Real bow length

[longbowben]

Why do they give you unstrung length.You hunt with the bow strung so why not give that length.Leatherneck and myself just checked a few bows 1 to 3 inches diffrent.  :confused:  Lets hear what your bow measurements our.STRUNG TIP TO TIP.

[Carbon Caster]

Click here to read the STANDARD in measuring ALL bows.  As a string maker, I wish ALL bowyers would follow this standard if they were going to mark a bow with an AMO measurement.  Sorry, pet peeve of mine.  LOL!!!

 AMO Standards

[Dave Worden]

This info is now on TradGang in the How-To  section.  I TOTALLY agree with Brian.  I maintain my Club's instructional bows and arrows.  Every bow has a length marked on it.  Some say AMO, some don't.  Buying strings is a real PITA as some suppliers sell AMO-length strings, some sell loop-to-loop length.  Note that the AMO length is totally independent of the length of a bow.  It is the length of the proper string minus 3 inches.  Why in the heck did they have to subtract 3 inches?  While I can't, for the life of me, figure out why the AMO length was determined the way it was, at least it is a consistent reference.

[LBR]

at least it is a consistent reference.
 

That's why it's used--but a lot of bows/bowyers don't follow AMO guidelines.  That makes going by the bow length when buying/making a string as reliable as the extended weather forcast.

I always ask for actual string length--3" shorter, 4" shorter, etc. is a shot in the dark.

Chad

[Falk]

posted by Dave Worden:
the AMO length is totally independent of the length of a bow.  It is the length of the proper string minus 3 inches.  Why in the heck did they have to subtract 3 inches?

Because the subject is complicated enough as it is, please let me correct you:
It is the length of the proper string plus 3 inches.

[d. ward]

AMO standard is a cable not a string..All makers bows who were covered under AMO guidelines had to brace at a given brace hight...with a cable. Not a string that was all stretched out...LBR nailed it...most bowyers do not follow the standards..which is cool...but lets say your in tim-buck-two and need a string....pretty likely if your bow is not an AMO standard you ai'nt gonna buy a bow string that will fit your none AMO standard bow to easy....AMO was supposed to make sure a string marked 60" would brace a bow marked 60"...no matter who the maker of the bow is or was..But somehwere in the mid 1970's all that went out the window as bow maker were makeing thier own strings to fit there bows only...The AMO standard was set-up in about march or april of 1968...so Dan some bows that do not show AMO may have been built before 1968...some that do not show the AMO are not AMO.

[vermonster13]

And some bowyers don't seem to know what AMO really is. it is three inches under the AMO measurement for all bows, not three inches for longbows and 4 inches for recurves.

[leatherneck]

I think we are getting off the subject of this post. The question is why do bowyers call a 60" a 60" bow when in fact it's really a 58" bow strung when your actually going to use it. Let me put it this way: if I wanted a say 54" bow for blind hunting. I go to a bowyer and buy his/her 54" bow. But when I string it up it's only 52". While a bow is strung is really the actual length in my eyes. I have never shot a 60" bow unstrung. So why is this so? Maybe cabin fever has really settled in.  

[Asafan]

How you will measure the Korean traditional bow? On length of a bowstring? Or on length of a belly?

[mooseman76]

I believe the bow is measured from nock to nock following the contours of the bow (I don't remember if it is along the back or belly, though).  It is not measured in a straight line from tip to tip...Mike

[mooseman76]

This was meant for the earlier posts.  Sorry Asafan, I know nothing about the Korean bows...Mike

[Dave Worden]

Falk, thanks for the correction.  It definitely is PLUS 3 inches.  And like Vermonster says, it is ALWAYS 3 inches, not 3 for longbows and 4 for recurves.  I thinks where THAT bit of confusion comes from is that is the "rule of thumb" for matching a string length (loop-to-loop) to a bow measured along the belly nock-to-nock.  Even that is just a starting point.  What I do now, if I'm mailordering strings is tell them the loop-to-loop length I need and have them open a package and measure a string.  At least that way, I know what I'm getting.

[laddy]

I remember now why I make all my own strings, this gave me a head ache.