Bows: Maintenance

 A longbow is traditionally made from wood, although modern interpretations also use bamboo. Most longbows are now made of laminated strips, although I have seen bows that are made from a single piece of wood.

Storage

Most of the care of your bow is where you store it. You should avoid hot and damp conditions, storing your bow in an attic for example is not recommended, as the temperature can vary wildly. Stability in the environment is key.

If you shoot in the damp, make sure you wipe down the bow and string after use.

You should either lay the bow flat, or hang it up for storage.

Always unstring your bow when you're not using it.

Cleaning

You can polish your bow using either good beeswax furniture polish that doesn't contain silicone, or with Danish Oil. This may depend on the finish the bow has, if in doubt contact the maker for advice.

Use a proprietary beeswax to wax the string on a regular basis, and look for damage that may require the string replacing. If the string breaks, so might your bow!

Drawing

Don't bend the limbs in the wrong direction, and don't let other people handle or draw your bow. If they're fellow archers they will understand how to treat the bow correctly, non-archers could cause damage without meaning to.


Never draw a bow beyond the recommended draw-length.

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