Bear with warped limbs, straightening possible ?

[white feather]

I picked up an old Bear recurve that has warped limbs. Is there any way to restraighten them? The fellow I got it from said he used the step through method to string it. He said it shot good but --- ? looking down the string from the limb tips the string grove points to the right of the string. Any suggestions will be appreciated.   :confused:

[Orion]

Just bend the affected part of the limb, usually near the recurve/tip, in the opposite direction, unstrung, of course.  Need to bend it quite a bit further in the opposite direction to account for springback.  Often that is enough.  Sometimes, it won't take, and you'll need to apply heat.  Warm the affected/warped area with a hair dryer until it's quite hot to the touch, then bend it again and hold it until the limb cools.  Wear gloves when you work with a hot limb.  Also, you should know, that applying heat can cause the limb to delaminate.  Actually, sometimes just bending the limb hard in the opposite direction of the twist can cause it to delaminate, a result of the glue/adhesive breaking down due to age.  That's the chance one takes when straightening limbs.  Most times it works though.  Good luck.  Oh yeah.  After you get the limbs straight, use a stringer.

[white feather]

Thanks for the info Orion. I'll try what you suggested. It's a RH bow I picked up to practice & hunt with if it works out. I have a LH bear I bought back in the 70's. I'm R handed but it just felt natural to hold & shoot left. I started left with compounds, went right, shot better,(dominate right eye). Want to get back to trad.Thanks again.

[Danny Rowan]

DO NOT USE A HAIR DRYER, USE WARM/HOT WATER.Les of a risk of delaming the bow.

Danny

[TSHOOTER]

Buddy straightened old bear bow with hot water method. It worked for him.

[white feather]

Thanks for the info Danny & TSHOOTER. The bear was made back in 1953 and I sure don't want to damage it, but I do want to stump shoot and hunt with it. The LH bear I got back in the 70's was made in 1953 also, different color though. Like your quiver Danny.

[Steve Kendrot]

Check out the how to archives. There is a post on how to straighten limbs.

[Jason Lester]

White feather,

   When you say 1953 are you refering to the date on the Bow? That is a patent date only if you are. All bear bows from 1953 on have that date on them. Just FYI I have a couple bear bows from the 50's great bows.

I also have a Grizzly from the 70's that had a simalar twist. I think some of this comes from proping it up in the corner or in a closet. I didn't use heat but I did get the twist out.

[Orion]

Hot water, rags dipped in hot water, works too, but be sure the finish on the side of the limbs is good.  If its worn or chipped off in places, water can get in and swell the laminations.  That leads to delamination as well.  I've never delaminated one using a hair dryer, though I have heard of it happening.  Got to keep the dryer moving to heat the twisted part of the limb evenly.

[8up]

I straightened my lower limb on the bear super grizzly I shoot. I wish I had tried the hair dryer method. I used hot running water and while it did work it made the finish look like water had gotten under it.

[white feather]

I'm going to try straightening without heat and see how it goes. It seems heat, dry & wet has potental problems. Thanks everyone for your input. SnailSkin thanks for straightening me out on the date relevance. Im going to look up the Bear web site and see what I can find out about ageing the bows.