Practise bow help

[garbear]

I picked up three fiberglass bows at a yard sell for a 1.00 per each.

One bow is green Made by shakespear parabow, b-8 rocket 35lbs 56" is what is written on the bow.

I have a orange benpearsons bow 54 inch NO. 3330 is written on the bow.

I have a yellow bow and shorter then the benpearsons bow. But can't find a maker on the bow.



All bows are in great shape but have no strings. how do I determine string lenght. I will have to either go up to a bigger city and have a string made or buy off the internet.

I have kids wanting to learn archery so any help would be great.

When I was a boy my 2 brothers and I would compete for hours shooting our bows. I never got into archery for hunting, but want to at least give my kids a taste of it.

Garbear

[quilbilly]

If the bow says 56 or 54 inch printed right on it, that will tell you the string length to look for at the local sporting goods stores. As the old "indian" saying goes - "Any bow god bow. Arrow heap much work." Most competition recurves have always been about 35# for 30# for women. If your kids practice, those bows will work just fine for rabbits.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
When I was about 12 dad brought home one of those fiberglass recurves. That was a great investment in teaching a young kid abiut practice, dedication and what can be accomplished if you set your mind to it.
All libraries hold numerous well written books for families about simple bow facts. Search Beginners Archery on your computer also. I cannot imagine how many days that have now passed with my walking through woods, fields and creeks with a recurve in hand. Still looking forward to the next early morning walk with a broadhead nocked on a bent longbow or recurve.... it just will not be today.
Mike in ILL.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Quilbilly is correct. The inch marking on the bow should be what string you need. I just googled the first bow and that's what was listed for it. When you get arrows for them, be sure they are long enough so that when at full draw, they can't be pulled back past the arrow rest.

[429421Cowboy]

I started shooting a recurve many years ago and that's what i still hunt with today, there is nothing like instictive shooting!

Get Three Rivers Archery to send you a catalog, they specialise in recurve and longbow tackle and have just about everything you ever thought you might need in there!

Also fiberglass bows make great low maintainance fishing bows, you could look into fiberglass arrows and realseats for them, that is an awesome sport!

[paul h]

Get a tillering string from 3 rivers and you can adjust the string until you get the correct bracing for the bow. Then measure the string and order what you need. There are plenty of good tutorials on the net for making your own strings, and a spool of bow string and a spool of whipping will yield many strings.

One caution is that many modern strings are made from materials that have very little stretch such as fast flight. The upside of the low stretch string is you get higher arrow speed as they are more efficient. The downside is as the arrow leaves the bow and the arms of the bow become taught, a much harsher impact is imposed on the bow. Older bows can break from this harsh impact, so it is advised to use dacron which is softer on the bow.

Carefully inspect the bows for any crysalling or stress marks along the entire length of the bow. Another caution is that older wooden bows if improperly stored can fail, so slowly draw the bow to full draw the first few times before shooting it. Unfortunately bows don't tend to give warning sounds before they fail, and when they fail it will be dramatic and under full draw.

The other challenge is most bowshops are geared towards compound bows. Finding arrows that are spined with feathers for a lower poundage stick string bow might be more challenging than you think. That said, fletching your own arrows is fairly simple, and your kids will be tearing fletching off as they practice so you'll want to have a fletching jig and spare feathers on hand.

I've fiddled with making bows but it's been a few years.

[dmize]

The length on the bow is the AMO bow length, The actual string length is going to be in the neighborhood of 4 inches shorter than that. I.E. 56 inch bow will need a 52 inch string. When you get a string make double sure you ask for a Dacron string.
On those bows your going to want about a 6" brace height. That is the distance between the string and the top of the bow grip.

[Hurricane]

What you need are good, cheap, and easy to make bow strings. For the type of bow you have a very good bow string can be made from parachute cord. You can get it at surplus stores, building supply stores, and probably most hardware stores. The beauty of it is you can cut a string a little long, tie loops in the string, and adjust the length of the string until you get it right. The string will have a little stretch in it but for casual archery that is not important. Backyard archery is a great way to spend summer days.

[dagger dog]

Buy a Flemish twist string @ 3-4" shorter than the actual bow length. A Flemish twist string is capable of being twisted shorter, where and endless string that is wound,cannot.

You want the fistemle (brace height) it's measured from the rear of the arrow shelf to the string, to be adjustable to find the sweet spot where the arrow preforms the best, no fish tailing or porpoising. That measurement can be anywhere 4-6 inches. The Flemish twist string allows more adjustment to help.

Three Rivers Archery has a lot of knowlegeable people that are glad to help, the web site has lots of info too.