Old bow

[doebuck1234]

Had been looking for a recurve bow my grandfather had and my grandmother found it tucked away in a closet.have a couple pics of it.all wood.any insight on this thing?considering shooting it this year after I have it looked over/restring it if possible.

[Doc]

Shakespeare was always a well thought of recurve back in the day I had one myself. Pretty good quality workmanship. If it was not abused and stored with some care, it should still be serviceable and have a lot of life left in it. I have a few bows from back in the 60's that I still occasionally pull out and shoot. They all shoot well.

[moog5050]

52” and 50lb are very tough specs to learn on if you are just starting with a recurve.  Not sure of your experience.   I am a decent shot with a recurve and find 52” to be very unforgiving.   Too much string on the fingers.   Regardless cool bow.  Good luck.   

[doebuck1234]

5 hours ago, Doc said:

Shakespeare was always a well thought of recurve back in the day I had one myself. Pretty good quality workmanship. If it was not abused and stored with some care, it should still be serviceable and have a lot of life left in it. I have a few bows from back in the 60's that I still occasionally pull out and shoot. They all shoot well.

Glad to hear

[doebuck1234]

4 hours ago, moog5050 said:

52” and 50lb are very tough specs to learn on if you are just starting with a recurve.  Not sure of your experience.   I am a decent shot with a recurve and find 52” to be very unforgiving.   Too much string on the fingers.   Regardless cool bow.  Good luck.   

Not experienced.just something I wanted of his to hold on to.not in a rush.practice makes "better".haha.thanks for the insight u 2.will prob bring it in somewhere to have it checked out before shooting.just hoping one day I can carry it with me

[Doc]

Basically, starting out with a 50# bow is likely to end with frustration and a bad feel for archery. I started  with an old Ben Pearson fiberglass bow and would have given up if I had not saved my pennies and bought a 35# Wing Gull. Finally, I could allow my body to achieve decent form and actually come to fulldraw and finally hit what I was aiming at. So, as a recommendation, I would say take the bow, have it checked out and get a new string made for it, and buy a lighter draw weight recurve as a starter bow and work your way into Grandfather's bow. That is a much easier, practical, way that is more likely to end in success.

[doebuck1234]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

Basically, starting out with a 50# bow is likely to end with frustration and a bad feel for archery. I started  with an old Ben Pearson fiberglass bow and would have given up if I had not saved my pennies and bought a 35# Wing Gull. Finally, I could allow my body to achieve decent form and actually come to fulldraw and finally hit what I was aiming at. So, as a recommendation, I would say take the bow, have it checked out and get a new string made for it, and buy a lighter draw weight recurve as a starter bow and work your way into Grandfather's bow. That is a much easier, practical, way that is more likely to end in success.

Well said and good advice!thanks