How to String a Recurve Bow Without Wrecking It

Use a bow stringer. That's the answer. It's the only stringing method bow manufacturers recommend, it takes maybe fifteen seconds once you've done it twice, and it's the cheapest thing in your entire kit — less than a single decent carbon arrow.

The hand methods you'll see in old videos — push-pull, step-through — work right up until they don't. When they fail, you get a twisted limb or a limb tip in the face. Neither is worth the fifteen seconds you saved.

Below: the stringer technique, unstringing, what string twists actually do, and how to know when the string itself is done.

Why push-pull and step-through aren't worth it

Both hand methods load the limbs unevenly. Push-pull has you bracing the lower limb against your foot and bending the upper limb with your palm while you slide the loop up. Step-through has you threading your leg between string and riser and bending the bow around your thigh. In each case, the force comes in at an angle the limb was never designed to take, and the string drags across the limb face beyond the nocks.

That's how limbs twist. A twisted limb shoots erratically at best; at worst it's permanent damage. On a Galaxy Sage you're out the price of replacement limbs. Twist a WIAWIS Winex II limb and the number gets genuinely painful.

Then there's your face. A recurve under load stores a lot of energy, and if your hand slips mid-string, the limb snaps back toward whatever's closest — usually your head. Archery forums carry no shortage of black-eye stories from people who skipped the stringer one time.

A stringer fixes all of it. The cord bends the bow exactly where it bends during a shot, the pressure spreads evenly across both limbs, and your face stays out of the recoil path.

Stringing with a bow stringer, step by step

The standard recurve stringer has a saddle on one end — a flat leather or rubber pad — and a pouch on the other. Takes longer to read than to do:

• Seat the bottom string loop in the grooves at the bottom limb tip, then slide the larger top loop down over the top limb. It'll sit loose partway down the limb for now.
• Fit the pouch end of the stringer over the bottom limb tip, covering the seated loop.
• Place the saddle over the top limb, just behind where the string loop is waiting.
• Stand on the stringer cord with both feet about shoulder-width apart, hold the bow by the grip, and pull straight up. The limbs flex, the string goes slack.
• Slide the top loop up into its grooves with your free hand. Keep your fingers on the side of the limb, not wrapped over the tip.
• Lower the bow slowly, step off the cord, and remove the stringer.
• Turn the bow so the limbs face away from you, then check both loops are fully seated in their grooves before you draw it. This check matters more than any other step — a half-seated loop lets go without warning.

One more habit worth building: after stringing, run your eye down each limb from the tip. The string should track straight down the centerline. If it drifts off to one side, unstring and check your loops before assuming the limb is twisted.

Unstringing the bow

Same tool, reverse order. Pouch on the bottom tip, saddle behind the top loop, step on the cord, pull up by the grip, and slip the top loop out of its grooves and down the limb. Let the bow down slowly. Done.

Don't yank the string off an unflexed bow or try to muscle the limbs by hand on the way out — the let-down is exactly as risky as the string-up.

Most archers unstring wooden one-piece recurves and longbows after every session, since wood takes a set under constant tension. Modern takedown limbs in fiberglass and carbon tolerate staying strung between range days, though it's still smart to unstring for travel or long storage.

String twists and what they actually do

Twists are your tuning dial. Adding twists shortens the string slightly, which pre-loads the limbs and raises brace height — the distance from the deepest point of the grip to the string. Removing twists lowers it.

The exchange rate: two twists move brace height roughly a quarter inch.

Target ranges depend on bow length. For 62- and 64-inch bows, expect 7.5 to 8.5 inches of brace height; 66- and 68-inch bows run 8 to 9 inches. Your bow's manufacturer spec beats the generic chart, so check it first.

To adjust, unstring the bow, pop the bottom loop free, twist or untwist, restring, and re-measure. A few cycles of this and you'll land in spec.

Stay within about 20 twists of where the string arrived. Cranking in more than that shortens the string's lifespan — and if your brace height is off by an inch or more no matter what you do, the string is simply the wrong length. Replace it rather than torturing it.

When to replace the string

Strings age even when you're not shooting. The bow holds them under tension the whole time it's strung, so a string can be worn out from sheer time on the bow, not just shot count.

A reasonable schedule: yearly if you shoot regularly at targets, every two years for a lightly used hunting setup. Heavy-volume shooters wear strings faster.

Replace sooner if you see any of these:

• Fuzzy, dry, or brittle-looking strands anywhere along the string
• Visible fraying, especially near the loops and nocking point
• Serving — the wrapped center section — separating or sliding
• A drop in arrow speed or consistency you can't otherwise explain

Wax helps in the meantime. Rub it in when the string starts looking dry or fuzzy, and it'll buy you time. But wax is maintenance, not resurrection — once a string is properly worn, swap it. A spare string costs little, and keeping one in your case means a frayed strand never ends a session.

New string on? Restring with the stringer, set your twists, check brace height. Then go shoot.