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Bow maintenance

kyler1945 said:
I’ve owned four bows, and only ever shot 3(one was a spare) in 23 years of bowhunting, and 25 years of shooting. I’ve never done any maintenance besides wax strings, change strings, and wipe off dirt. I seem to remember a couple spray downs with a hose after particularly swampy outings. On occasion a rest bolt or sight bolt would be rusty enough to annoy me and Get swapped. I’m thinking once or twice that I recall.

I’ve averaged 3000 shots a year the last 8 years, before that about 4 years of 2-300 a year, preceded by 2000+ a year since I first picked up a bow. I’ve gone through a total of 5 strings, in 50k+ shots with a bow. Zero other maintenance.
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My experience is similar. Seven bows (oh wait, I guess that's eight now) in 45 years of bowhunting. That's an average of better than 7 years per bow. I can only recall replacing two strings. Other than string wax and an occasional wipe down or shake off after hunting in the rain, I can't think of any special maintenance I've done other than replace D loops as necessary.
 
woodsdog2 said:
I should have qualified my last statement, the older laminated limb bows we used to have were wood laminated limbs with fiberglass on the outside of each limb then they would put a gloss polyurethane over the wood and fiberglass laminations. The manuals that came with the bows would warn of not storing them in high heat conditions like your closed up car or truck in the beating down sun. The fiberglass limbs of today are all one material to my knowledge so no delamination risk. Its just a block of fiberglass.
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They used to recommend turning your bow down three or four turns during the offseason, who does that nowadays?????
 
woodsdog2 said:
I should have qualified my last statement, the older laminated limb bows we used to have were wood laminated limbs with fiberglass on the outside of each limb then they would put a gloss polyurethane over the wood and fiberglass laminations. The manuals that came with the bows would warn of not storing them in high heat conditions like your closed up car or truck in the beating down sun. The fiberglass limbs of today are all one material to my knowledge so no delamination risk. Its just a block of fiberglass.
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Yep. Treating modern limbs like old ones is like treating modern waterfowling shells like the old paper hulls. Vast improvements in both areas.

I saw a bunch of very neglected old and new bows come through my shop. Remarkably few needed anything other than a good cleaning and a tune up.

Now ACCESSORIES...whole nuther game. Pins broken, screws stripped, lights dead as hammers, housings busted, rubber rotted...you name it.

That's why I don't put junk in my bow. It all exists to pad margins for manufacturers and retailers. Cheap, chinese junk that looks fancy and falls below a customer's "meh, might as well" price threshold. All I want on my string is a d-loop. All I want screwed to the bow is a sight and a rest.
 
#1 thing for a bow old or new keep them out of a vehicle when it’s really hot outside.
Waxing a string is way over rated truth is most if not all high end string builders take the wax off the individual strands before they build them.
Heavy wax can cause peep rotation issue along with stretch if it melts out.
One of the top string builders out there today would shoot his strings all fussed up and I would ask why don’t you wax your strings.
HIs reply”it’s not needed”
As for water on a bow your not going to believe this but one of the best pro 3D archers puts his whole bow in a tub of water once he has it set to his liking. He says nothing moves after that.
Laugh if you want but he has won some big money that way.


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This is for @Nutterbuster.
What are you shooting now if your getting rid of your Synergy? I bought a Ritual 35 this year and it can go but keeping my Synergy.
Interested in what you have that out performs it for what we do.
On my bows usually wax when I'm done shooting about 25 arrows or more.
Check servings frequently along with cams and cable slide.
I belong to a club with 250 or so members and most change strings about 2 years or 10,000 shots if you can count that high.
Some people are very meticulous with there equipment me not so much.
But I have 5 compounds of 4 different makes and they have all killed several deer. I must say my most forgiving is my Synergy and it's my go to for now.
Season starts in three weeks at my house so hope to have something on the board in a month.
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bongo said:
What are you shooting now if your getting rid of your Synergy? I bought a Ritual 35 this year and it can go but keeping my Synergy.
Interested in what you have that out performs it for what we do.

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A hickory creek mini. Which I will use to kill deer with 300 grain arrows and 100 grain expandables after I pull it out of the hot truck it's been sitting in all day. :)
 
Bah. They are meant to be used. hahahaha. I will check cams and limbs after a fall. Wish i would but never do, wipe down my bow after it rains. I have little to no rust on any bolts and the bow is 6 years old. I restring every other year and apply wax maybe once or twice a year. Most pros don't even wax their string because it doesn't really slow the string wear down that much. If you replace every year or every other year waxing is really not extending the life of the string. I really don't need to replace my string that often but I do it myself so the only cost is a string so 80 bucks. Well worth not having my bow blow up on me because i tried to stretch it out longer then it needed to be.
 
Nutterbuster said:
A hickory creek mini. Which I will use to kill deer with 300 grain arrows and 100 grain expandables after I pull it out of the hot truck it's been sitting in all day. :)
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I went to longer ATA bows. I need all the forgiveness I can get.
I can't find a smoother drawing or better holding bow than the Synergy and I bought two last year.

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