Does a bow left strung lose poundage?

[kernman]

Hi ya'll

I'm new here, and new to bow shooting.

I have a 40 pound recurve, made by Crossfire. Paid $115 new for it.

Is it true that leaving a recurve bow strung will cause it to lose poundage?

Archery shop guy I bought my bow from said it will.

If that's true, how long would you have to leave it strung before it lose poundage?

On the other hand I have heard more damage has been done to bows by stringing and unstringing them.

Does it have to be either or?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Frank

[Graybeard]

NEVER EVER leave your traditional bow strung during storage. Not only will it lose poundage if left that way long enough it will completely lose ALL its power. I know of one that was owned by my best friend he retired it and hung it on the wall strung. After a few years it had no strength at all left. When pulled back it didn't snap forward to fire an arrow at all and eventually it bent at one limb. Not good to leave them strung that's in all owner's manuals or at least used to be. String it for use then unstring it.

[crash87]

O.K. I'm going to go out on a limb here (is that what is known as a "pun"). I would say it has to do with the bow and its quality. Bows such as yours definitely DO NOT leave them strung. A lot of the rules have been passed down from the past generation of recurves (wait a minute that could be me!) I've shot the Bear recurves, as most of us have, as the only bows I've ever shot. They were all made in the 60's and I still have and shoot them occasionally. We just did not leave them strung and that was that. (I had a friend who had one of the first Allen compounds and even He unstrung (unscrewed) that.) I got into the compound bow craze, GASP!, for a few years, then found myself looking for a new recurve. By new I mean current mfg'ed and not custom made.This was 1988 and there really wasn't much out there that "I could find at the time". I stumbled upon Screamin' Eagle Archery in the very early 90's. I bought a Martin Hatfield T.D. recurve 65#@28". I might add it was a beautiful looking and shooting bow which I have used, a lot, until 3 years ago when I ordered a Fox longbow from Ron King in Oregon. Along with the bow I bought from Paul Brunner of S.E.A. was a video (VHS). To my astonishment, Paul said it was not detrimental to leave your bow strung, this particular one anyway, while not in use, as opposed to the recurves of the past. O.K., I went with it during the spring and summer practices, I would sometime leave it strung for long periods of time, I'm guessing here at say 3 months at a crack. Still I am from the old school of thinking and when I thought, "HEY this thing has been strung for a while", Id unstring it. AND, I never let it strung during the winter months or what I would refer to as storage. In the dozen or so years of use I can not detect any loss of poundage, of course I don't have any equipment to test it and I would have had to do a before test anyway,And I'm not going back in time. That bow is pulling the same now as it ever did, but then again I'm a dozen+ years older too. So, I would have to say, Unstring it, always. Better to be safe than to possibly ruin a nice bow. My longbow? I never asked what the effects might be to leave it strung. I,m not going to, it is ALWAYS unstrung when hung up for the night. CRASH87 

[kernman]

Thank you for prompt and thorough replies, Greybeard and crash87.

I forgot to mention that it is a takedown bow. Does that have any bearing?

I have decided to take your advice, and leave it unstrung. I left it strung for about a month, and as far as I know, it has not lost any snap.

Yes I will upgrade to a better recurve when finances allow; for now it will help me learn the basics.

But I plan on sticking with recurves. Compound have too many gadgets. I like to keep it simple.

Frank


 

[kernman]

Whoops, sorry Graybeard I misspelled your name.

[JonD.]

I have to agree with Graybeard, never leave one strung in storage, be it a take down, recurve or longbow. If you use a proper bowstringer, no damage will occur in stringing/unstringing.

