Is there a doctor in the house? 2nd try

[paleryder]

We'll try it again... I'm not good with this stuff.

Below are some photos of a bow I made 20 years ago. Sorry for the poor photography. I've taken some photos with and without flash. It was the second bow I had made and it suffered for it. It's osage orange. 2" of set and now 57 1/2" ntn. IIRC, it pulled about 52lbs at 28 inches. I just dug it out of mothballs and made a new string for it. While stringing it, it looked a little funny. I need your opinions because it has a pretty good propeller going on.  It always shot well.

Now that I'm getting back into making bows, I am taking another look at this old bow. Is it okay? Is there anything I could, or should, do with it? 

Thanks.

Todd

[Del the cat]

Looks fine to me. Don't worry about the age, I shoot a bow I made about 30 years ago no probs... it will soon settle down
The snake and twist is fine as long as the string tracks back straight when drawn and dosn't twist in your hand. It looks like it lines up nicely tip--grip--tip.
Del

[mikekeswick]

It looks ok to me as well. Again the age is no problem, the only thing with old bows that haven't been used for a long time is that's it's a good idea to ease it back into bending. Brace it low and let it sit like that for a while gradually working upto drawing it fully.
The set is due to the fact that 57 1/2 inch is really short for a 28 inch draw stiff handled bow!

[paleryder]

Thanks guys for the reassurance. It gives me some confidence. I at least remembered to brace it low and work it first. Yeah, it's a little short. I believe I knew that at the time but I refused to listen. I had an image in my head and by golly that's what I was going to make regardless of what others said. :-) It did develop a longitudinal crack down the neutral plane in the bottom limb. The crack appeared when, after many years, I strung it with the old string and the string broke. I did this about 5 years ago. The crack is at the bottom tip and the back and the front just separated an inch or so down the limb. I epoxied it. I have never shot it since the repair. I just purchased some Irish linen that lists its strenght at 48lbs and I made a six strand string which should be strong enough given the draw weight of the bow. String weighs 140grains. It's a little under 3 grains per pound but I think it's safe given the strength of the linen. Well, I am going to shoot it today. I hope I don't have a photo for you guys of a piece of golden brown fire wood later.

[Del the cat]

Not sure I'd trust a 6 strand linen sting...
I'd certainly test the breaking strain of a strand before trusting it.
Maybe someone else with more linen experience can advise.
Del

[paleryder]

Let me clarify. It's seven-strand linen string that states a 48lb strength. I used six strands of this. I know someone is familiar with this product on this site because I got the link from the forum. Yes, if anyone has experience with this, please advise. The string feels taught and lively. I braided it by using three plys each made up of two strands of the seven-strand string.

[paleryder]

Shot the bow. I warmed it up by bracing it for a while, drawing it and then shot a dozen arrows or so before chronographing it. Arrows ranged in weight from 488gr to 509gr, mostly 490's to 509. First, let me say it was a dream to shoot. It was very accurate and I enjoyed it immensely. It was like putting on an old jacket. Loved it.

At first, I got consistent results at 137fps. I was annoyed because I thought the bow was 52lb. This was achieved releasing about 1/2 second after reaching anchor (or almost reaching anchor). When I went to a 2-second anchor, the fps dropped to 125fps.

I weight the bow after and I was surprised that the draw weight is only about 40lbs! It's either lost poundage over time, getting ready to break, I measured wrong or I just don't remember what it weighed in at...probably...hopefully the latter.

So, help me. Any way to measure performance with these facts: 40lb bow shoots 500gr arrows at mid to high 130's fsps with 1/2 release and 125fps with 2 second release?

Side note: I started with six arrows. I was shooting a low brace height. Three reinforced arrow nocks were broken. Two of these broken in the exact same way. They were the nock opposite the cock feather and broken in the exact same manner. Although I didn't know it at the time, the arrows were obviously too stiff and were smacking the bow. I raised the brace height and had no more problems. I shot the remaining three a lot and had a great time.

Any help with assessing performance would be appreciated.

May it be blessed,
Todd

[MWirwicki]

Where did you have it stored?  Basement?  I suspect it was in a damp location.  If you can store it in a dryer location, you should gain some pounds and performance back.

[crooketarrow]

  Don't store it anywhere around hot water heaters or heat registers where there constant heat. I'll make it brittle. I just coat it in wax use a hair dryer and hang it up out of the way. I got bows thats been retiered and stored this way for close to 20 years.
  The age won't matter I still shoot mine every now and then. I say all you need is to shoot it looks fine.

[paleryder]

It's been stored in a closet in my bedroom or just in the corner. Well, I guess I can't say where's it's been stored all these years but I've never stored it in the basement. It's always been in the living area of the house. Maybe I'm just recalling the initial weight measurement. I do have 2" of string follow so I guess it's possible I lost some serious weight over time. I'm happy with it because it is fun to shoot. I just need to figure out what spine of arrow and weight of arrow works best. 488gr was my lightest arrow with 125gr field points. Most of my shafts spine out about 45-55lbs. My arrow are about 30" so maybe these are perfect for this bow. I have some pine ready to be made into arrows. I'll see how they turns out. The biggest bummer is that I have to fix several nocks. 

BTW, do you folks measure the brace height from the highest point of the riser or somewhere else? I had it set very low when I was shooting initially. These broken nocks are probably unnecessary self-inflicted wounds.

Thanks.