In Strength there is Consistency
A drop away arrow rest for Stringwalking has two almost oppositional requirements. Firstly, it must guide the arrow. This means keeping the shaft vertically supported at plunger height and keeping the shaft against the plunger for horizontal guidance. Secondly, it must not interfere with the path that is guided. This interference can be contact with fletching, bounce with crawls or failure to support by dropping too easily or inconsistently. If the arm drops too easily, guidance is lost vertically and horizontally. If the drop is too strong bounce or failure to clear fletching may result. The Liability of a drop away rest vs. a horizontal swing rest is that when the arm articulates, both horizontal and vertical guidance are lost. A horizontal swing rest has a simpler job in that vertical guidance downward will never be lost because the arm cannot move lower than plunger height (although it may guide vertically upward by bouncing). Bouncing happens on a horizontal swing because cushioning downward arrow forces is accomplished only by the elasticity of the arm. The arm is a simple spring, the more it is depressed, the greater the rebound forces build until the shaft is rebounded off the arm. The Ant Barebow Rest utilizes magnets which, when depressed, gradually decrease in resistive force resulting in less bounce. It is able to do this yet, is still strong enough to keep the shaft at plunger height. Slo Motion cameras showed that going to a lighter than necessary arm resulted in the arm being kicked away more drastically but with no apparent benefit since crawl was unchanged.
The Philosophy of the Ant Barebow Rest is that you want the strongest arm you can tune without bounce, or contact. An extremely strong arm will result in bounce/contact issues while a too light arm will not support and guide a shaft in a consistent manner. Stringwalking is all about being in the middle of our tune which affords us the greatest range away from that central tune for varying distances/crawls. Minimizing vertical bounce allows us to decrease our crawl for point of impact. When initially testing the rest, we found most mid-range magnetic strengths resulted in in identically improved crawls with proper tuning. So, why not use the strongest one that doesn’t bounce?
Currently, I am offering the rest in 3 primary configurations; single magnet adjustable, dual light, and dual standard. Both the dual light and dual standard have a recess formed in the brass module to safely harbor an extra magnet or two for added strength. This “piggybacking” is the additional magnet being held by magnetism. With the recess, they are held strongly in place without fear of loss. I consider these 2 options to be “mid-range” strength. The single magnet adjustable version can be adjusted to the lowest possible limit of lightness for this design. I do consider that low range more of an extreme but many have been liking it for their extremely light arrows under 300g. (although plenty of people shoot dual magnet setups for light arrows too).
Here is the breakdown of the magnets themselves in each configuration to give you an idea of how they compare to each other. The values shown are in LBS but those are advertised values and refer to holding power per square inch so I prefer to look at those values only in relative terms. For example; One magnet is 4 lbs. the other is 4.4lbs. I think of the second magnet as 10% stronger. Also different manufacturers publish different actual values so again looking relatively is most helpful.
Single Adjustable: One 1/4″D. x 1/4″L. magnet equaling 4.2 lbs.
Dual Light: Two 1/4″D. x 3/32″ L. magnet equalling 2 lbs. each so approximately 4 lbs. total (this value is less than single mag but in reality the dual setup ends up being a little stronger than single)
Dual Standard: Two 1/4″D. x 1/8″ L. magnet equalling 2.9 each so approximately 5.8 lbs total
Initially, I was offering dual with two 4.2 lb. magnets but since, same holding forces can be accomplished by piggybacking magnets on the two dual setups it was eliminated except for those that ask for it specifically.
Each magnetic option has its inherent pros and cons. The light has the ability to go as light as possible but most seem to find the strongest setting most useful. It can be a bit finnicky to set up because when you adjust the arm lighter it rotates downward and you must re-set the arm height to keep shaft centered on plunger. Single magnet will only support 300g at brace. It has a setscrew, which adds complication.The Dual Standard is extremely versatile but it did not go as light as the single magnet or dual light. Piggybacking is probably not necessary for most in this configuration and it is very simple and hassle free. The Dual light was designed to get the rest functioning in between the two prior configurations but with piggybacking one magnet it will be approximately as strong as dual standard and even stronger if both magnets are piggybacked. As long as the magnet supports the shaft at brace without sag, no further tinkering or piggybacking is necessary. Tune as you would normally with brace, shaft details, tiller, etc. As humans, we always wonder if the “grass is greener’ on one side of the argument or the other which is why the ability to play with different magnetic combinations is helpful. Of course, with barebow, there is no free lunch, it is a delicate balance with every choice having tradeoffs. For me,I am totally happy in the middle with the dual standard and it is true to my original design ideals of simplicity, guidance and bomb-proofness. The dual light has no major drawbacks and truly has the most versatile range for experimentation.if you shoot light arrows especially. If I only made one it would be the dual light because it truly covers the full spectrum with piggybacking. If you know you like a light drop and shoot 300g or less, don’t mind a little added complication and don’t want to be able to piggyback magnets then single is still a totally capable option.