STRAIGHTENING TWISTED LIMBS
Many old bows have twisted limbs, for one reason or another. To prevent
this problem never store a bow leaning up in a corner and never leave it
strung in a closed car during the heat of the day. Both of these mistakes
can cause limbs to twist, or worst yet to delaminate.
Speaking of stringing and unstringing.......
It is acceptable to leave a bow string for a long time if its laying
horizontal on a flat surface. Alot of bows are destroyed during the
unstring/stringing process, so if you plan on using your bow on a fairly
regular basis it is best to leave it strung. If you do need to unstring it,
by all means USE A TOP QUALITY STRINGER.
OK, now back to fixing a damaged limb. In almost all cases, delamination of
a limb is impossible to fix so that the bow can be safely drawn and shot.
Limb twist, on the other hand can quite often be corrected by using the
following method.
1. Heat up the damaged limb by running hot water over it. The easiest way
to accomplish this is to hold the limb under the bathtub faucet.
2. Grab the limb tip with one hand and the bows riser with the other and
twist the limb in the opposite direction and hold in position.
3. While holding the limb in position, have someone shut off the hot water
and turn on the cold. Hold the limb until it has cooled.
4. Check for straightness.
5. Repeat if necessary.
I have heard of people using hair dryers to heat up the limb, but I have
never tried it myself. I would be cautious of overheating and further
damaging the limb using this method..
Topic: STRAIGHTENING TWISTED LIMBS - by Ric Anderson (Read 2314 times)
