Ben Pearson Colt recurve...need help.

[nerd]

hey folks.

the other half pulled out an old Ben Pearson he bought at a yard sale years ago. it's been sitting in a shed for years upon years and looks like hell. has no string, is dirty.

there are no apparent cracks on it. the tips are particularly dirty, possibly discolored...i haven't started to clean it up yet. it needs some TLC. was going to use Simple Green to clean'er up. any suggestions?

i want to clean this up, get a string, and get to using it but i'm not sure how to go about doing what's needed. i think it needs a new arrow rest...what's on there looks like crap. numbers listed on it are 59" and xx40, which i believe means i need a 55" string. my question, before i start digging further: are bowstrings listed by weight? if so, what's my best bet, here? i couldn't tell you what my ideal draw length is, nor could i say what sort of pull i actually need. i *can* say i've started weight training independent of this recent find, so hopefully i'll actually be able to use this thing.

once it's serviceable, what length arrows should i buy? do they come in lengths? i've only ever bought bolts for my crossbow.

also: am i crazy for taking on this project?

will get around to posting photos tomorrow. thanks for any help you can give.

 

[possumman]

Clean it - order a Flemish string you can always twist shorter if need be and put a Bear Hair rest on the shelf-buy a stringer, it is safer . sounds like 40lb bow- should be easy to draw- go on one of the traditional bow websites - you will find the info you need. Recurves are very forgiving of draw length etc not fussy like compounds Three Rivers Archery is a good source for bow strings, traditional nocksets, rests and the like. Learn to shoot with a glove or better yet a tab.

 

[shaddydan]

Don't know what area you are in but Baltimore Bowman has their annual classic this weekend. Some of the most knowledgeable people into tradtional archery and vendors will be their Saturday. Hard to find a setting with that many experts in one place.

 

[Gordon]

I use Dacron B50 14-16 strand and like possumman said twist to fit. I wipe mine down with a little mineral spirits followed with a coat of wax. If you want to go a step further I use 000 steel wool again wipe down and coat with Tru oil 2x. I will try and post a pic of last bow I completed.

 

[nerd]

Clean it - order a Flemish string you can always twist shorter if need be and put a Bear Hair rest on the shelf-buy a stringer, it is safer . sounds like 40lb bow- should be easy to draw- go on one of the traditional bow websites - you will find the info you need. Recurves are very forgiving of draw length etc not fussy like compounds Three Rivers Archery is a good source for bow strings, traditional nocksets, rests and the like. Learn to shoot with a glove or better yet a tab.

if i'm reading things correctly, it's actually a 38 lb bow...plenty easy for a normal person to pull, i'm hoping.

thanks for the info about the rest. i'll check out ThreeRivers. i saw the site but wasn't sure if it was reputable. plan on using a glove...the events for which i will be using this don't allow tabs.

Don't know what area you are in but Baltimore Bowman has their annual classic this weekend. Some of the most knowledgeable people into tradtional archery and vendors will be their Saturday. Hard to find a setting with that many experts in one place.

i'm aware of it, but naturally i've made plans for the whole weekend. that's always the way of it, too. i know of a group that gets together (i believe) weekly with some local experts, all of whom shoot longbows, recurves, or very old styled crossbows. going to have to make time to get together with them, i think.

I use Dacron B50 14-16 strand and like possumman said twist to fit. I wipe mine down with a little mineral spirits followed with a coat of wax. If you want to go a step further I use 000 steel wool again wipe down and coat with Tru oil 2x. I will try and post a pic of last bow I completed.

thanks for the info!

 

[trickg]

I built a jig and learned to make my own bowstrings out of B50 Dacron and serving line. It's not terribly difficult to do and you can find instructions online in a couple of different places.

 

[nerd]

ended up going to the Traditional Classic yesterday morning. thanks for the suggestion, shaddydan! holy crap, everyone was SUPER friendly. the folks at Lancaster Archery set me up with a new rest and string. picked up some practice arrows, a stringer, an arm guard, and a glove. turns out the glove gives me no string feel whatsoever, and i can't figure out what's going on without looking at it (which is useless to me, as i need to be able to focus on the target, obviously!). going to look for a thinner glove and just do short shooting sessions in the interim. has anyone used this glove? how about a medieval-style tab? which would be "better," and why?

i am having a hell of a time finding a source for affordable wood arrows. seems like i'll have to buy everything piecemeal and make my own unless i want to spend a grip on them...is this true, or is my google-fu failing me? my plan is to shoot in the SCA, so i'm trying to buy everything once since a lot of that stuff tends to be more expensive, if that makes sense. for now i have some cheapass Easton arrows Cabelas had marked down to $20, but i think those will end up just being used in the short term for practice. also using a Big Green foam field point target, unsure if this is wise once i switch to wood...should i switch over to a bag target at that point?

 

[possumman]

Try out a tab- they are cheap and work great after you get used to them-Kantpinch is one brand name I can think of, there are some hair surfaced tabs out there that work too, I used a fleece tab for years made from lamb hide. I used to buy fletched but unfinished-undipped 23/64 cedar arrows from FS Archery that used to be inexpensive but I don't think they sell that way anymore-probably over $60/dozen these days. Those I just sprayed with clear lacquer to protect them and slicken them up bit, killed many deer with those with Zwickey Eskimo heads.

 

[nerd]

i'm thinking about it. what's the advantages of a tab? i've never actually seen one in use, so i'm not quite sure *how* to use them.

 

[SuperMag]

Finger tabs are inexpensive and effective...a typical one, you wear on your middle finger on the inside of your hand. Looky here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOv23N_DTr8


I don't like typical tabs because they're thin and flimsy. I don't want to "feel the string" like a lot of archers talk about. I simply want to let it go smoothly. So I made my own from 18-ga leather and it works great.

 

[nerd]

if i can't feel the string (or the arrow), then i have some serious problems. i chalk some of it up to being a complete novice. the last time i picked up a bow was 20 years ago, and we were barehanding it (no arm guards, either) in school. my fingers can only deal with going uncovered for about a dozen arrows before i just can't do it anymore. need to find a happy medium between the two.

 

[Sewer Rat]

I shoot with a damascus glove, love it. Just couldn't get used to tabs, keep going back to the glove.

regarding arrows..... go to home depot and pick out a handful of dowels... great target arras.

Google "nutters" , or go to outdoorcore.com and hit thier how-to section. Great bunch there, mostly traditional archers.