KEROSENE!??![:-][:'(]NOOOOO! Never use petroleum products of any kind on wood. Or leather. Or any other natural material. It'll ruin it.

If the wood looks dried out, you can rub it down with natural oils - vegetable, canola or tung oil. Murphy's is also good.Giving it multiple rubdown's over several days time with an oily clothwill let the wood soak up what it needs. A little TLCat this point might make it a shooter again.The deal is to get some life back into the wood and reduce the brittleness.

If an old, all wood bow hasn't been shot in a long time, and if it appears to still be sound (no dry rot), again, it will likely be stiff and brittle. You can't just string it and rip it back to 30" draw in one go. It'll break. The bow willneed to to be retrained to bend, very similar to the way it was originally tillered.

Start bending it slightly, not even enough to string it, about 20 times before you even try stringing it up. Then draw the string a few inches another 20 times. Then a few more inches another 20 times. Keep on like that until you hit full draw - which for most old bows like that is NEVER more than 28".

Of course, like Chad said, if you hear the slightest tick anywhere in that process, stop and hang it on the wall.

By the way... Who said sights ain't traditional? [8D]