Damage by leaving it strung?

Author

Message

wintellect
Apprentice Bowman

Posts: 116
No Commercial Interest

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject: Damage by leaving it strung?

Just a thought I'd like answered... If I leave my recurve strung for a few hours without shooting it - will it damage the limbs? And what if I do this frequently, say, once a week - will the limbs face damage then? Finally, my limbs are wood core - does this have any bearing on the answer? _________________ It was an 'X' when it left the bow! I'm not responsible for where it chooses to land!

Club: Malden Bowmen
Bow: Hoyt Nexus (Inferno) - Hoyt Stratix limbs
Sight: Cartel K-sight
Arrows: Easton ACC 3L-18/620
Accesories: Beiter stabalisers and everything else

BTS
Junior Poster

Posts: 74
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nottingham England

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:14 pm Post subject:

As far as i am aware it should be ok. Modern fibreglass/carbon/wood laminated limbs glued with modern glue's & synthetic string materials like Dacron or Fastflight shouldnt deform. Others on here may have more up to date advice to give you. I used to leave my bows strung up for reasonable periods of time, i was never brave enough to leave them for weeks on end, though! _________________ BAZZ

Club: Burton Joyce Archers & Black Arrow FAC
Bow: OK Match + Merlin TM5 Comp..
Sight: K Sight + Toxonics 1400
Arrows: X7's & AFC Exacta+ Easton 3-28/500 A/C/C's
Accesories: all sorts

old KG1 in cupboard bottom!

Dawn
Global Moderator

Outstanding Contribution Award Winner
Posts: 4344
Club Committee Member
Location: Long Eaton, Derbyshire

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:57 pm Post subject:

As far as I am aware leaving a recurve strung for a few hours wont do it any harm, I wouldn't leave it strung say overnight but a few hours between shooting it should be fine. _________________ aka Cherrie Secretary Black Arrow Field Archery Club

Club: Black Arrow FAC & Duvelle Bowmen
Bow: Marksman KG1 with nice blue riser
Sight: need glasses to read
Arrows: ACC
Accesories: stabiliser

Samick AFB with wood & feather arrows

BTS
Junior Poster

Posts: 74
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nottingham England

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:25 pm Post subject:

My dad used to shoot a longbow in the late 1940's, after he was de-mobbed from the Royal Marines. He kept it for years, he used to shoot in a Southport club with my mother when he & her were courting. It used to be kept in my bedroom in the 1960's, when i was a boy. It was a lemonwood/yew laminated construction. The string was always slipped over it, knocked on the bottom & slipped over the top limb. One day i watched him brace it & let it down, using the step-through method. One night i was a naughty boy & got up at night & managed to string it! Could i hell as like un-string it!! A day or two later, my dad saw it, complete with broken string. He was not pleased! He said it was a Flax string & he never bothered renewing it, i am sorry to say. Dont know what happened to the bow, mother & he divorced & are now both dead. _________________ BAZZ

Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 631
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nebraska

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:52 am Post subject:

I know we're talking recurves here but I thought that I would add something to go along with what Bazz posted. I shoot all wood longbows and the longest I have ever left one strung has been perhaps 2 to 3 hours and that was during a very long shooting session. I don't recall the bow having any ill effects, but I remember thinking that I should not go that long with it strung as I may hurt the bow in some way. Perhaps it might take a greater set? I usually will not leave a bow strung now for more then 1 hour just to be on the safe side. _________________ Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories:

Desert Archer
Junior Poster

Posts: 53
No Commercial Interest
Location: Mesa, Arizona USA

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject:

Self bows can and will take a set if left strung. I recall reading about a long ago tournament and the archers un-strung their all wood bows between ends. That sounds extreme but if you think about it, they wanted as consistent a performance as they could get. A self bow can and will change it's cast over time. Now as to laminated (modern) bows, be they recurves or what you folks call AFBs, properly stored they will suffer no damage being left strung. Most recommendations I have read or heard were to hand it by the string from two pegs, i.e. horizontally. I have left a take down recurve strung and hanging on a couple wood pegs in my shop for weeks at a time as I was shooing on the patio every day. I'm still shooting the same bow (limbs) a couple years later. Do not leave any bow strung in the direct sun or in a hot (closed) vehicle. Dave _________________ Barebow Recurve Shooter Bring Back Field Archery

Club: Usery Mountain Archers, Papago FITA Archers, Arizona Bowhunter & Field Archery Association
Bow: 2 Spigarellis, 2 Best of Italy, 1 Bernardini Nilo (in route)
Sight: Barebow Recurve
Arrows: All are aluminum/carbon Eastons.
Accesories:

Steve - R
Cub Poster

Posts: 28
No Commercial Interest
Location: West Midlands. UK

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject:

uh oh, I never knew you should un/de string a recurve. Mine has been left with the string on for weeks now . Does that mean it will need tuning every time it is shot? Dont want to thread hog, just curious

