How to Properly Care for Your Traditional Bow

When I was in my early 20s, I went hunting with Mike Palmer in Texas. I was a sponge and trying to learn as much as I could from this amazing bowyer and traditional hunter. After hunting one evening, when we got back to the lodge, I watched as Mike unstrung his recurve and hung it up.

I asked Mike, “Do I need to unstring my bow?”

Mike responded, “No, it’s OK to leave yours strung.”

Trying to learn, but not wanting to be a pain, I asked Mike, “Why did you unstring yours?”

Mike responded with a straight face, “If I don’t unstring mine, it will sneak out and kill something tonight!”

After Mike and his friends (all fellow traditional bowhunters) had a good laugh at my expense, I learned about when and why to unstring a recurve or longbow. One of the reasons I love traditional archery is that, in my opinion, it is archery in its purest form. Trad bows are much simpler than compounds and easier to care for. Trad bows don’t have 35 Allen screws that have to remain tight to keep the quiver, cams, cable guard, sight, rest and release functioning.

Additionally, whereas compounds are usually traded away after a few years of service and often end up in the dumpster after 10-20 years, recurves and longbows are handed down through generations, becoming family heirlooms. I am still learning after 40-plus years of shooting traditional bows, but I have learned some things from those much smarter and more experienced than I am about how to care for trad bows. I will share some insights here so our trad bows cannot only last our lifetime but continue to be carried afield long after we’re gone.

Don’t Get Strung Out

What I learned about unstringing bows is this: It is best, even with modern trad bows, to unstring them if you aren’t shooting them for a week. With self-bows, it’s best to only string them before your hunt and unstring them afterward. It’s also best, whether strung or unstrung, to hang traditional bows horizontally, so undue pressure isn’t on the bottom limb. So, don’t stand them up in the corner, especially for long periods of time. I also talked to several bowyers and manufacturers who said they felt traditional bows being left strung in hot cars and trucks have ruined more bows than anything else. So, if you have no choice but to have your bow in a very hot environment such as the cab of a truck in Arizona in the summertime, unstring it first.

Although there are lots of ways to string a recurve or a longbow, the correct and safest method is to use a bow stringer to protect the bow and yourself. There are several videos on how to correctly use a bow stringer, if you aren’t sure how it is done. A stringer can help keep from warping a limb and, when used properly, helps avoid injury.

Only use a string material your bow’s limb tips can handle. Many older recurves and longbows were built to handle string materials available back in the day. Often that was B-50 Dacron that stretched some when shot and had some “give” to it, to use a non-technical term. While discussing this with the owner of First String, a company that makes both Flemish and continuous loop strings for traditional bows, as well as custom compound strings, he explained that a lot of the newer string materials made today stretch very little, if at all, and can ruin an older traditional bow. So, be aware of what type of string you’re using.

Keep Your Powder Dry

Accidental dry firing of traditional bows can cause damage as well. I rarely let anyone draw my bows, as I have had them accidentally dry fired by people who didn’t know they couldn’t just let the string go and by other people (usually kids) who just had the string slip out of their fingers. The other common way that accidental dry fires occur is from cracked or broken nocks or arrows. To avoid this, a simple inspection of your arrows and nocks before shooting is always a good idea. Yet another way to dry fire your bow is the string breaking while the bow is drawn. So, frequent waxing and checking the condition of your string is a good idea. It is also wise to put a new string on your bow every year.

Another common mistake that can cause limb issues is shooting arrows that are too light for your bow. This puts undue stress on your limbs, very much like that of a dry fire. A good rule of thumb is to shoot an arrow that weighs 10 grains per pound of your bow’s draw weight. For example. If you shoot a 50-pound bow, you should be shooting arrows that weigh at least 500 grains.

Brace height is another important thing to set properly on your traditional bow. Most manufacturers have a suggested brace height. Normally, when tuning your traditional bow, you will be within half an inch of the manufacturer’s recommendation. The problem with having a brace height that is too long (distance from string to inside of handle or center of shelf) is that it can cause the bow to be overdrawn. This not only erodes the bow’s efficiency but allows the limbs to be flexed beyond their intended operating range, causing added stress that can lead to limb damage or breakage.

The simple trad bow care tips offered here will help your traditional bow last for generations. Of course, these are general rules, and factors such as the condition of the bow, type of wood or synthetics used in the riser, limbs and laminations introduce variables. Just make sure to have any older trad bows checked out before stringing for the first time to make sure they can be strung safely.

Of course, even an old longbow or recurve that is past its useful life makes a great decorative addition to your wall or fireplace mantle, but I am admittedly a little biased!

For more information, visit fredeichler.com, and don’t miss Fred’s new show, “Everything Eichler,” every Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on Sportsman Channel.

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