Not much of a bow guy and I have a safety question.

Irish_80

Irish_80

New member
I picked up a used hoyt bow a couple days ago. It looked good when I picked it up. The string was broken so I went to have a new string put on and the lady that was going to do it refused after she put it in the bow press. On the bottom limb there is a spot on the very edge of the limb that the paint is removed. If you run a cotton ball over the area it does grab a couple fibers. The spot is only 3/4" long and can't be any deeper then 1/16".

So does anyone think the bow sounds unsafe to put a new string on. I have to drive 45 miles to get to another bow shop to have them look at it. Oh and after she told me she wouldn't do the work she sure was ready to sell me a new bow off the rack. Here are a couple pictures
101_4136.jpg

101_4131.jpg
 
No cracks at all. I can't figure out how she was making it as bad as she was. Like I said if I run a cotton ball over it the fiberglass does grab a few fibers but no big splinters that I can see. Should I try and put some epoxy on it or something like that?
 
Oh if you guys do think it's safe are there any tricks to compressing the bow with out a bow press? I would rather not drive 45 miles to get it done if I can do it myself. I didn't know if you could use a heavy duty ratchet strap or some paracord and a turnbuckle. How many pounds does it take to compress a 60-70# bow?
 
Thanks for the help guys. I think I'm going to call it good and have it strung and shoot a few times with some eye protection just to make sure.
 
Originally Posted By: Mark2I would not suggest making your on bow vise, I've heard of people getting hurt by doing this.

Not trying to start a fight, but I've built and used several home made bow press's. If its built right, it will be safe to use. As far as your bow, that looks to me as a very small scrape on the limb. Put a dab of paint on it or glue then paint to keep it from getting any worse and to protect it, put a new string on it and shoot the fire out of it. I've seen alot worse and they stayed together.
 
I got it strung and have probably shot it over 200 times so far and it is holding up just fine. I ended up compressing the bow with a double loop of paracord and a big ratchet strap. If you look at the pictures you can see where the paracord attached on the back side of the limb. I put the ratchet strap in between the two pieces of cord, clamped it in a bench vise and cranked it down. To release the ratchet strap I just took the bow to full draw to take off the tension and took the strap off.
 
She saw it was an older bow and you didn't have a lot of archery experience so why sell a string when you can sell a new bow?! I'd avoid that shop.
I'm sure you'll be good to go, but watch it as the weather gets colder just to make sure it doesn't get worse.
Glad it worked out for you, good luck hunting.
 
If it was at full draw when the string broke, or the bow was dry fired and the string broke, it probably is unsafe to shoot. The limbs can have a lot of hidden damage that is just waiting to explode when at full draw. Since it is a Hoyt Bow, I'd contact their tech people to get a better idea. How did you set up up your cams? I'm really surprised that the bow didn't come apart using your method for compressing the limbs.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top