we could make it interesting and have a Vintage class, where bows prior to say 1975 would qualify, and period arrows, etc.

George, as long as it was only 1/8 high I would think that you could. But that's only my take on it. LOL and one of them don't think much of my opinion ! LOL

I just picked up a 1961 herters with same shelf.

Its not whats considered Trad George, plenty of guys have opinions on that. Its rules that can easily be controlled. Im sure there were rest and sights back then as well, yet they arent allowed in the trad class.

Kinda what I'm talking about Kenn1320. Max Hamilton won the 1952 Nationals with an elevated rest and plastic vanes. History is meaningless to some folks. It is what it is though.

Seems to be based on an old idea, as widely promoted by the likes of Ken at Black widow, that you can get better performance out of a shoot through system. But current thinking seems to prefer the idea the arrow or fletching isn't anywhere near the rest as it goes through. And that one can even shoot arrows with the fletches in pretty much any orientation.

So basically if the current thinking is that the slot doesn't help, why worry if you can't have it?

"Its not whats considered Trad George, plenty of guys have opinions on that. Its rules that can easily be controlled. Im sure there were rest and sights back then as well, yet they arent allowed in the trad class."

For two reasons:

1) despite the "If I keep repeating it, it will become true" folks here. Trad was never about old, or preexisting.

2a) Rules in sports don't determine reality. So they have rules on things like longbows that have nothing to do with longbows. They were just there to plug holes in the wall that appear from time to time.

2b) Unless you have an organization like they have in golf that is devoted to preserving the traditional character of the sport across the board. But if anything we have the exact opposite as the entities in archery are run by the clowns with the manufacturers. Profit is their only concern. And that isn't bad, but don't expect it to conform to anyone's cherished ideas if it gets in the way of money.

This thread got me to thinking. I shoot a 600 tournament at my local archery club that was a qualifer for the PSAA shoot in Harrisburg, last weekend. Im not a member of the PSAA so my score did not count. One of the officers in the club wanted me to join and go to Harrisburg representing our club, as im the only recurve shooting member. So, i read uP PSAA's rules. Recurve max. length 64"amo. My two target bows are 68", vintage target bows from 60's and 70's. Good ones too! Solid color string. Mine are two color. The rest is moot. I can fix the string thing but not length. I enjoy shooting these older target bows! Like George Stout said...a vintage bow class for us old farts.

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