Club:
Bow: Petron basic recurve
Sight:
Arrows:
Accesories:

Merlin Max2000

Malcy
Junior Poster

Posts: 95
No Commercial Interest
Location: West Cumbria

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:23 am Post subject:

I think Desert Archer was about right with what he said. A modern recurve limb won't come to any harm being left strung for long periods...just don't leave it like that in a hot enviroment. I have Border TXGs which are wood core, when I buggered my knee last year and couldn't walk for a few weeks, I got someone to string my bow then left it strung for about 2 weeks so I could pick it up whenever and do a few reversals to keep my strength up. I can't see any problems from doing this, I still hold the same weight as before and the allignment didn't change, and the bracing height remained constant. I suppose there isn't much difference in the construction of a Compound limb and they're always kept strung.

Club: Cockermouth Company of Archers
Bow: Helix/Border TXG / Border Super Reiver / Bickerstaffe
Sight: Sureloc
Arrows: Nav FMJ / CT Cheetah / Easton SuperSlam / Sticks
Accesories: Love 'em

Chedawan
Grand Master Bowman

Posts: 1488
Club Committee Member
Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:56 am Post subject:

At the Uni club I learned to shoot at, all the club recurves (albeit only wooden riser learner bows - but some up to around 38lb) were left strung, hanging from hooks on the ceiling rafters. None of these ever had any problems, the only times they were unstrung, was to take them down, when we loaned them to new starters to take to competitions, indeed I won my first comp with one of them. Interestingly, KG Archery seem to keep a lot of their bows strung on the walls, predominantly for display purposes, but the staff will periodically whip one down, shoot it, let someone have a go, and then return it to where it was on the wall. I've shot a couple of these, which appear to be permenantly strung, and they're perfect, and obviously Keith, Christine, and the team know what they're doing. I wonder if perhaps it is less likely the bow will be damaged by being strung for long periods of time, than it will by becoming suddenly unstrung. i.e. a snapped or cut string. Obviously bows take up less room unstrung, which is handy, but there wouldn't be a vast difference roomwise in a car transporting a strung, or unstrung one piece. However I'm willing to bet that no one would want to transport the strung one a long way, as it's more vulnerable that way. Therefore the habit of de-stringing bows is partly a matter of space saving on modern three piece takedowns, and partly a hangup from days gone when stringmaking materials/technology may not have been as good as they are in recent history, and it was a fear of a bow becoming dynamically unstrung, dissipating all its energy through its limb tips and breaking. Of course this may all be nonsense. Adam. _________________ :: Sig courtesy of CamdogXIII of EMP ::

Club: Forest Bowmen (Field) Greenwood Archers (Target)
Bow: Winact riser (Yellow Gold) SF Super carbon limbs (Black) 43Lb on the fingers.
Sight: Cartel Activa (Black)... Yes I use a sight! You can stop booing now!
Arrows: Yes, ACC's fletched black and yellow.
Accesories: Many, mostly black and yellow, I try wherever possible to look like an angry wasp.

Also shooting KG Cobra Deluxe, with big wooden arrows, there's also a stave of wood in my loft with a longbow hiding in it, going looking for it soon!

BTS
Junior Poster

Posts: 74
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nottingham England

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject:

I used to shoot Kevlar strings, in the early days . These were great but only lasted for maybe 800-1,000 shots. Sometimes one would break on a shot. I have seen one or two limbs be destroyed by this. Usually at the groove at the limb tip. I shot indoors at Plessey @ Beeston during 1980's winter nights, one of their members had his riser broken by it! Snapped clean in two where the limb retaining bolt screwed into the riser (it was a Marksman KG1) i remember seeing the helicoil still attached to the limb bolt threads! _________________ BAZZ

kirk
Moderator

Owlethall Bowmen Moderator

Posts: 955
No Commercial Interest
Location: Lancashire

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:53 pm Post subject:

Leaving your recurve strung when stored correctly won't be a problem, in fact it can stop your limbs from taking a twist, because they are always pre-loaded. My gamemaster has been strung now for several months, the brace is the same and the bow is unaffected. Although i shoot it most days even if it's one or two arrows, i can just go to the rack pick it up and shoot it. As for wooden riser bows with glued in helical limb bolt inserts, i would de-string as i do with my Kota TD AFB. _________________ JUST SHOOT IT Owlethall Bowmen Secretary

Club: Owlethall Bowmen
Bow: Mathews Conqest 3...Hoyt GameMaster Hybrid...Kota TD AFB
Sight: Apex five pin
Arrows: Easton Maxum...SS XX78 2213 - Gamegetter 1816 - redline carbons
Accesories: sims products