Leaving a bow strung

[DC]

First time I accidentally left a bow strung overnight, is it toast? It had about 2" of set when I unbraced it.

[Badger]

  That sounds like too much set for leaving a bow braced overnight, I have done that a number of times with no ill effects. If you can't reheat the bow maybe you could just lock it up in the reverse position for a few days and see how it reacts. The bow was likely over strained to start with. 1/2" that recovers later might be expected. That is one of the reasons I went back to simple less strained profiles. Keep us posted on how it responds later, did it recover some on its own?

[PEARL DRUMS]

How much did it have prior to leaving it braced? How many times was it shot prior to leaving it over night? I've done it a few times and it never mattered. But, that was on longer osage flat bows made to take the abuse of hunting.

[DC]

I posted right after discovering it. It's straightening out now, that's 20 mins or so. I'll keep looking at it.
I think it had about 1". It's a new bow, been shot maybe 20 times. It's a basic 67" Pacific Crab selfbow.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I'll be curious about its behaviour the next 300-500 shots. I put a "u" in behavior just for you Don

[DC]

Did Spellcheck wag it's finger at you

[PEARL DRUMS]

Nope, it wont recognize that when the setting are on U.S. English. The company I work for is owned by Americans, but corporately ran by Canadians. So I see that goofy stuff all day!

[DC]

Goufy, what do you mean goufy

[BowEd]

DC...It takes me up to a week or more of I'll call breaking in self bows with repeated long bracings[at least 4 hours] sometimes twice a day as if hunting and around at least 200 to 300 arrows before I'll put my John Doe on the bows I make here in evaluation as far as set goes.
It will reveal itself.You'll just have to keep shooting it.Their not made of glass.They can handle it.
Taking a speed check in the beginning and after breaking in reveals the total truth to me,along with very little set.

[paulsemp]

When I think I'm done tillering and start shooting the bow in I won't think twice about leaving one strung for 8 to 10 hours. Of course there's more set then if you were to only have it strung for 10 minutes. but I base it more in performance than visuals. if it can't handle 8 hours being strung that I tend to dismiss it as a poor bow

[DC]

That's one of the disadvantages of living in a wet climate. I make more bows than I can shoot. I've got 30+ bows hanging on the wall and some have only been shot 50-100 times. It's what comes from liking to make them more the shoot them. In the winter it can rain for weeks and I get 4 or 5 bows made and never get out to shoot them. I have a target in my shop but shooting 10" gets old pretty quick.

[Badger]

DC, I know what you mean about liking to build more than shoot. I don't get a lot of arrows through mine all the time either. But when I build them they get a thorough workout. I keep the bow strung all through the tillering process and torture it with long holds at full draw. Sometimes over a minute. If it takes set I feel like I under designed it or tillered it badly. I use to stress about holding at full draw. Not anymore, I figure they have to be built to take it.

[DC]

I keep the bow strung all through the tillering process and torture it with long holds at full draw. Sometimes over a minute. If it takes set I feel like I under designed it or tillered it badly. I use to stress about holding at full draw. Not anymore, I figure they have to be built to take it.

That's interesting, I'll keep that in mind. I've avoided it like the plague. I do leave it strung during tillering but that's kind of minor compared to a minute at FD.

[Jim Davis]

  If you can't reheat the bow maybe you could just lock it up in the reverse position for a few days and see how it reacts.

Stemmler and all his contemporaries including Saxton Pope warned stridently against trying to take set out of a bow by straining it backward. It only makes spongey wood.

[Stick Bender]

I do like Ed I leave my bows strung for 4-6 hrs at a time when close to finale tiller , the osage bow I built for hunting season last year I left strung for 11 hrs  with no issues the tiller never changed, I think marrying the string like that helps to show me the true tiller, I have over 1200 arrows threw that bow and has never changed but I never hold at full draw more then a second or two , I'm not strong enough to hold much beyound that.