does frost affect bows?

[radius]

No problems here been out in around 0 deg F temperatures. I have friend who likes to make bows from yew and won't shoot a yew bow in the winter. He's had one or 2 explode in the cold. FYI- I let the bow acclimate to the cold for several minutes before stringing it up and shooting.  Bowyering is done in a heated cellar. Jawge

RIP...yew longbow...same thing just happened the other day, to ayew longbow an old friend of mine bought from me and gave to his dad.  His dad lives way up north where it gets damn cold.  I guess some other person strung it and drew it and it broke, and now my buddy's dad is kicking himself for ever letting the guy touch it.

[dragonman]

thanks for those replies, it appears the rumours are true, ice affects bows! I guess it affects near everything else!, so I better be cautious. This farenheit system is confusing also ???zero should be zero . I envy you guys who dont get the frost.The humidity here right now is 95%, but its cold aswell, about10"C,but I dont envy you Adb, where do you live?? Thats interesting about epoxy!  Great forum, ask a question and you gets loads of practical info.

[fusizoli]

Dragomann! The RH goes up in cold as in your room whan not heat it to 22C just to 17-18. After 0 degreesC will fall down fast because the RH freeze out from air so it coud going down extreme low in extreme cold.
I dont think it has a recepie for shooting cold, some woods and bows may stand better than others. Take a look what kind of woods and technic the hunters use for making bows in north.

Use a bow in cold needs more care. Less drawlenght or brace it lower , brace it inside and not in cold. Than before use warm it up some short than longer  slow draws before "full" draw it. If not shoot it for a while this method starts again.
Someone sad to me ash is ok in cold. I m not tried  my selfbows yet but will. Winter use my glass laminated bow that shure safer to shoot.

[adb]

thanks for those replies, it appears the rumours are true, ice affects bows! I guess it affects near everything else!, so I better be cautious. This farenheit system is confusing also ???zero should be zero . I envy you guys who dont get the frost.The humidity here right now is 95%, but its cold aswell, about10"C,but I dont envy you Adb, where do you live?? Thats interesting about epoxy!  Great forum, ask a question and you gets loads of practical info.

I live in Saskatchewan. That's a province of Western Canada. Gets bloody cold here in the winter. It was -41C with the windchill a couple of days ago. Makes us tough, and the deer huge. The current world record typical whitetail (Hanson Buck) was shot about 1/2hr from where I live, in a little town called Biggar. Texas... pppft... Texas is big, but this is Biggar. 

[radius]

Western Canada!  Talk about dumbing it down!

[mullet]

adb, you're not kidding about the cold. My last trip to Northern Manitoba was cold. I stayed in FlinFlon on the border with Saskatchewan and drove NE every day 160 KLM. The last day it was -52C with the wind chill. I couldn't wait to get back to Florida.

[radius]

-52!!!  Wow, what were you doing up there?

[mullet]

 I was hand drilling through a frozen lake that was contaminated by a copper mine, taking samples of the bottom sediments. I was finished before that late storm came through and waiting to go home.

[Kirkll]

wood is a moisture sponge.... the moisture content in all woods raise and lower constantly, unless it is in a stable inviorement. there is no sealer made that will stop those MC  measurements from changing either...furniture, doors, old wood windows, and bows...

so if you have a bow that home is in the desert, or a very dry climate. that bows moisture content may stay at 7-8 percent all year. you take the same bow and hang it in my shop in oregon, and the MC will jump to 12%....if i bring the same bow in the house where we are running the wood stove, it dries it back out again.

the reason fridgid weather blows one bow up, and not the other has more to do with the mosture content in the wood freezing than anything else.when water freezes, it expands...the extremely cold weather effects composite materials in different ways too.... warm.... flexible.... cold... brittle and stiffer.

if i'm hunting in snow and cold weather, that bow of mine goes in the sleeping bag at night with me...

[dragonman]

that makes sense  about the moisture content. So  i really do have to be carefull, because around here is very high humidity, it has nt been below 85% for a month now, if a bow from this part of the world freezes it is full of water and gonna likley snap!!
I do know about cold guys, the wife is from norway right inside the artic circle where the sun doesnt reach in the winter and like canada it gets pretty cold.