I am talking about a single piece laminated bow that is a 56" hybrid. I was considering filing and sanding the sight window down to increase the centershot. I want to see if it will make it a little less finicky with my minor shooting and give it a little more spine tolerance. I shoot wood arrows so they are a little less consistent in weight and spine than aluminums.

Your bow, yours to f*ck it up as you please. But if you have problems withe centershot while shooting woodies, learning how to pick the right spine for the bow weight and decent shot sequence should override this.

Bill -

Center shot relates to arrow spine, get the right arrow and you're done. I doubt cutting into the bow will help with forgiveness, but like D said, it's your bow.

Viper out.

Depends a lot on the bow and how much material is there to work with.

Has nobody out here in Leatherwall World ever done this?

Yeah I fully understand the comments about evaluating the spine. And yeah if my shooting was totally without flaw I wouldn't need any adjustments. And I don't NEED any. Just considering it as an option.

This is the least centershot of the five bows in my current inventory. I find this bow to be more finicky than my three other longbows that I shoot with any regularity.

Just curious if anyone has done this and if they were satisfied with what they did.

Make sure you look at how much wood is in the sight window down through the grip. They can developed a stress fracture through that area in time.

Bill -

Getting closer to center lets you use a wider range of spines, and that's ONLY because you have more adjustment room.

I doubt it will help with even minor form flaws, unless you want to go the full rest/plunger route. Even with that the operative word in "minor".

Viper out.

I have cut several of my bows to center and/or past center. In every case the results have been very satisfactory. I'm glad I did it.

Ive done it, and i shoot a wide variety of spines and diameter shafts- .166-23/64". It helped me get the adjustment i needed to be able to shoot with my bifocals. The hardest part....is to know when to STOP sanding. Sand a lil, shoot a lil till youre happy. Very time consuming, but may be worth it for ya.

I've done it a number of times. But it still depends on how much material is there to work with.

I reshape sight windows all the time, but I try not to mention it here. It seems to really fire guys up!

Bill: You will more than likely only remove a 1/16" to an 1/8" so your not going to do any damage anything and it will increase your usable spine range greatly.

Bob

Bill, I cut them to center if there is plenty of wood for strength. If it has an I beam great. I usually don't work with them if too high of poundage though. Usually you can tell if enough strength to work with because the grip will be the smallest weakest point. You can kind of judge by it. A center cut bow will shoot a larger variety of spines & stiffer spines therefor making it easier to select the right spine for it. I also radius the sight window putting the high point in line with the pivot point of the grip. Ditto the shelf. That makes them less susceptible to torque. You might even call that a little more forgiving.>>>>------> Ken

I modified a Robertson mystical. Now I have a bow I don't like and can't sell.

I’ve done a past centershot mod on a Shakespeare cascade, I bought one which someone already cut past center but wasn’t quite enough for my liking . If you have access to a vertical milling machine, you can bolt down the riser section and have it milled out . A router mounted in a table will also do the same, but you have to be more cautious when cutting because you’ll be cutting upside down.

As mentioned above, use spine, easier then redoing your riser, then you hafta redo spine after you alter your riser all over again

Mill or router cuts flat & square. Great for roughing out. Rasp and sanders shape put in needed curves and blend, much better for finishing. >>>----> Ken

I've done a couple. One I did because the sight window was so rounded the hoyt stick on rest kept peeling off. Its better now. The other I did because I couldn't get anything to shoot worth a damn. Its better now.

I do it with a good scraper, and have done it with a pocket knife, sitting on the deck. Nothing complicated or difficult at all.

Yes, have done it with good results.

If it don't work for you fix it.>>>----> Ken

Don't know what diameter arrow you're shooting Bill, but going to a smaller O.D will have the same effect as cutting the bow, as in going from a 5/16" diameter to a 1/4", is in a 2016 to an 1820. Both arrows are still nearly the same static spine but the 1820 has more mass and will take less bending to return to flight.

Just another way of doing it.

George,

I am shooting mainly wood arrows so my shaft diameter is 11/32. I could check around to see if I can get 5/16 in the spine I need but I don't know if 5/16 is available in a stiff enough spine. The bow does shoot 2016's just fine.

But it would be so much fun to see if I could modify the sight window without ruining the bow.

Is it an expensive bow or 'modestly priced' ?

I'd personally leave an expensive one as is, if only to protect re-sale value.

At the time I bought it 20 or so years ago it was priced similar to other made to order bows. I understand what you're saying but I am really not concerned about resale value. I would just like the end result to be shootable and hopefully improved somewhat in the ways I mentioned.

I like fdp's description of "whittlin" it

Go for it, nothing ventured nothing gained. Post up a picture when complete

Get out the rasp, Bill and work at it. I did that to an older Shakespeare X-18 Sierra. It was a 45#'er, like most of the 60's era, and it's holding up just fine and an improved shooter as well.

barebow joe on you tube has a video on how he modified a wooden riser to centershot with handtools

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