Old Recurves Questions
I have a few questions about some old recurves I have. I hope this is the right forum. I have 3 Ben Pearson recurves that I inherited from my father. My first job was trying to find out info on them to get an approximate age of them. I was able to locate 2 out of 3 but the third one has me puzzled. It is a youth recurve bow, hardwood laminated. The Pearson company logo is partially missing but my best guess is it says Ben Pearson Collegian Bow...or Champion Bow. It measures 53 1/4 inches in length, leather wrapped grip with a white (plastic?) arrow rest. Anyone know exactly what this is?
Second question is this bow and the other hardwood bow, a 66 inch Ben Pearson Deerslayer recurve, are starting to show their age. They haven't been shot or even strung in about 20 years but the varnish is drying out on the limbs and I am wondering if they should still be okay to shoot for old time sake or is it time to officially retire them? If they are still able to be shot ( both are in very ghood shape except for the cracking varnish ) is there some kind of refurbishing I should do to them? I don't need them revarnished to look like new, I'm not talking about that...just rehabing them from a maintenance standpoint to where they are usable again and to keep them that way. Try to preserve them as long as I can. Both wooden bows are from the late 50's, '57-60 or there abouts. The third bow is a Ben Pearson Superjet fiberglass recurve. I restrung it today but I am worried about the fiberglass starting to dry out on it. Is there anything that can be done with it? There is no splintering at all that I can see of the fiberglass but just due to it's age, I figure it must be getting close to that condition.
Oner last question....does the string length determine the weight? I saw on the one website I went to that the bows come in sometimes 4-6 different weights and I was wondering what determines that. Thanks to everyone for your help.
Dave