Hello all. Life has been a bit hectic lately, but finally things have quieted down where I can get back into the archery I love.

I recently got a WONDERFUL longbow built by a Waller here, and fell in love with it. I had started out shooting compounds a few years ago, and switched over to traditional using a Samick Journey. Now that I have this wonderful longbow, I am getting some lower draw weight limbs for the Journey, and will end up giving that bow to my wife, so we can shoot together.

I still have a compound from when I started, an old PSE Fire-Flite Express, and after reading and seeing pictures of Warf Bows, with this extra set of 40# Journey limbs, I feel like doing a project.

To anyone who has done conversions such as this, is this possible with a PSE Fire-Flite? Do I need any brackets or anything, or will the Journey Limbs fit right in? What is the safest way to unstring a compound? I had gotten this compound instead of a class ring when I was in high school, so it is a tad sentimental, but now that I am into traditional and instinctive shooting, I would love to turn it into a recurve.

Any advice would definitely be appreciated. Thanks!

A warf requires ilf plates.A bolt down or frankenbow you just buy some limbs such as samick sage and bolt them on.I dont know if the PSE qualifies or not.To unstring I just loosen the limb bolts out a little and cut the cable.Below is a list of recommended bows for Warf conversion:

bear black bear (by far most popular) the rest are in no particular order...

game getter (old compound)

Hoyt Rambo

Hoyt spectra

ram hunter (Hoyt Easton)

Hoyt Pro Vantage

Jennings Black Lightning,

Proline Typhoon,

Hoyt Game getter II (old compound)

Hoyt td3

And some possible:

Hoyt raider

Add martin lynx to that list.

The term WARF has lost all it's meaning it seems.

Sam explained it well in a post about a week or so ago.

WARF= ILF setup. All others are referred to as Frankenbows...not necessarily a romantic description, but a fitting one.

Ok thank you for the information. I have seen both ILF as well as what you call the "Frankenbows" called Warfs, so I just went with that term, but I understand now.

As far as putting Journey limbs on this PSE, this may sound like a stupid question, but how do I know if it will work? I just don't want to ruin the bow, to find out it doesn't work, or to think I have it, put it together, just for it to come apart. Being sentimental, I don't want to ruin in, but I see it being converted as an upgrade for sure.

So just take the compound limbs off, put on the Journey ones, and I am good to go?

Thanks, Rick

I don't know why PSE isn't on the list above. A friend of mine made a bolt on (Frankenbow)) using samik limbs on an older PSE compound riser. Not sure what model PSE he used but it resembles my Bear Black Bear warf. He loves shooting his Franken bow so much he rarely shoots his long stabilizer compound.

If you don't have a bow press, take it to a shop and have them take your compound apart. Save the parts should you ever want to put it back together again. Being sentimental, look on the bright side, you'll have two bows instead on only one.

And in answering your last question, YES, you'd be good to go!

Warf is a term used for a bow that is 1/2 compound.

Add a Bear Whitetail II to the list also. I have one that shoots alongside my Black Bear.

I have a Bear Super Magnum 44 compound riser that shoots very nicely with Sage limbs. I loose 5#s off the marked weight on the Sage limbs. It is one of my favorite bows to shoot.

Richard, you are going to have to shim the sides of the limb pockets most likely to center the limbs in the limb pockets.

There are numerous ways to do that. From pieces of wood, to plastic, to building the sides of the limb pockets out with thin metal of some sort.

Ok strings are off, going to try to get er done tonight! My dad is a leather worker so I am thinking about trying some thicker leather to shim it, to help with hand shock? Worth a try, and it's already apart so may as well have fun! Will keep you all updated. Thank you all for the info!

Popsicle sticks work good as shims.

Try to compare the limb pad angle to another recurve take down. You don't want too much angle or too little.

First a picture of your riser?

Then if it is the one I think it may be? You will need the pockets milled to a more friendly angle for a recurve. They had too much preload in their original state.

Yes, out of historical respect, the Man, Bob Gordan, a worthy fellow, and archer, coined the term when He originated the ILF conversion as a "WARF".

Franken is fine for bolt downs but Historical speaking a bolt down will be a straight bolt down containing the original name as a hybrid of the limbs used.

The Proper name would be a Sage or Journey Warf or "Quarf" as it were with Quinn limbs.

If this is it? You have a riser that will load limbs with a lot of preload and it needs to have the pockets milled flat.

Thank you all for the reply, I didn't see some of the messages until I had it together. The bow definitely looks nice as a recurve! Mr. Dunham, that is the same bow. At least it looks like it is doable, might take work and money for the plates but at least it will look nice and be sentimental.

No need for plates on a straight bolt down.

Ok, so I gave it a go. Bolted them on, strung it up, and with safety glasses on (I worry a lot), gave it a shot. Overall it is about 66" AMO, which for my size and draw length seemed to pull nicer than the 64" Journey. I need to shim the sides for straightness, but it is almost a flush fit in the limb groove. I used the PSE limb bolts, and it was much easier than I thought, after I quit over thinking and gave it a try.

It is a work in progress, but it seems like it will work. I had to take the cable offset bar off the riser, and the insert fell off, but that's fine for now. Will be needing to get a string for it with the added length, and will take the time to shim it right.

Thank you guys for all your help, I over thought this too much, but it turned out into a bow that will be fun I believe! Thanks so much, Rick

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