I just received an older 52" 55# Browning Stalker. There is some limb twist on the upper limb. Enough that you can fit three pennies under the edge. Is this bow useable? Any suggestions and comments would be appreciated.
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OHA Life member, NRA member, DVC# ON 452
I'm not familiar with the bow, but have experience straightening out a couple older bows. Gan you give me more info on what the bow is made of? You should be able to get it back to straight againok IMO. Kirk
Thanks for the response kirkll. The back and belly are black and about 1mm thick. The two layers of the limbs look like maple (I am a Forestry Technicial among other things). The tips are reinforced on the back side only. The bow is really quite light in weight. I am guessing less than two pounds. Again, thank you for your response.
I put a string on the bow using a really low brace height and I can see that both limbs are twisted. One much more than the other. When I draw the string back I looks like the string may wander off. The string on the upper limb sits about one third from the left edge when drawn back and let rest. The string sits pretty much in the center.
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OHA Life member, NRA member, DVC# ON 452
The only way to really know if a limb can be straightened is by trying to straighten it.
I haven't run across more than a couple of bows that were so bad they couldn't be fixed. These were so bad that you couldn't even string them without one limb twisting so violently the string would pop off. Some straightened pretty well but had the twist come back after a couple of days or weeks and took several attempts before the straightening finally took hold. And some looked badly twisted but acted like all they wanted was a little TLC. They whipped right back into shape with minimal effort.
Any bow is worth the work to attempt straightening. Just don't get discouraged if your first go round with it isn't an immediate success. Give it repeat treatments if needed.
There is several different philosophies on how to go about staightening a limb. Some swear by using hot water, and some use a hair dryer or a heat gun. Then there are some that say you souldn't heat the limb at all. it IMO it all depends on how the limbs were made and the materials used. What i do to really get a good idea on how far its twisted is use an 18" tiller stick. its just a piece of lumber that is shaped to fit in the hand grip on one end, and a string notch in the other. just use a small rounf file to make that. once you insert the stick you can look at it closely while applying some twisting presure on the llimb with your hand. That will give you the right direction and amount you need to go..... The last one i straightened took two sessions but it finally stabilized after adjusting the string notches in the tip slightly. i had another one so bad, i took the string oof and put it in my bow press first. just something to hold it while i worked on it...a vise with a towl protection would work too. or a clamp on a work bench or table. after getting the bow clamped down, i took a 10" cresent wrench and hung in on the limb tip.....just the weight of the wrench will twist it some. the one i had needed more weight, so i hung fishing weights on the end of the wrench untill it twisted it about a half inch past where it needed to be. then i took a hair dryer and slowly warmed up the limb. NOT just the tip, but the whole uper portion. after it was all uniformly warm to the touch. i just left it over night to cool and take a set. It worked excellent! And it stayed put too......Hope that helps.....that was my winner....Kirk
Twisted limb
