Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bow101 on October 06, 2014, 04:44:48 pm
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A wood bow braced for extended periods of time can decrease performance (more set) & (string Follow) correct.....? ???
Having said that you folks that hunt all day with the same bow what is a safe time to leave the bow braced. 4 hours - 6 hours - 10 hours.
When I finish a bow I leave it braced for about 2 hours this is after shooting it in. Not sure if this is a torture test or not...... ???
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Some guys "sweat" their bows in by leaving them braced for up to 24 hours.
I only target shoot, so I take my string off right after shooting. Ive had a bow accidently left strung over night and it was fine
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If you can measure its decrease that easily or quickly, you've done something wrong building the bow. Regardless of how long it was braced.
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I build my bows so they can stay braced for 4 to 6 hours or more. Tillering and exercising trains your bow to bend and recover. Sweating(leave braced for time) trains your bow to remain braced for extended periods of time.
When hunting I unbraced my bow when the hunt is over. Same with 3D shooting when the shoot is over.
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Ive left a few braced over night. That's never something you want to do, especially several times. In any case they all look as they did prior and shoot the same arrows. So my guess is whatever damage was done isn't very measurable from my standpoint. On average, the longest any of them are braced would be 3-4 hours a pop.
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Same as PD,left a hickory bow braced up over night,and no ill effects.
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On that line, however, what would cause a bow to lose its spring, or degrade its performance to the point of ineffectiveness -- short of having it blow up in your face anyway? I would assume extreme overdraw, maybe excessive moisture, but what should a decent bow be able to withstand and what is abuse, theoretically? I think 101 has a good question. Maybe it has been addressed in the past, but now I am curious.
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On a well made wood bow moisture would have the worst effects on it under normal use. Abnormal use would come in a close second.
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My best Osage bow is strung a lot. Some times I go shoot for 3-4 hours straight and unstrung it it goes back to almost straight every time that's all I know
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I agree 3 or 4 hours is good rule of thumb,, but a good bow can take longer if needed,,,
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I have a Hickory bow that I forgot and left braced behind the seat of my truck for over two days. No problem whatsoever.
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Probably depends on the bow and the intended use to define what an "extended period" is for any bow. A bow for hunting should be built with 3-4 hour braces or even all day braces (depends how long you intend to hunt) in mind. Perhaps with a flight bow you'd want to avoid a 2 day braced period. :)
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I don't sweat bows. I leave it strung while hunting and then unstring. I left one strung over night. Don't think there was any damage. Jawge
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When I hunt, I hunt all day, sunrise to sunset, with the bow strung. It has not suffered at all. I have dont this now for 5 years with the same bow. I even left it strun 24 hours once on accident with no problem, though not a habit I would get into. I made two bows that turned into strung wall hangers. They both took about a month before the string started going slack.
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I hate to confess this but I once left an osage bow--99% finished-- at half draw on the tillering tree. Something came up and I forgot about it for 7 or 8 hours. It turned out to be the smoothest drawing bow I've ever shot but on the flip side, it lost a lot of strength/ recovery speed.
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Lately, I have started leaving them strung for the better part of a day before shooting them in. I excercise the limbs a lot while tillering to get them used to bending, and I also leave them strung for a day, since I hunt all day sometimes. It is just my gut feeling that I should train the bow to prepare it for how it will be used. I haven't left one strung overnight, but have seen no bad effects from leaving one braced eight hours. The hickory bow and the buckthorn bow I posted a couple of days ago, both were at full brace for a day before I shot them in. Neither of them show any string follow.
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I find the only limbs I have trouble with are my own, when sleepy, cold, and cramped in the wee hours of morning. I have a hard time drawing my bow, sometimes I cant, and I pray a deer doesnt happen by, or even during afternoon, if I dont stretch enough.
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I find the only limbs I have trouble with are my own, when sleepy, cold, and cramped in the wee hours of morning. I have a hard time drawing my bow, sometimes I cant, and I pray a deer doesnt happen by, or even during afternoon, if I dont stretch enough.
Seems like when it's cold out bows pick up a few extra pounds to me either that or it's illusion lol idk
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when I get to full brace I sweat my bows for a couple hours, when I hunt it can be four or twelve hours and I leave it strung and haven't noticed any extra set or loss of string tension, left a osage bow strung all day and all nite once, went out the front door headed to work, sprinklers on, bow leaning up against the tree soaking wet, guess it was sealed good I shot it that nite and it shot fine and you could still play a tune on the string
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Left one braced today for 3 hours. Seems perfectly fine. I could imagine climate conditions may play a role in this to.
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The bow I'm hunting with was string for 6 hrs Saturday. Unstrung it had 1/2" of string follow. Flat as a board about 1/2 hr after that.
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Dang Bubby, doing some border line destruction testing for the good of the community?
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It is all to do with the strain the bow is under. Take two examples one bow made 1 1/2 inches wide and one made 2 inches wide, same draw length and weight. Which one is more strained at brace, during the draw and at full draw?
Which one is going to show more set after being strung for a few hours.....????
The question is unfortunately a bit like asking how long a piece of string is! ;) Unless all those bows above were made to exactly the same strain at brace they aren't comparable.
As a general rule if your bow starts taking set from being strung for the period you want then make the next one either longer, wider or lower poundage for the same width/length.
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Never had much trouble with leaving them strung 4 or 5 hours at a time,don't do it unless I need to but don't worry about it either. If hunting any time I take a break, I give my bow a break same if shooting 3D or stumping. :)
Pappy
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Dang Bubby, doing some border line destruction testing for the good of the community?
more like one to many pbr's sleek :laugh:
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I always measure the reflex before tillering and after tillering.
I always leave my fresh tillered bows strung at least over night. Next day controll if tiller is o.k., on a few adjustment are necessary.
I've made hunting bows, all in the higher weights. My thoughts:
No high stressed design (for example high reflexed), so the bow can let strung at least a day. It should be short as possible, so a d/r or a mild recurve allows a comfortable draw to full length.
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I've been hunting with my main Osage bow since 2004. I hunt/3-D shoot it till I'm finished and unstring it. I haven't seen any change in the bow since I first started hunting with it.
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I've been hunting with my main Osage bow since 2004. I hunt/3-D shoot it till I'm finished and unstring it. I haven't seen any change in the bow since I first started hunting with it.
The reason I brought it up is because I read somewhere that FG bows can withstand the pressure for countless hours and that wood bows will eventually loosen up and take set over time. Just saying; a wood house will eventually warp twist and fall down.
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I've been hunting with my main Osage bow since 2004. I hunt/3-D shoot it till I'm finished and unstring it. I haven't seen any change in the bow since I first started hunting with it.
The reason I brought it up is because I read somewhere that FG bows can withstand the pressure for countless hours and that wood bows will eventually loosen up and take set over time. Just saying; a wood house will eventually warp twist and fall down.
Well for one thing houses are a lot different then bows and two the only reason they eventually fall is cus they aren't built from Osage Lol ;D
Mullet- any way we can see a pic of that bow im really interested in seeing the wear of a ten year old ossge bow
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My next house will be built from Osage.
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Here's to osage houses.
A bow at brace is NOT under a ton of stress. Leave it strung as long as it's being used. Applying heat or moisture while under any stress will cause wood memory, so be mindful of temps, weather, and finish.