Reshaping a wooden riser

Witty_Banter

New member
Hi all,

This may be the wrong sub-forum, apologies if it is (admins, feel free to move it to where it needs to be). I'm still getting the hang of where everything sits within the forum.

Anyway...I'm relatively new to archery, been shooting a few months. I'm not buying any fancy, expensive kit whilst I'm still finding my poundage 'sweet spot', so for the time being and foreseeable future I'm using a standard SF Optimo+ wooden riser and limbs. The SF Optimo riser is pretty basic and, to be honest, a bit boring. I'd already decided when I bought it that it will probably get a lick of paint, just to liven it up a little and distinguish it from my Club's learner kits.

However, if I'm going to paint it, I'd like to make a few alterations to the shape of the handle, to accommodate my small hands - and therein lies the question...

If I start standing away at the grip, am I going to reduce the structural integrity of the riser? I don't want to remove a lot of wood, I just want to shape the grip area (at the moment it's a little bulky) so that it fits the shape of my hand better. After that it's getting a coat of paint.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
If you look at your riser, you will see that there is a " weakest spot" where the wood is cut away more deeply that anywhere else. It's the "Throat" of the grip.
Most of my bows have had wooden grips even if the riser was metal, and I have re -shaped all of them to get a fit that I like. In every case, most of the wood I removed was from parts that were already much stronger than that weakest spot.
If you look at the riser from the direction you view from when shooting, most of the wood you remove will make it narrower as you look at it. Most of the wood will be from the parts below that throat section, so you aren't weakening it at its weakest spot.
Another idea, that might be useful, is that the slope you rest your thumb pad against, can feel too fat or rounded. By building up that part with car body filler, you can produce a narrower section; one that better suits your hand. It is easier to shape than the wood, too.
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Thanks for that - building it up with filler's not a bad idea! My problem comes from having small, meaty hands (oh, the joys of being a 40 year old short-ar$e), so the grip doesn't sit quite right. Any reason for suggesting car body filler over standard wood filler (considering it's a wooden riser)? Better for compression etc?
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I use body filler because I tend to have it around and have used it before. Wood filler, I have used before, but don't have it around these days.
Which ever you go for should be OK.
I think it is a good opportunity, when you alter the grip, to get it not just comfortable, but also supporting your hand in a good shooting position. I know a few people who have done the comfort side to death and been left with a position that is not so good for shooting results.
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Thanks for the comments guys. That's a really 'handy' graphic ThomVis (sorry, that was a terrible joke), I may have to put that on the club website! Using that, I can tell that my hand doesn't sit comfortably at 45 degrees, and the shape of the riser is such that my thumbpad doesn't sit centrally on it (it's actually quite peaked, in that it causes my grip to sit with the peaked part on the joint rather than on the pad). I guess that as these are just basic training risers, they're made to a generic fit. Not a problem, I'll sand down and build up where I need to in order to adapt to my hand.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
In case it helps, some quick pics of a high end wood handle shape... (Not the stock shape - my request)
IMG_20170705_184922.jpg
IMG_20170705_184859.jpg
IMG_20170705_184839.jpg
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Wow, that's pretty. If my riser looked like that, I wouldn't be thinking about painting it! Unfortunately mine looks like this...



- - - Updated - - -

Wow, that's pretty. If my riser looked like that, I wouldn't be thinking about painting it! Unfortunately mine looks like this...

 

Attachments

D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Using Rik's pic I can illustrate where you must not remove wood.
You need to keep continuous long lines of grain as per yellow line, if you cut in as shown by the red line it will shorten and reduce that continuous grain and the riser will fail.
Del IMG_2.jpg
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I should probably note: those dark strips between the wood laminations? Carbon fibre.
I did say this was at the high end of wooden handles... :)

I used to look at the Border Mirage bows on the line and think "now if those only took normal limbs". So I guess it was kind of inevitable once I found Border doing an ILF Black Douglas.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
I should probably note: those dark strips between the wood laminations? Carbon fibre.
I did say this was at the high end of wooden handles... :)

I used to look at the Border Mirage bows on the line and think "now if those only took normal limbs". So I guess it was kind of inevitable once I found Border doing an ILF Black Douglas.
I did suspect that, but the pic served for illustrative purposes...
Del
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Ok, so quick update - I took off about 1cm of wood from under the shelf, and smoothed down the finger area, and the grip now fits perfectly (hand also sits at a 45 degree angle now, too)

I took the advice of countless forums, and used Rustoleum spray paint to paint my riser. Massive mistake. Didn't cover nicely at all. Had just enough time to sand down the worst areas, and repaint with a good quality gloss. It's not my best work, I'll be honest, but it's better than my first attempt. I'll probably re-sand it with a high grit paper next week, and give it another coat of gloss to smooth it out...

- - - Updated - - -

Ok, so quick update - I took off about 1cm of wood from under the shelf, and smoothed down the finger area, and the grip now fits perfectly (hand also sits at a 45 degree angle now, too)

I took the advice of countless forums, and used Rustoleum spray paint to paint my riser. Massive mistake. Didn't cover nicely at all. Had just enough time to sand down the worst areas, and repaint with a good quality gloss. It's not my best work, I'll be honest, but it's better than my first attempt. I'll probably re-sand it with a high grit paper next week, and give it another coat of gloss to smooth it out...
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
The only way you'll get a good finish is by repeated painting and rubbing down. No substitute for putting in the effort, the old diabolo sanding with something like 240 grit wet or dry paper is a good compromise between speed and finish.
I did a wood sculpture a while back on a plywood base, it was filled and painted so much it was mirror black in the end.
Showed some work colleagues and they had trouble believing it was painted plywood :)
Del
 

Witty_Banter

New member
Agreed - I have no problems putting in the effort, but I really didn't like how the rustoleum stuff took to the wood - the different layered woods reacted differently to it (some soaking it up like a sponge, others barely at all) and the glue used to hold the layers together seemed to reject the paint altogether. 4 or 5 sandings and coats of paint and it still looked terrible. Gave it a final sanding, almost back down to the wood (with gritted teeth) and applied a coat of Dulux white gloss (same paint I used for my skirting boards lol) and hung it up to dry in the shed. The results (albeit 24 hours later, when the paint had a chance to dry) were much, much better, although the gloss highlighted several imperfections in my sanding. Like I said, another sanding, and another coat of gloss, and I reckon it'll look 10 times better.

If I ever get a metal riser, I think I'll opt for hydrodipping instead...

- - - Updated - - -

Agreed - I have no problems putting in the effort, but I really didn't like how the rustoleum stuff took to the wood - the different layered woods reacted differently to it (some soaking it up like a sponge, others barely at all) and the glue used to hold the layers together seemed to reject the paint altogether. 4 or 5 sandings and coats of paint and it still looked terrible. Gave it a final sanding, almost back down to the wood (with gritted teeth) and applied a coat of Dulux white gloss (same paint I used for my skirting boards lol) and hung it up to dry in the shed. The results (albeit 24 hours later, when the paint had a chance to dry) were much, much better, although the gloss highlighted several imperfections in my sanding. Like I said, another sanding, and another coat of gloss, and I reckon it'll look 10 times better.

If I ever get a metal riser, I think I'll opt for hydrodipping instead...
 
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