Ben Pearson Longbow
03-07-2011 | 07:05 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Spike
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Ben Pearson Longbow
Hello
I'm new here and have a couple questions you guys may be able to help me with. I havn't shot a bow in about 25 years (since I was a kid) and my 8 year old daughter got interested and started asking me questions. See she got a Wii for Christmas this year and really like the archery game, she was surprised when I told her that I knew how to shoot, for real not the Wii game. LOL. I told her when it started warming up a bit we would talk more about it. Anyway this weekend we went out to visit Grandma and Grandpa and low and behold in my old bedroom closet were three bows I had when I was a kid. One is a wood bow about 56" long, the second is an old Ben Pearson Longbow about 60" long, and the 3rd is a metal recurve. The only one with a string was the small one, which was perfect because thats the one I wanted Grace to try. On the way home we stopped by the local sport shop and picked up a few target arrows. When we got home I cleaned up the bow and strung it. I tested the pull a few times to make sure it wouldn't break and we were good to go. I took her out back and gave her her first lesson it archery. After just a few trys she started hitting the target at about 10 yards away. She wants to practice more and I'm proud of her.
Anyway my questions are to do with the Ben Pearson bow. I do not have a string for it and I'm not sure I should even trust it. I used it when I was a teenager and used to be pretty good with it but I do not want to break it. OK so here are my questions;
1. I would like to ID the bow, it has Ben Pearson (with arrow thru it) on one side and just above the handle on the other side it looks like 160 1 60.
2. Can I shoot it? My dad thinks it would need to be retreated with some oil or something because it is so dry. I talked with a guy at my chruch and he said to just shoot it. It is vary dry as it has not been shot in 25 years, just been sitting in my old closet.
3. What length string do I need for a 60" bow.
4. I want to get a string for the old metal recurve also (I used to be a great shot with that one) and I know there is a rule of thumb for the length of string but I can't remember can someone help?
Thanks
John
I'm new here and have a couple questions you guys may be able to help me with. I havn't shot a bow in about 25 years (since I was a kid) and my 8 year old daughter got interested and started asking me questions. See she got a Wii for Christmas this year and really like the archery game, she was surprised when I told her that I knew how to shoot, for real not the Wii game. LOL. I told her when it started warming up a bit we would talk more about it. Anyway this weekend we went out to visit Grandma and Grandpa and low and behold in my old bedroom closet were three bows I had when I was a kid. One is a wood bow about 56" long, the second is an old Ben Pearson Longbow about 60" long, and the 3rd is a metal recurve. The only one with a string was the small one, which was perfect because thats the one I wanted Grace to try. On the way home we stopped by the local sport shop and picked up a few target arrows. When we got home I cleaned up the bow and strung it. I tested the pull a few times to make sure it wouldn't break and we were good to go. I took her out back and gave her her first lesson it archery. After just a few trys she started hitting the target at about 10 yards away. She wants to practice more and I'm proud of her.
Anyway my questions are to do with the Ben Pearson bow. I do not have a string for it and I'm not sure I should even trust it. I used it when I was a teenager and used to be pretty good with it but I do not want to break it. OK so here are my questions;
1. I would like to ID the bow, it has Ben Pearson (with arrow thru it) on one side and just above the handle on the other side it looks like 160 1 60.
2. Can I shoot it? My dad thinks it would need to be retreated with some oil or something because it is so dry. I talked with a guy at my chruch and he said to just shoot it. It is vary dry as it has not been shot in 25 years, just been sitting in my old closet.
3. What length string do I need for a 60" bow.
4. I want to get a string for the old metal recurve also (I used to be a great shot with that one) and I know there is a rule of thumb for the length of string but I can't remember can someone help?
Thanks
John
03-08-2011 | 08:03 AM
#2
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 15,295
Likes: 0
From: Mississippi USA
The wood bow is iffy--it might hold up, might not. If it has sentimental value, I'd put it away. Lancaster Archery, 3 Rivers Archery, Kustom King Archery, etc. all offer kid's bows at a reasonable price--probably cost much less than the Pearson is worth to you.
I couldn't say what model it is, but obviously it's an older one since it's solid wood. Probably not worth a lot as far as collector's value, but still a nice piece.
60" bow is supposed to get a 56" string, but that can vary. The old "rule of thumb" is 3" shorter for longbows, 4" shorter for recurves, but AMO says 3" shorter for either one. Problem is, lots of stores and string makers don't know how (or don't care) to measure a string by AMO specs, so it can get confusing. Generally speaking, for an old Pearson longbow you want a string 3" shorter, for an old Pearson recurve probably 4" shorter. Dacron only--either B-50, B-500, or B-55.
If you need more help with strings, just holler.
Chad
I couldn't say what model it is, but obviously it's an older one since it's solid wood. Probably not worth a lot as far as collector's value, but still a nice piece.
60" bow is supposed to get a 56" string, but that can vary. The old "rule of thumb" is 3" shorter for longbows, 4" shorter for recurves, but AMO says 3" shorter for either one. Problem is, lots of stores and string makers don't know how (or don't care) to measure a string by AMO specs, so it can get confusing. Generally speaking, for an old Pearson longbow you want a string 3" shorter, for an old Pearson recurve probably 4" shorter. Dacron only--either B-50, B-500, or B-55.
If you need more help with strings, just holler.
Chad