[crash87]

kernman, Mine also is a takedown and no, I would say it has no bearing on what we are talking about here. Just make sure you check from time to time, make that everytime you pull your bow out to shoot it, that whatever method they use to attach the limbs are tight. Mine has a set of bolts with a knurled knob for takedown without tools and I always checked them to make sure they were tight and that any gremlins lurking would not have loosened them. As far as your opinion on compounds go, I could be here for a while discussing the negatives and I'm sure ruffling a few feathers, Oh excuse me, they use vanes, LOL. Let's just say I'm in total agreement. CRASH87

[okielectrician]

I dont know if anybody else does this but it was showed to me over 20 years ago but I have takedowns and recurves as old as 40 years old and yes they still shoot straight,but when I store them I string them backwards and this actually pulls the curve upward.They have never lost any poundage and I always know where my string is.

[Empty Quiver]

I'll be the contrarian here. What exactly is different between the laminations on a compound and a stickbow?  True that these days few compounds are wood laminated but there are still those that are working and earning their string wax. Would you even consider relaxing your compound? Heat is the thing I would be most concerned about as far as my stickbows are concerned. Heat will destroy the epoxy joints. As I understand it the temp. it was cured at is about what you don't want to exceed.

Now confessional time, I always unstring mine with a Selway stringer. I don't want to fool with casing it to stay within transportation laws. They don't refer to it as traditional for no reason! I don't see a down side to stringing and  unstringing a bow as long as you are using a stringer to do it with.

[Jacko]

As a matter of good practice I alway's unstring my bows for stogage but I have several mates that have routinely do not unstrung their fibreglass laminated bows and one of them is a profesional bow maker of considerable knoweledge and skill , one mate in particular has a 70# Black Widow recurve that has been strung for over 12 years but all of the bows are shot several times a week . As others have said always string and unstring them with a good quality well designed bow stringer as most bows are damaged due to inproper string and unstringing practices .

Selfbows should never be left strung when they are not being used because they will loose power as they follow the string which is the belly wood compressing . Fibreglass bows do follow the string and lose draw weight as well but only to a minor degree compared to all wood bows . Old fibreglass bows that are not in good condition should be nursed as epoxy glue and finish will deteriorate over time and cause delaminations especially if it is exposed to heat and poor stringing practice .

regards Jacko

[kernman]

Thanks Jacko.

I took Graybeard's advice, and now I unstring it after a session. Why take the risk? I got a bow stringer, so its easy.

Regards,

Kernman

[reloading_rich]

Best to unstring it as opposed to leaving it stung.  Proper storage is probably more important than leaving it strung/unstrung.  Never stand the bow up in a closet resting on a limb tip.  People throw stuff in a closet on top of the bow or exerting pressure and can cause permanent damage to the limbs.  I have made racks to store all my recurves on and the bow sits level on two pegs unstrung.  ALWAYS use your stringer when stringing or unstringing.  This is where most bows suffer a twisted limb due to improper methods used (the old step through your leg method is one).  I know a guy that suffered a near loss of his eye attempting to srtring his bow without the use of a stringer.  It is something that you can prevent just by using a stringer every time.  As someone also stated, heat in a real big enemy of your recurve.  Never leave it in a hot car or outdoors all day.  Normal care will keep your recurve healthy for many years to come.  I have probably 40/50 recurve and long bows in my basement and most are vintage Bear Archery recurves made in the Grayling era.  They shoot as good now as the day they were made.

[Swampman]

Quality bow companies like Black Widow say it doesn't hurt anything.  Less expensive bows and selfbows must be unstrung after shooting.

[kernman]

Since I first started this post I have left it unstrung. And I always use a bow stringer. It only cost $5. Why take a chance.

Anyone had any experience with this brand of bow? Apparently the maker is Aim, and this model is Cross Fire.

It seems to work fine. Has a lot of power. I missed the target and the field point when into a pressed lumber 4 by 4. It went in a about 1/2 inch or so. I tried to replicate that using my own strength - I could barely penetrate the wood.

[ronp]

I recently purchased a Black Widow (nice bow) and the manufacturer recommends leaving it strung.  They have found that more damage can be inflicted by un-stringing it a lot.  I have a couple nice stringers I use on my other bows, but I will leave the Widow strung.  They also recommend hanging it horizontally by the string on two pegs. ron