Braced bows

[bow101]

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......

[wizardgoat]

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

[PEARL DRUMS]

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.

[Pat B]

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.

[PEARL DRUMS]

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.

[bushboy]

Same as PD,left a hickory bow braced up over night,and no ill effects.

[jeffp51]

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.

[Pat B]

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.

[Joec123able]

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

[bradsmith2010]

I agree 3 or 4 hours is good rule of thumb,, but a good bow can take longer if needed,,,

[JonW]

I have a Hickory bow that I forgot and left braced behind the seat of my truck for over two days. No problem whatsoever.

[bubbles]

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.   

[George Tsoukalas]

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

[sleek]

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.

[Hrothgar]

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.