Can this be fixed?

[ibehiking]

I bought this Hickory recurve board bow last year. It is 50#@28" and AMO 64".  I shoot it occassionaly and everything seems fine. I recently took a photo of it braced and noticed the asymmetry of the limbs. I do not know if it has always been like this or changed recently. When unbraced there is about an inch difference in the distance the recurve tips are behind the riser. I know it is not right, but is it anything to worry about? Can it be fixed?

Thanks.

 

[Jason Scott]

It looks like your lower limb is significantly weeker than the top. The lower limb has taken more set than the top by what you described. It can be evened out if you tiller the top limb outer third section I guess. You will loose draw weight though. Don't overdraw it for sure because the top limb is over powering the bottom and it will fail. Sand the belly and/or sides slowly on the top limb. Put a bow stringer on it every now and then and flex the limbs a few times and slowly brace the bow (don't draw it yet), repeat if necessary until it is the same or slightly weeker than the bottom upon bracing the bow and then slowly exercise the limbs by drawing it thirty + times, working your way up to tour draw length and then don't draw it past that point.

[Pat B]

Can(or will) you post a full draw pic?

[ibehiking]

Here is the bow at full draw. Does tillering the outer third section of the top limb still seem like the right course of action?

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Shaun]

Any tillering changes you make will lower the draw weight of the bow. Small changes at the end of the tillering process make big changes in draw weight.

Do you leave it braced when you are not using it? Have you or anyone else drawn it past 28"? Do you lean it in a corner? These things can damage all wood bows.

How does the bow shoot? I would leave it alone if it shoots OK.

[ibehiking]

I unstring it after shooting, it has not been overdrawn and I store it horizontally on a shelf. So I don't know what caused it, or if it came that way. I never really looked at it closely when braced before, and since it is the lower limb it is not obvious when holding it. It seems to shoot fine, handshock seems minor. The current draw weight is 50# and I don't mind if it drops into the mid-40's.

Will it get worse with shooting? Is there a concern that the bow might fail while shooting?

[Dano]

I would examine the lower limb belly in the area where it is bending too much. It may have started to crysal there, if it has it will probably just get worse. Check out this recent post on the subject. Crysals are tiny fractures that run across the grain.
 
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002127

[Pat B]

If anything I would get it bending near the fades some. Unfortunately it will drop the weight as others pointed out.