Buying old wood blades and sticks

[inno4000 0]

At my LHS I found some old wood blades and sticks. Should I bother because they are up to 5 years old?

Thanks inno

[fatwabbit 93]

shouldnt be an issue... if they are on special, even better.

I've still got wooden blades that I've ordered from years back... they are still brand new, and still feel as stiff as before.

[QandA 0]

I find that older bladeas feel stiff, but they're so dry they break within a couple shots.

[TomMc#4 0]

i would say it depends on what environment they have been stored in. But id guess they would be fine, especially if on special as mentioned :D

[ponty 0]

I dont know how sound of advice this is but hey ...

Because of the age of the blades / sticks they are likley to break very easy as they are dry.

I use to have a buddy that CLAIMED soaking the blades / sticks in a tub helped with this issue.

Does it really work? Dont know :)

[Rustpot 1]

Actually just did a test on some blades.

I had an old Hespeler offset that's been sitting for a good 5, 6 years, maybe even longer. Also had a Bauer 4000 that I bought about a year ago that had a bunch of the foberglass wrap crack off after I tried recurving it.

Took them into the basement of the ME building on campus and put them in a press frame for a bend test. Ends up they both cracked at about the same load, but the Hespeler didn't deflect nearly as much as the fiberglass was keeping the blade a lot more stiff.

Infer what you will from that.

I didn't have any other blades or composite ones that I was willing to sacrifice.

[Eternal 0]

I've had a few old easton lying around in my basement that i've never used and decided to pop them in a shaft a few weeks ago and they performed just like the new ones i've used and have shown no sign of breaking. I might just have gotten lucky with them but again like stated above if their cheap its worth the try.

[inno4000 0]

thank you for your help

[ChiefHockey13 0]

They should be good as new just make sure there's no mildew or anything ;)