Can I reduce 10# of draw wieght from a self bow that is finished?

[stick flipper]

Sounds like a dumb question.... But I have an Osage self bow that I made 5 years ago that is too heavy for me now. It has been shot quite a bit and know I'm wondering if I sand off the finish and start scraping to get about 10-15# off of it, will I mess it all up? I just don't want to "mess up" my first self bow and if it there is a problem with doing this I will just retire it too the wall. I'm sure I'm just nervous and over thinking this.

Thanks,
Chris

[CardboardDuck]

I would say yes you can take some weight off. If the tiller is good just scrape both sides evenly. If the tiller is off, maybe start a new one  

[Pat B]

I agree with Duck.

[Eric Krewson]

Poundage drops are a good time to correct any tiller problems. I have dropped the poundage on a bunch of bows, one 4 times on one bow for a customer. I dropped the above mentioned bow from 76# to 65# to 56# and then to 48# as the owners shoulders went to pot.

It has been my finding that you always have to completely retiller a bow if you are dropping significant poundage.

[macbow]

Eric, by completely retiller do you mean watching,it on the tree after each reduction and checking with the gizmo throughout?

[stick flipper]

Thank you so much.... That's what I needed to know... I will drop wieght and retiller

[J.F. Miller]

bow will never be the same after you remove 10-15 lbs. of draw weight if it has been shot much in the last 5 years. I would retire my first selfbow and make a new one.

I live in Licking Co., too. just north of J-town. where are you, stick flipper?

[John Scifres]

I would do it if you are never going to shoot it as it is.  One good thing about removing that much wood from the belly is it shifts the neutral plane towards the back.  Therefore, you are taking some of the compressed wood fibers off.

[7 Lakes]

Congratulations, How many of us even have our first self bow still in one piece.  Next, how many of us finished our first self bow overweight.  

Personally I'd hang that sucker up and start a new one but there is no reason you can't drop a little weight. In fact if there are any tiller problems right now, I'd suggest doing just that.

[stick flipper]

J.F. Miller,
 I'm in Hebron... Near buckeye outdoors. I have family that lives on 657 and 62.... And I used to work in centerburg just north of you.

Thanks guys I will just retire the bow and give it to one of my kids some day.... I have another that floor tillered so it's time to retire my first and finish my second!

[J.F. Miller]

small world, eh? best of luck with second selfbow.

[stick flipper]

Yes small world and thank you

[Eric Krewson]

The guy in the picture holding his third place trophy in the IBO Trad World is the one who I dropped his bow poundage 4 times for. He shot the reworked bow in last weeks championship.

 

My point is, a properly done poundage drop will not hurt a bow, and yes I put the bow on a tree and go through the entire tillering process like I would on a new bow as I drop poundage.

Of course, if you are trying to drop poundage on a poorly made, hingy bow, you are probably wasting your time. You will still have a hingy bow, just of lower poundage, bad hinges can't be fixed.

[Shaun]

I have dropped weight on several self bows and the results were good. Most of them had developed poor tiller as they were not "shot in" fully during original building and developed poor shape over time. This tiller was easily corrected during weight reduction.

If the original bow was slow from being over stressed (pulled past a visible flaw or past final draw weight/length) this cannot be corrected. But in general I have been very happy with weight reduced self bows.
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