Sky Archery TDX13 review

I have long been a fan of the International Limb Fitting (ILF) system, having first begun my archery career in the Olympic recurve discipline where ILF is commonplace. For those of you not familiar with this system, it is a loose standard used by the archery industry to allow interchangeability between risers and limbs, even between different manufacturers. In my opinion, the ILF system is one of the best innovations in modern archery as it allows nearly limitless customization of a bow (including draw weight and tiller) to best suit the archer.

The entry of ILF into traditional archery made it easy for someone to put together risers and limbs of varying lengths to assemble a bow that best suited their needs. A hunter might desire a shorter bow to better negotiate the woods and/or ground blind, while a target archer would prefer a longer bow for a smoother draw and more stable shooting. Typical target risers used in Olympic archery are in the 23"-27" range while many traditional type risers are in the 15"-19" range.

In this post, I will take a closer look at the TDX13 riser by Sky Archery.

Sky Archery TDX13

The TDX13 riser is made of machined aluminum and as the name indicates, it is a 13" riser. One of the things that drew me to the TDX13 was the fact that it is made by Sky Archery. I had owned another Sky riser in the past, the TDX15, and had shot a one-piece longbow made by them. I was familiar with the brand and knew they made some top quality gear, so that part was simple enough.

Why a stubby little 13" riser?? Well, that came after a couple years of trial and error with ILF longbows. I enjoy shooting longbows due to their elegant shape, quietness, and feel of the shot. I also particularly like the more linear draw force curve (DFC) longbows possess compared to recurves. Having experimented with risers ranging from 15"-19", I noticed I preferred the shorter riser/longer limb configuration with my ILF longbows. Since I used a high anchor and shot with a 3-under release, the smaller sight window of a 13" riser was not any problem for me. Combine that with my relatively short 27" draw length and I had the benefit of being able to utilize a shorter bow than the longer draw archers could.

Having settled on my choice of riser, I emailed Sky Archery to inquire about the TDX13 availability and was pleasantly surprised by a phone call from Sandra the following morning. The level of service I received from Sky was nothing short of excellent - they went over every detail to ensure the riser was what I wanted and it was in my hands within the week.

As can be expected of a little 13" riser, the TDX13 is svelte and lightweight at a scant 1.56 lbs. It lacks the usual stabilizer bushing in front due to the lack of space - the grip literally melds into the lower limb pocket with barely a millimeter to spare. Contrary to the missing stabilizer bushing, the usual AMO sight mounting holes are present as are two Berger holes - one for off the shelf shooting and another for an elevated rest/plunger set up. The sight window is cut past center and the shelf has a small hump lined up with the lower Berger hole. The grip is removable and is of a dual compound with a soft and rubbery part in the middle where the palm would contact. The rest of the grip is a hard plastic that maintains the grip shape. I found the grip to have a pressure area uncomfortable to my palm. Nothing a little judicious grinding could not remedy and a few minutes later with a denture adjustment bur, the grip was fitting perfectly to my hand.
Uncommon to many ILF risers currently available are two Harmonic Dampers located behind each limb pocket. To be honest, I liked the fact that Sky incorporated the dampers into the riser and it was a deciding factor for me (a minor deciding factor). As a bowhunter, I strongly dislike a noisy bow so anything that can help drop a decibel or two is greatly appreciated.

Berger holes and shelf hump are visible in this photo

The AMO sight holes are very close to the top limb pocket

In profile, the TDX13 appears to be a fairly deflexed riser, no doubt to allow a smoother, longer draw with a wider variety of limb lengths. Without the deflex, such a short riser would be limited to short draw archers and would likely gain a good 5# or more for a given set of limbs rated on a 19" riser. The deflex also helps make the bow point better and shoot with more stability, in my opinion.

For shooting off the shelf, I usually like to use a strip of soft-sided velcro and a plunger, but in this case, I opted to go with a simple 5/16" bolt with a piece of cordovan leather epoxied to the end. I felt it made for a more robust and fool-proof setup as I have plans to make this a hunting bow for the 2014 deer season. As with any bow I plan to hunt with, I like to set it up in hunting configuration well before the season starts so I can really get a feel for things and make changes as needed and be comfortable long before I head for the deer stand. Nothing destroys my confidence more than hunting with an unfamiliar setup.

Window is cut past center, and you can see the lack of room for a stabilizer bushing

Looking at the limb pockets, we can see there is a limb alignment system used consisting of a separate unit that captures and positions the ILF detent. If you look closely in the first couple photos, you can see the alignment set screws on the sides of the pockets towards either end. I have seen this system successfully used in other risers, so I have no doubts it does the job just fine here. The limb bolt is of the non-locking type and thus, one needs to recheck tiller after each takedown and restringing. A minor annoyance to me, but with the Harmonic Dampers in back of the pockets, there is not any way to access a locking set screw. A few wraps of teflon thread tape would provide enough friction for the bolt to not move once set. An alloy washer to match the tapered bolt head and a plastic one just underneath round out the limb bolt assembly. The nice thing about the dual washers is they allow the bolt to rotate freely while doing tiller adjustments so as to not mar up the finish of the limb butts like how some one-piece bolts can. With ILF interchangeability, one can find a plethora of limbs for sale on the 2nd hand market and a marred finish can reduce the resale value.

The beige rectangles on either side of the silver block are moleskin pads to cushion the limb rockers

Sky has a winner with the TDX13. They managed to pack a lot of goodies in this little riser, which is one reason why I like the metal ILF risers. I love a nice wood riser for the beauty and warmth than only wood can give, but for pure performance I would have to go with metal. The lack of the front stabilizer bushing is inconsequential to me as I usually do not use one, but the dual Berger holes, shelf bump, interchangeable grip, AMO sight holes, and limb alignment system are key to wringing out the most from any set up.

If you read this far, I hope you found this review interesting and helpful. I will continue to the shooting portion of the review in a future post. If you are interested in this riser, stop by www.skyarchery.com and have a look at it and the other fine products from Sky.