How do you measure a bows length amo?

[Bob L.]

Hope this isn't a silly question but I have a takedown, how do I know how long it is, do I measure from the tip to tip braced or unbraced? if its suppose to be a 64" amo td. It is the same length as my 62" one piece recurve and am affraid its not a 64" td?
Thanks

[Dave Bulla]

You follow the curve of the limb from the string nocks to the riser fadeouts then a straight line to the other fadeout and follow the curve of the other limb to it's string nock.

At least that's what I've always been told.

If your new bow has more curve in the limbs than the old one they could both be the same length tip to tip unstrung.  

For example, I have a 66 inch longbow that is about the most I can shoot out of my ground blind without haveing to be super careful.  I also have a 68 inch recurve and it's actually shorter than the longbow when unstrung...

[Brandon Stahl]

[Bob L.]

Thanks for the information. Happy turkey day

[Dave Bulla]

Never heard that way Brandon but it makes sense from a mass produced, standardized viewpoint.

[Brandon Stahl]

[George D. Stout]

Prior to those modern AMO standards you link to Brandon, the old bowyers used the measurement that Dave talks about.  You measured from nock to nock across the belly of the bow.  The bow braces on the belly side.  Most everything you see now in print has been abridged and changed to suit modern bows and to kind of dumb-down the information to make it more understandable I suppose.  

I'm the kind of person who likes the old measurements:  Draw length....to back of bow.   Bow weight...weight of bow drawn with arrow head to back of bow. Bow length....measurement from string nock to string nock across belly of bow. Simple, accurate,  effective and non-ambiguous.