All wood bows and the Cold

[northland archer]

I am thinking of making a bbo bow.  Question is, how does the cold affect the bows performance?  Is there any special care i will need to consider when hunting in the cold or wet?  This is a new venture for me so i thought i would start out with a glued up blank from one of the good people here on the site.  Any input or direction would be greatly appreciated.  

Thanks Much
Treavor

[Pat B]

No problem with osage. I have heard that yew becomes brittle in cold weather and can fail. I'm not sure about boo backed bows. The glue used might be a consideration. I know that TiteBond glues can be affected by extreme heat but I don't know about cold.
  I have hunted all conditions with my self bows with no ill effects. Moisture only effects wood in a gaseous form(humidity)over the short tern(ie, hunting, shooting). You can protect your bows, wood or glass with covering finishes but you will have a hard time controlling the effects humidity(or lack of it)on the wood components of your bows.

[AkDan]

I'll let you know on a bbo on cold.  I'm still building one   .   Actually been trying to get some other stuff done, no excuse it's not done yet ugg.  I plan on running it in some super cold weather.  We are not quite as humid as you are in MN (my home also), but we definatly have the cold taken care of..though lately it's been crazy warm!

[Roy Steele]

I've never used one in the cold.I have built a few that are are over 10 years old that are used in the cold each year.They are used deer,rabbit and stump shooting each winter here in WV.One guy has taken his with me Sika deer hunting down on the eastern shore in JAN.i never had any come back.

[Tom Leemans]

I've been hunting with a BBO for 5 years now. I don't tell it how cold it is and it doesn't care. I just don't leave it out in extreme cold overnight and I excercise it a little right after I string it. Doesn't hurt to partially draw it a time or two during those boring moments as you hunt.

[Mark Baker]

I hunted in cold as low as 10 or 20 below zero with bamboo backed Ipe, and Hickory backed maple bows with no adverse affects.  I use TB 2, and TB 3, on these bows.  I recently had an article in PA of a hunt where I took an elk in sub-zero....about 13 years ago with a board bow.  Our conditions here in MT are pretty dry compared to other places, but a well designed and crafted bow should serve you well, I'd think in most cold.   Any colder than what I've tried and you're more man than I!

[canid song]

remember there is some heat generated by friction when a bow limb is flexed, so periodically working the limbs a bit should warm them appreciably in cold weather.

i haven't used all wood bows in extreme cold, in fact seldom below about 30f [oak, ash, hickory] so i love having so many people around here with experience.

[TheFatboy]

As for yew, it really does become brittle and weak at very low temperatures, unless it's high altitude Italian yew. Yew that has grown at high altitude will - of course - grow very much slower and get used to low temperatures.

[jsweka]

I built one from a Dryad blank (can't recommend them enough) and never noticed any difference in the bow's performance between 90 degrees and 10 degrees.  -My performance is another question  

[csimpson]

A buddies Yew bow blew up last week after being left in the back of his truck in 20 degree weather for 4 hours, before going to the club to shoot indoors. He neglected to warm up bow or draw the bow partially a few times before coming to full draw.
I have had no problems with my bamboo backed yew bows.

[divecon10]

Brr! Y'all r part Eskimo (no offence to real bearers of cold) One mate there tells me as he has a 14ee boot the others walk behind him in track in the snow.
We have had a few snap shortly after arrival to the tropics, a couple of ol timers here said that apparently when ordering bows yrs ago (As there none made here then, they all came from Nh America) there was a common problem with sealing the limbs. apparently at dent or scratch that would penetrate the skin of a bow from a cold climate would allow moisture from local relative humidity to penetrate well in and weaken to the point of snap, well sometimes a flexing, stringy break like a old moist arrow. Another factor may have been the cold and dry air effect from the altitude and duration of an item shipped by air and immediately opened to the humidity. I have no idea how cold or dry that'd be but an avionic buff would know. I have also noted that a raiser with a lineal flaw will open up quickly here. As I have bad eyes I've taken to getting my eagle eyed son to go over with a lens to check, A sand and a couple coats of epoxy arrested the problem. In view of this I have my nuromo uno bow made from local tropical hardwoods, really sensational. The bowyer says the glues and the heat & pressure and the outer coats r the major factors in getting it right. I suppose all woods have to be properly dried if they function properly. I remember as kids we had to polish the wooden floors with kerosene, after many years there was a waxy buildup that was squeaky but fun as to slide on with a mat. Salvaged timber from such floors is perfect in every way! Could this be applied to bows or would it be detrimental in some way?

[Walt Francis]

No experience with laminated bows (BBO's, BBI's, ect...) but I have used osage selfbows to take whitetails at -20 without any problems.