Homemade Bow Scale

[burch]

I hate buying a bow scale just to check my two bows. Does anyone have ideas for a homemade bow scale. I ran a search thinking this has came up before but no luck.

             Burch  

[kennym]

I've heard of folks using a bathroom scale and a kinda-like tillering stick to get full draw, but I've never done it.

Sounds like a way to get whacked!

[Hit-or-Miss]

I have my wife stand on the bathroom scale and hold her bow arm out at full draw, extended straight up overhead. Then I pull the string down towards the floor to 28". I subtract her weight from the display and get the draw weight. 525# minus 475# = 50# @ 28".

[Hit-or-Miss]

Ok, I'm joking, but it IS an interesting visual, isn't it...LOL??? She only goes 120# or so!!!!

[Pat B]

An annalog bathroom(not digital) scale works well for measuring bow weight. Pretty much like Kenny said...just be careful while you are measuring the weight.

[kennym]

525# minus 475# = 50# @ 28"

Dang son, you care if we email her this info? LOL  

[monterey]

Originally posted by Pat B:
An annalog bathroom(not digital) scale works well for measuring bow weight. Pretty much like Kenny said...just be careful while you are measuring the weight.

Indeed!  This is the method I use.  Picked it up in one of the TB bibles, I think.  Like Kenny says, a failure in the stick or slip off the scale could be a real problem.  My measuring stick is extremely stout.

This method tends to be a bit iffy in the early draw portion of an FD curve, but settles out pretty well once into the 15 or 18 inch range.  At least that's the case on my crappy little scale.  Also, accuracy is suspect in my minds since it regularly lies to me about my own weight@  :D

[burch]

o.k. so seriously how do you use the bathroom scale deal.

[Schmidtster]

I bought a 10 dollar fish scale from Walmart and hung it on the wall works good for me the one I got has a red slider that stays where the highest weight was acheived so you dont have to watch it. just pull to your draw length let it off slow and check the weight.

[burch]

I just happen to find my old game scale. It hangs in a tree and you just hang the game on the hook and vwell-ah.  I`m thinking i`ll just have to measure an arrow from the nock valley to 28" then set the string with arrow in place on the hook and draw the bow down to the mark on the arrow where it meets the back of the riser at the shelf and check the weight on the scale. Am I thinking this right or not ?

           Burch

[4est trekker]

Here's what I use.  Simple, but yes...watch your noggin.  I have a digital postal scale and record the exact weights of several objects, then tally their weights, and place them on the bathroom scale.  I've found my analog scale to be very accurate.

 

What you can't see is the notch in the top of the dowel to keep the bowstring in place.  Measure your drawlength increments from the bottom of this notch for best accuracy, just like you would measure an arrow's length from the crotch of the nock.  Hope this helps  

[TroutGuide]

Luggage scale at wal-mart less than $10.

[burch]

I measured my bow per the instructions I typed above and came up with 39lbs. at 28".  My bows AMO reads 45# @ 27 1/2"    This is a Z-Bow from Zach Ferguson i`ve had for 4 or 5years. You`d think that `ole Zack would get these a little closer with all the technoligy being offered today. In fact it`s a custom bow so it should be built with a little more care to get it right in my opinion. Now, in all fairness to Zack maybe my scale isn`t what it outta be, but before I used it I calibrated it using a 5 lb. weight from a weight lifting set and the scale read 5 lbs. exactly.

[wildbill001]

Analog luggage scale at local Wal-Mart: ~$8.00

Not getting whacked in the head:  priceless.

[TroutGuide]

I would use a 28 inch piece of string rather than shoot myself in the foot when the scale slips loose.  Arrows should only be on the string if pointing in a safe direction and under controle.

[burch]

Originally posted by TroutGuide:
I would use a 28 inch piece of string rather than shoot myself in the foot when the scale slips loose.  Arrows should only be on the string if pointing in a safe direction and under controle.

I`ll have to say,  That`s intelligent  

[Cambow]

BUY a scale... you wont be sorry. The bathroom scale is sketchy at best  

I spent quite bit on mine and love it... but I am going to try one of the WalMart scales that others have mentioned and see how they do.

[hardwaymike]

I used to work at an outdoors store in the Archery department. We had one of the Game scales mentioned above to measure draw weight on. To get to the correct draw length there was a aluminum yard stick with a hole drilled at the 1" mark to go on the scale's hook. The yardstick was on there all of the time and the bowstring was always on the outside of the yardstick. So in doing this if you put the back of the riser at the 29" mark on the yardstick you would know what the weight was @28". Clear as mud? Mike

[John Scifres]

I have used the bathroom scale method for all my bows.  It's accurate if you calibrate your scale with a couple 25# dumbells.  Put the dumbells on there and adjust to 50#.  All scales should be calibrated to the range you will be measuring.  

As for safety, if I can't be trusted with a stick and a bathroom scale then what the hell am I doing using a bandsaw or broadheads or firearms      

Get a stick.  Cut a notch in the top of it.  Mark it every inch.  Calibrate your scale.  Put the stick on scale.  Put string in notch.  Pull bow down to draw length.  Read scale.  See my fuzzy shearlings in this pic.  There is a calibrated scale in front of them.
   

[4est trekker]

Well said, John.  For what it's worth, I took four bows to the local archery shop with a very high-end bow scale.  They weighed all four bows for me, and there was not more than a 2# difference between what my scale said and theirs.