Recurve take down bow

[Lowfat]

Just wondered what everyones thoughts are on taking a recurve bow down or leaving it up ?

I used to refit the limbs , check the bracing hieght etc every time i shot then take it down again.

As i tend to shoot on a Saturday AM and Wednesday evening most weeks i have been leaving it up.

I have had people say that with modern limb construction this is fine and others say it is not.

Hopefully ,Santa dependant, i would like a set of carbon/foam limbs, so will it harm them if a continue to leave the bow up for a couple of weeks at a time?

[Mick]

The only time I take my recurve down is when I want to change the string :-)
Buy a recurve bag then all you'll need to take off is the sight and the long & side rods. As I don't use a V bar all I take off is the long rod I even leave the sight on. Never found any problem with limbs loosing weight etc. Of course the bow bag is a lot bulkier than a tackle box both to store and to transport but if you have the room go for it. It's a lot less hassle than all that assembly and B/H setting every time you want to shoot,and you're always sure that the settings are exactly the same as the last time you shot.

[Sideways Tim]

Why would taking a bow down alter the bracing height?

[Mick]

OK it shouldn't if you take precautions to keep the string from untwisting. But how many archers do? When I used to take mine down most times I'd leave the loops on the limbs but often I'd find one end had come off or I'd be in too much of a hurry to pack up and simply take the string off and chuck it in the box resulting in my having to check it when it was restrung. Lazy, careless maybe, but it happened often enough to be iritating.

[JohnK]

The bracing height may change if you're not careful about how you store your string between shooting sessions (i.e. it may lose some twists).

John Megera - Limbwalker on Sagi, a member of the US 2004 Athens team and an all-round top bloke - says he leaves his recurves strung nearly all the time. He uses Sky carbon/wood limbs.

Bottom line is, if you have a decent set of limbs it shouldn't make that much different.

[N.Vodden]

i always thought you should never leave a bow strung if you arent going to use it? a day or so i imagine wouldnt be bad but always keeping it strung would surely be detrimental?

Mine is usually left assembled but unstrung in the house, i string it when i practice out the garden usually every day, then unstrung and back on the stand. However when i go to the club i have to takedown the whole thing into components to pack for public transport.

I always check the brace height when i assemble it, and i keep the string at the same length by every time i take it off, i loop one end through the other then through again ( if that makes any sense ) and pull tight. Locks up and doesnt unravel at all until you undo it.

[Sideways Tim]

So how much difference does one or two twists make? I'd be amazed if it was even measurable in terms of bracing height.

Forgive my innocence in this matter, I've not been shooting long so it's still a case of remembering what to do, never mind the minutiae.

[Mick]

In the days of wood limbs the bow would take a set (Not return to its origional position) if left strung. With todays carbon /foam limbs that is not the case, I used to measure /weigh my limbs every now and again just to check, I don't bother anymore because there was never any measureable difference.

Re- twists and brace height.
One or two twists might not make any difference if you have say 20 twists in the string, but if you have say 40 twists then a couple of twists could equate to perhaps 1mm, still not a lot but significant when it comes to fine tuning. Don't forget a difference in brace height will also effect the position of your nocking point.

[JohnK]

As I said, V, if you have good quality limbs, even some wood/glass ones, it should make very little difference, if any.

Longbows and some other traditional bows should not be left strung. My understanding is that Mongolian bows and the like were often left strung for long periods of time.

[N.Vodden]

i dont know how the hell i missed that, sorry John not with it tonight :s