Leaving bows strung

[Greenman]

Bearing in mind that most damage is done during stringing, would we be better leaving bows strung? Do limbs loose their strength over time if kept strung?

[Kae]

There are two trains of thought on this; yes and no

The older limbs, ie with wood cores etc, would be damaged by being left strung, because the wood easily takes on a shape.
However the argument is that now we tend to use more synthetic materials, these shouldn't take a set, like wood, and should be ok to be left strung.

However, considering the implications of carrying a strung weapon, and the amount they cost, because they would be easier to damage when strung, i'll take my recurve apart.

However, compounds are always left strung.................

[Rik]

It depends what you're shooting. Compounds are left strung all the time, I don't think anyone has a problem with that .
Modern recurve limbs aren't that prone to taking damage from being strung (correction: that should read 'reasonable quality recurve limbs'. I wouldn't include 'surprise' or Rolan limbs in that category...). It's been said that recurve limbs tend to lose strength over time in any case. Leaving them strung might accelerate this, but I suspect not a great deal, as they are not terribly highly stressed at the bracing height.

I left a KG1 (limbs 15+ years old) strung for several months last year, and it seemed to suffer no ill effects. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't leave my normal bow strung for more than a week at a time....

[Murray]

Bearing in mind recurves are designed to "take down", and it takes 30 seconds to put them back up, it makes sense to do so.

No damage is done during stringing if the owner is reasonably careful.

[Greenman]

Thanks for the answers,I always unstring mine but was getting fed up with having to untangle club bow strings,as they are basic limbs guess we are stuck with untangling.Sometimes it feels like we are doing macrame rather than archery!

[wingate_52]

If it is wet when I leave the house, I will assemble my bow and take it in the car like that. Otherwise I always assemble and string and unstring the bow on the field. Wood and other laminates will change shape. There is more chance of this happening with long recurve limbs rather than the short and thick compound limbs.

[Murray]

Originally Posted by Greenman

getting fed up with having to untangle club bow strings

IMO, the best approach is to:
a) show the club members how to fold a bowstring
b) provide plastic bags in which to put the bowstring.

Each of our bows has a bag which contains the sightblock, string, bracer, etc.

[LineCutter]

Originally Posted by Murray

a) show the club members how to fold a bowstring

Surely this needs an entry in hints & tips.