I think I remember reading this a while back, but I didn't save the thread. So, I'm getting ready to head into the workshop and make myself a nice bow rack and I've seen several different styles. Which way do you store your longbows? flat on a rack? hanging from a peg? standing in the corner? strung? unstrung? Which is the best for the longterm? I have been storing mine on a gun rack, flat and unstrung, but with a few new additions, I am out of room. oldschool

I store mine either hanging from a peg or horizontal on a rack. Depending on how much the bow gets shot determines if I leave them strung or not.

Standing in the corner is not good, over time it could develop a twisted limb.

I bought a 4 peg coat rack at Home Depot and hung my bows that way, but now I either need to get another or build a decent rack!

Have always stored my bows by a peg on the wall, similar to the coat rack displayed above. I was taught from a very young age by people like Fred Asbel and Gene and Berry Wensel and Jerry Hill that you never want to set a recurve or a longbow upright in a corner, nor leave it inside a vehicle with the windows rolled up in the summer time.

2 archery rules to live by if you ask me....

I store mine unstrung, laying flat across 2 shelf brackets covered with padding.

My bow's like to shoot and rest on Cedar.

I store mu bows horizontally on a bow rack I made much like the picture above. The bow I shoot several times a week I keep strung, all other unstrung.

I just posted a picture a few days ago of my new bow rack I made to get mine off of the floor from under the guest bed.

Darn, Doctari, That is one interesting picture. Georgous, I see lots of pride(in your craftsmanship...and lots of ideas.....(for me)

Good Hunting

Grandpa Mike

Horizontal and unstrung.

I shoot longbows and had no flat wall surface long enough for horizontal storage so I went with the pegs... real glad I did. I put one peg board on the wal itself and one on the outer surface of the support beam of that wall... got two rows of bows nicely onto the one wall stretch.

Dick in seattle

Here's the same wall later... after the addition of enough bows to need both peg rows... :^)

Dick in seattle

Doctari and Dick make me sick with envy! LOL

Hey Dick, did I see a Fedora or two hanging on your wall?

Unstrung under my bed so the kids dont see it and start running around the house with it. I only have one so far. Nice bows and racks above though, One day i will get there.

Hamish

Unstrung.

I was very fortunate to win this bowrack as a doorprize at a Bowhunter Education class that I took in Fort Collins, Colorado early this year. One of the instructors made it as a donation. I'm trying to find his name and will post a thank you with photo when I do.

Although I had taken a Bowhunter Ed class about 25 years ago back East, this one was an excellent and very worthwhile course to take on a weekend. I learned some good, new stuff from the instructors and a couple of very experienced bowhunters from this area.

Well, Dick has found an attractive way to cope with his addiction. But longbows are tough. I just unstring them and shove them where they wont get stepped on or run over. Usually propped in a corner. Recurves go horizontal or hung on a peg. -lbg

Unstrung and vertical hanging from a peg. pete

I keep them in a hidden compartment in a wardrobe. I leave my compound on top of the stereo speakers,,,,so if I get burgled,,the thieves won't get the good stuff.

Hung very unceremoniously unstrung and horizontal on a homemade rack above my closet door. My wife doesn’t see my bows as ‘fitting room décor’

lilmoosecountry, Sorry - I disagree. Although I always store mine unstrung, I do it only because I have a young son, and the storage rack I built is high on the wall and necessitated unstringing them to have them sit high and out of reach. I know tons of people that have left bows strung for quite a long time. I happen to know of one that only unstrings his if he is going to change strings or is traveling with it and needs to take it apart. It has been said by some that a bow may loose a few pounds of draw weight if left strung for a long time, but I have not come across that myself yet, and several people argue the falseness of that statement also. If Lostnthewoods doesn't have a need to unstring them, it's actually probably safer to leave them as they are now. I've also heard that most bow limb damage occurs during the stringing / unstringing process.... so it may be much more benificial to him to leave them strung. All the best, Glenn

doctari and crossed arrows those look sweet. did you build them yourselves?

You guys make me sick......everyone knows that bow's like the ones pictures are best hung over at my house!!!!

Holy "stick & string " Batman.....NICE stuff.

I've left my go-to, shoot 4 to 6 days a week longbow strung for the past several months. It hasn't gotten any weaker (and if it did lose a pound or two, that would be fine with me!), and I belief there's more of a chance of damage to bow or shooter when stringing and unstringing.

So, as long as I know I'm going to be shooting it every day or every other day, I'm leaving it strung.

