Why unstring a bow

Stringing and unstringing your recurve bow can actually cause more issues than leaving it strung for shorter periods of time. One such problem is the risk of twisting the limbs.

If you plan on not shooting your recurve bow for an extended period you should definitely unstring it. This will help protect the structure of the bow and prevent loss of power and draw weight.

But what length of time is considered extended? This is up for debate depending on who you ask. It seems like every experienced archer has a different opinion on this. Most people will agree however, that any time you plan on not shooting your bow for more than weeks, you should unstring it. Even though it was designed to be strung for long periods, there are still plenty of people who prefer to unstring them after each shoot.

In fact, many of the best Recurve bows split into three parts when unstrung for easy portability. This is good for competition shooters who need to carry their equipment around with them. Plenty of damage has been done to bows because of faulty restringing, and because of the way the Recurve looks when it is not strung, it can be confusing for some people to put back together if they are inexperienced or simply not on the ball.

If a Recurve is strung backwards, the best case scenario is that the string will simply break off and in the worst case, the bow itself will break in half. But as you enter into the summer months, whether that means staying and learning more of the language and culture where you are, or going on home assignment, or moving on altogether, I would encourage you to be intentional to find times where you can unstring your bow and truly rest in the Lord. A lot. Here at OnPractice , we will be taking a summer rest as well.

Throughout the rest of June and the month of July we will not be publishing the OnPractice newsletter. We will start up again in August, hopefully refreshed and with renewed vision. Thank you all, and have a wonderful and refreshing summer! This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

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To increase the lifespan of the bow also make sure to store the bow in a place that is kept at room temperature and is not humid. When you have a bow strung, the bow will be under pre-tension.

Depending on the type of bow this should be around 5 LBS. This means that if you leave the bow strung the limbs will always store 5 LBS of energy. This decreases the lifespan of the bow because the bow slowly loses its flexibility. This happens regardless of whether you have the bow strung or not. But if you have the bow strung this happens much faster.

Think for example of a rubber band. After a while, a rubber band will lose its flexibility. If you keep the rubber band stretched for a long time it will lose its flexibility much faster. The same is true for a bow. Keeping the bow under tension will make the bow less flexible. Therefore, the draw weight decreases and the limbs will break faster. Depending on the quality of the bow, it might limit the bow's lifespan by a few months or a few years.

But that is merely anecdotal evidence.