Did I just ruin my bow??

[Kevin L.]

Well,
  After over 10 years of shooting traditional, I just had my first broken string, on my new-to-me Palmer recurve. In the middle of a release, I hear this awful BANG and my arrow landed right in front of me. The black bundle in my string broke just down from the nocking loops on both ends, leaving the bow in an unstrung position and the string in front of the riser. Scared the #$%@ outta me!

 My question is this: I inspected it over pretty well, and can't find anything broken or cracked. Am I missing anything I should check? Limbs aren't twisted, no cracks in the glass, riser seems fine...... But it was such a bad-sounding noise, I want to be sure I didn't damage the bow. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

TIA,

Kevin

[Bjorn]

Been there, and had that happen twice. It is very scary at the time, and aside from a little fright on my part, my bows had no negative effects. The riser may be a bit more fragile than the limbs; but as a fly rod maker you know how to inspect wood. I would follow the "if you can't see a flaw there is no flaw" rule.

[the Ferret]

Look it over very carefully, if you can't see any damage chances are there isn't any. Put a new string on it and shoot a couple partial draw from the hip so to speak. If everything goes well, shoot a couple 1/2 draw then 3/4 draw then full draw.

[Ian johnson]

it has happened to me twice, did not harm the bows

[Kevin L.]

I just went over it again and still can't find anything wrong. I may have gotten lucky, this time. Lordy, if I had hair, it'd be white after that.

It's a 60" recurve, am I correct in thinking it takes a 57" string? I used to know, but can't remember if it was subtract 4" for longbow and 3" for recurve, the other way around, or something completely different.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Bjorn]

It is 'the other way around'. Contact Chad at recurves.com

[Ironman]

I would take the limbs off and also check the riser and limbs.

[deertraks]

 Man, that's a bad sound and my hair is already white.

[bentpole]

How's the bow Kevin?

[Kevin L.]

It seems to be OK. I can't find any marks, cracks, chips, etc. Seems I dodged the bullet on this one, but I still gotta find a new string for it. I'll have to order one, since none of the local shops carry flemish strings. Rifle season has started, so it'll have to wait until I'm done guiding for the season.