Life of a selfbow

[bigcountry]

Does a properly cared for selfbow have a limited life?  I just got an osage selfbow with snakeskins and back underneieth with sinew.  Can I over shoot it?  I guess sooner or later, they lose thier spring?  

I usually put my bows on a bowrack, and this is in my den, where my woodstove is.  Is it bad to keep selfbows in such a dry enviroment where I burn wood?  

I love this bow to death and think its a ball to shoot,  I just want it have a while.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Walt Francis]

If the bow was designed, built, and tillered, properly the bow should last your lifetime, if cared for.  With the humidity in MD, having it in the same room as your fireplace shouldn't hurt, in fact it might help, the bow as long as it is kept away from direct heat.

[arrowslinger22]

Some answers, you may get conflicting ones.
Selfbows do have a limited life, how long is dependent on many things, how it's made, how it's handled and shot and how you store it.  Osage can be too dry, but it's not as critical as with some others.  Usually, bow either break or chysal, then break or go out of tiller in another way and break, eventually.  I wouldn't keep it in the area of the wood stove, but that's just me.  Mine are stored in an unheated garage, not ideal maybe, but so far, so good.

[bigcountry]

The bow has like 4 coats of poly on it.  Figured that would help seal it.  

Thanks for your replies.

[Walt Francis]

Regardless of what is used to seal the bow, its moisture content will eventually reach equilibrium with the humidity/temperature of the room or place where it is stored.  Some finishes will slow down the equilibrium process more then others.  With sinew backing excess moisture, or lack of, will eventually affect the performance, weight, and tiller, either good or bad.  Sinew is affected by moisture/humidity more readily then Osage and most other woods and therefore should be kept in a cool dry (low humidity) place as suggested by Spencer.  If the humidity in your area is high (my assumption for most of MD) then the bow should be stored in a place that helps reduce/maintains the humidity to an acceptable level.  In the new Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume IV Tim Baker has a chapter on wood which also covers the relationships of moisture to temperature and the storage of wood.  The advice he gives for rough worked bow wood directly relates to the finished product and is definitely worth the read for us selfbow junkies.  For Mark, who isn’t interested in the specifics and technical stuff, the simple answer is to ask his bowyer what the average temperature and humidity in the shop were when and where the bow was tillered and try to match those conditions wherever the bow is stored.