Now, this is a JD Berry long bow with very narrow limbs that are more pyramidal in shape than flat (due to each layer of lamination becoming narrower), so maybe it's more of an issue for recurves or longbows with flatter limbs?

On a side note, the archery shops I've been to that sell longbows or recurves all seem to leave their bows strung, often for months, until they sell.

well i leave mine strung and sometimes unstrung...it just depends... i dont think leaving a bow strung damages it...it better not especially for the price that they cost...and especially since most all the manufacurers dont specify...the only thing most specify is to use a stringer.

As long as I'm going to the kitchen, anybody else want some popcorn?

please, with butter, thanks, Jim.

Man, I don't have enuf stuff!

Well, you say "over time"... and that a very relative term... won't they also develop weaknesses from the constant flexing and unflexing of the fibers? Going from the totally relaxed state of unstrung to the extremely tensed state of shooting immediately after they've been unstrung for awhile?

It seems to me that keeping the bow slightly flexed, as when it's strung, will help the fibers get used to not being as stressed as when going from unstrung to being shot immediately.

If I knew I wouldn't be shooting my bow for, say, more than a week, then I'd unstring it.

But I used to unstring it all the time, and noticed there'd be a "warming up" period when I strung it and shot it immediately versus the shots taken after a half-hour of shooting or so.

Now, keeping it strung, I don't notice any "warming up" period differences, and it shoots the same from the first shot of the session until the last, even if that session lasts an hour or more.

I wouldn't know about fly rods, especially as to how they compare to the limbs of a longbow that are comprised of laminates of wood and fiberglass backing.

Stickboman, yes I did make it myself. lilmoose, If you say a strung glass laminate bow develops stress cracks being left strung and left alone. Why than does it not develop them after being anchored at full draw and shot thousand's of time's.

Hang mine by the string on a horizontal rack

I've been shooting sticks since at least 1981. Since then, I've left my bows strung and standing against a wall. I've witnessed no loss in poundage and no twisted limbs. Maybe I've just been lucky, I don't know. Sometimes when I read some of these posts I just feel like I must be living a charmed life........Doc

lilmoosecountry, I too, have been shooting bows all my life. I've got a few years on ya. I also have worked in archery shops for quite some time.

The reason most every archery shop that I know of doens't leave a recurve or longbow strung up is the same reason they put cable ties around the string and cables of a compound bow - to keep some idiot that doesn't know any better from dry-firing them in the store and blowing up the bow and/or hurting the customer.

I just recently sold a Bear Kodiak Hunter that was mid-70's vintage. The previous owner had taken extremely good care of it, but shot it on a regular basis. When I first got it, I shot it on a regular basis also. It wasn't a "closet queen". When I sold it this month, it looked better than most new bows. Not one crack on it - none, nada, zero.

Now, if you were talking about pure wood bows, then that's a different story, and we wouldn't be having a disagreement. But to talk about a modern glass laminated bow... it just ain't the truth.

Nice try comparing a bamboo fly rod to a wood bow, but it just doesn't compare in the slightest bit. One has fiberglass, the other does not.

And any reputable bow shop that I know of, that is worth their business licence, will not be scared to put a compound bow in a bow vice, unless the bow is damaged in some way. I have put a TON of new bows through bow vices, and never once hesitated. When putting a used one through a bow vice, you just need to make sure the bow is not damaged, and that you are following the manufacturers instructions - i.e. - never put a Hoyt Tec riser into a bow vice where the rollers are resting on the riser -only on the limbs, etc...

Most bows don't "wear out" if they are taken care of and maintained. If they did, you wouldn't see me and several others shooting old 30+ year old Bear bows. That statement is simply not true.

I think more bows are damaged by improper stringing (and yes, you CAN damage a limb, even using a stringer, if you use it wrong - I've seen it happen - don't have the string straight before letting the pressure off... and see what happens then : ( ), dry firing, shooting too light of an arrow (kinda like "mild" dry-firing), and just a general lack of attention.

I think someone filled your head with a bunch of nonsense one day, and you are just sticking by what you have learned. I'm not holding that against you. After all... I'm the same way... until someone PROVES me wrong. : )

We can argue the point until we are blue in the face... but the simple matter is, until we have proof (more than just a few cases one way or another)... this arguement will just last forever.

Good talkin' to ya'. All the best, Glenn

I store mine strung, hanging horizontally by the string from the underside of a shelf.

Mark

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