Length question, I'm confused!

[Txjourneyman]

The seller of my bow stated that it is a 56" bow. On the bow,(Darton Hunter), is written,49#56". Here is where the confusion comes into play. I had to order a string. Chad from Recurves.com told me to take the string off the bow put one loop on a nail, stretch it out and measure. OK, did that and got 51". That got me scratching my head. I thought a string should be 3-4" shorter than AMO. Well, I restrung the bow and measured tip to tip, 52". So I unstrung it again and measured tip to tip again and got 54". Where does the 56" come into play? Is there a possibility of a factory typo on the bow? I've done internet seaches and cannot find any info on this bow. Can anyone enlighten me? Should I measure the bow by following the contours of the limbs rather than tip to tip?
   I am easily confused by nature but this one has me really scratching my head. Thank you for your input on this one. Greg

[OconeeDan]

I believe that the 56" is measured around the curves.  If your strung bow is 52" then you know your string is that long.  I believe string is supposed to be 4 inches shorter than bow length, if I am not mistaken.
Dan

[Mudfeather]

Recurves generally take a string 4" shorter and longbows 3" shorter than stated bow length.

[Bill Carlsen]

Dan and Keith got it right.  Four inches shorter is typical of recurve strings.

[Nakohe]

Is that all that is written on your bow?  The way that is I would think it was 49# @ 56" which would be the draw and not the length. When you string it what is the brace height? Most are 7" to 8" that will tell you if your string is close to right. If string fits bow usually you can just measure it to get a new one made.

[Txjourneyman]

The brace height is 7 3/4 at present. Nakohe where in Big D are you? I'm at work right now at University of Dallas in Irving.

[Pete W]

The AMO standard is the bow length is 3" longer than the string length at proper brace height.It is the same for longbows and recurves.
You can read the standard on my site at  www.peteward.com   Many bows are not being made to AMO standard.This is a reason some bows seem to draw and feel diferent than others that are marked the same . If a 58" bow is actualy a 60" bow it sure feels sweet for a 58.

[jchunt4ever]

I had this same question the other day, glad to see I am not the only one.

Now, let me make sure I understand this correctly. According to AMO standards, the length of the bow is only determined by taking the length of the string and adding 3"? Why would someone come up with something like that, as that makes absolutely no sense to me, especially since they labeled that measurement as the "bow length" when in fact it is very easily not representative of any actual length.

Maybe I just have it wrong still.

[Nakohe]

I live on the edge of Dallas and Mesquite in Pleasant Grove.

[Van/TX]

If the brace height is where you want it then measure the length of the string, just like Chad said.  Doesn't matter what is written or the bow or AMO standards...Van

[Shawn Leonard]

What Pete said is corrcet, but that standard was put in place after a lot of older bows were manufactured. I have a lot of old string from Bear and Martin that came in plastic tubes and if the recurve one says 56" AMO and ya take it out of the tube and measure it, they are 52"s and a LB one that says 64"s if ya take it out and measure it, it is 61"s long, so as Van said, as long as ya get the right brace, than your fine. Shawn

[Orion]

A recurve bow's length is measured from nock to nock along the curve of the bow on the unstrung bow.  That's why it's longer than if you just measure straight across from tip to tip.  The bow's length determines the string length, not the other way around, and as many have pointed out, the string length is generally 4 inches shorter than the bow length with recurves, but not always.  Bow design also comes into play.  It may vary from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 shorter than the AMO length, or even more.

[hormoan]

Hey I learned something today, and did not make a mistake! Good info.

                   Brent

[Tim Fishell]

I learned a long time ago that the AMO standard 3-4" is a good starting point but not concrete.  I have two 64" longbows that both take different length strings.  Then I have two 66" longbows and they both take different length strings.  So I made a chart that has all of my bows on it.  When I get a new bow the first thing I do is write down the brace height it comes with and I take the sring off and measure it.  This way I always know how the bow was sent up from the bowyer and I can keep it that way.  This is just the way I do it and it works good for me.

Thanks,
Tim