Bows losing power

[sieddy]

Hi guys I'm hoping you may be able to help me with an issue I'm having. I recently bought two bows one a oldish plastic recurve (bear with me!) and one an amazing Sinew backed Yew Shorty and both seem to have lost draw weight and power. The recurve was marked as 55# and the Yew as 73# I couldn't confirm these weights but both were really powerful when I received them. Now a couple of weeks later both are easier to draw and shoot less powerfullyl. At first I was shooting below target and they were going over it. I've kept both inside and it's not too damp here in the house and I've been really careful not to overdraw the Yew bow. Anyone have any ideas whats happening here? :-)

[Pat B]

Moisture would be my guess on the sinew backed bow but not necessarily the glass bow. Other than that I don't have a clue.

[sieddy]

Fair enough Pat it's a weird one. I'll keep the Yew bow in a dry spot for a while and see how it goes. Thanks anyhow

[bubby]

Don't know about the glass bow but it's totaly possible the yew wasn't shot in enough

[Del the cat]

If you can't put 'em on a tiller and weigh the draw weight how can you be sure you aren't getting more used to them?
E.G You are getting stronger rather than the bows getting weaker!
I find my fitness level can vary hugely and a week of just 10 push ups night and morning and shooting half a dozen arrows every day can make a huge difference.
Del

[riverrat]

im with Del on this. maybe your strength is increasing. i mean yew, it gets damp, it looses umph, ya i can dig that .but not a glass bow. they dont loose umph when they get damp.lol Tony

[le0n]

Hi guys I'm hoping you may be able to help me with an issue I'm having. I recently bought two bows one a oldish plastic recurve (bear with me!)

is this a pun?

At first I was shooting below target and they were going over it. I've kept both inside and it's not too damp here in the house and I've been really careful not to overdraw the Yew bow.

how far away are you from the target?

nocking points on the strings may have changed causing poor initial arrow flight. for instance, if the nock point was too low initially, in a level shot, it would launch the arrow off of the shelf and overshoot your target. if this is the case, the arrow would leave the shelf and gain altitude and shoot in an arc fashion.

a correct nocking point will cause the arrow to properly leave the shelf. in a flat/level shot, this will allow the arrow to loose altitude as it leaves the shelf. even though it may seem that it has lost power because the arrow is not flying as far (in relation to what you're aiming for), it is not the case.

show us a photo of where you nock the arrow on the string before drawing the bow. photos of the bows, strung and unstrung would be helpful too.

and as stated before a 55lb fg bow is going to perform, regardless of humidity.

[sieddy]

Thanks for the input fellas as always it's very stimulating. The recurve isn't a fibreglass lam bow but entirely plastic (it's great fun though even though it's lost a bit of pizazz)  I only mentioned it on here as a comparison to the Yew. i thought it weird that they both went limp around the same time.
 I don't think it's to do with my gaining strength (although I have been thinking I'm looking pretty buff recently! or due to the nocking point (though I don't have a marker just guesstimate) as there is a noticeable difference in Arrow speed and cast!?!
Possibly the Yew bow wasn't shot in enough, has taken moisture in or I've overdrawn it (although I have been very careful with my new baby!). As I say I'll store her in a drier place for a bit and see how it goes. As it happens I prefer how it shoots now as it was too powerful at first. But I don't want to be responsible for a reduction in its performance as it's an awesome thing.
The plastic one I cannot fathom- i did change the string early doors the original one was ancient, frayed and unravelling and I swapped it for a (prestretched) B50 one. I'm going to get a fastflight string for it to see if that helps.
Leon I like what you did there- sadly I wasn't clever enough to see the pun myself. And if I had I would not have had the Bear faced cheek to slip it in!

[Del the cat]

I wouldn't waste your mental energy on the plastic (spits on floor) it is not a suitable material for bows as virtually all plastics exhibit creep and also absorb moisture to a small extent.
As an example, the office style chair I'm sitting on at the moment has a central steel column which sits down the centre of a plastic "spider" with a wheel at the end of each leg. The central column didn't touch the floor when the chair was new, but over the years the plastic has shifted and now the central colum scrapes the floor.

Hang on... why am I writing about %*&?!* plastic? 
Del

[sieddy]

Sorry Del I really only mentioned the plastic abomination in order to get a better insight into what's happening with the Yew bow (which is all I'm really concerned about here)
I knew I'd be raising somebody's blood pressure talking about a plastic bow (spits on floor!)