Thrift store bow

[Leadweight]

A friend of mine found this 61in bow for me at a thrift store. How can I go about finding what brace height it should be at? Also is there any maintenance I should do first before trying to use it?

[Morgan]

If it were mine, I would check the back meticulously for splinters and if clean go to a low, say 3” brace height. I would exercise the limbs a lot at half draw the. Going into full draw @ 3” brace height. At that point I’d go to a 6” brace and do the same as above. If nothing clicks, pops, or bangs it should be shootable. Most folks tiller to 28”, I would take care to not draw past that at all. Hope it’s a shooter for you.

[Pat B]

Are there any markings on the bow?  It looks like an old lemonwood bow from the 1940's.
 As Morgan said work it slowly. You have to re-teach it to bend and recover. If you go too fast it could break.

[upstatenybowyer]

Cool find. Let us know how it holds up. If it really is from the 1940s it would be really interesting to see if it still shoots!

[Leadweight]

So after not finding any splinters I went ahead and strung it and got to a 6in brace and so far so good.. it seems to of had some kind of gloss on it but that's flaking off, no other markings besides a stamp that says medium near the grip. Speaking of, the grip seems to have separated from the belly. Should I go ahead and reglue and replace the leather?

[Morgan]

If I were going to try shooting it, or flexing it at all for that matter, I would repair that handle. Is that a dowel pin by your thumb?

[Leadweight]

Yea it is, not quite sure what it's for though as I'm new to primitive style bows.

[Pat B]

I think that dowel indicates the arrow pass.

[Morgan]

I think that dowel indicates the arrow pass.

That makes sense! I was trying to figure out what would be pinned that way.

[Leadweight]

Well I stripped off the old leather and will get started on a new grip. Thanks for the advice and I'll make sure to post some pictures when done.

[Pat B]

Were there any markings under the handle wrap?
 Looking back at the pics the wood could be hickory, another popular bow wood of that era.

[Jim Davis]

At 61", I'd guess that is a youth bow. I would not draw it to 28". You have the handle wrap off, but don't say whether you have reglued the handle. Definitely needs to be done.

[Badger]

Most of the old bows I have picked up the handle has had to be reglued. Not sure what glue they used back then but it seems to deteriorate over time.

[Leadweight]

The only marking I found was a 20 and yes I'm going to reglue it together.

[DC]

They sure drilled that arrow pass deep