New Bow Builder - Question about crack....

xstatic1971 · October 20, 2010, 08:32:00 PM

Hi everyone. New to bow building and to this board.

I have had one successful Red Oak bow, but it was only about 23 lbs at 72" ( I shortened it down to 66" for 30lbs. ) but have been trying to build a heavier weighted bow.

I was working hard on a hickory bow and had it on my tiller stick when I heard some cracking.

The crack is a few inches south of the handle.

Here is the bow on the tillering stick and you can see where the crack is on the right side as it looks like a hinge. (Sorry for the bad lighting)

Would it be worth it to try to glue it or something else?

Also, this crack happened when I had the bow on the tillering stick at 25" with the string pretty close to braced. I left it in that position for several minutes. I am beginning to think that was a bad idea. Should I just have been exercising it instead of leaving it like that?

Thanks for any help and sorry for any newbie sounding comments.

Craig

hova · October 20, 2010, 11:10:00 PM

youre supposed to exercise it a lot before moving forward , but from what i have been seeing , hickory needs to be flat on the belly , its weak in compression.

how smooth is the belly ?

-hov

xstatic1971 · October 20, 2010, 11:49:00 PM

The belly is pretty smooth. It started out a little lumpy, but was pretty smoothed out during the tilling process.

I was considering just putting a hickory back on it. I have another hickory board, but the grain isn't very straight. I don't know how much straight grain matters with backings?

Thanks!

Craig

hova · October 20, 2010, 11:56:00 PM

wait to hear from someone else , they will have more experience in this situation...

are those cracks on the belly or the back?

xstatic1971 · October 21, 2010, 12:26:00 AM

The cracks are on the back :(

Pat B · October 21, 2010, 08:27:00 AM

I'd say one of two things happened here...1) the edge grain has a severe runoff that terminates where the break is...2) or the hickory was not cared for when cut and fungi was allowed to get into it. These are the only two situations I personally have experience with when it comes to hickory. Hickory is very resilliant and rarely will break like this without one of these problems.

hova · October 21, 2010, 08:40:00 AM

is the back completely flat and smooth , did you round your corners , and have you been watching your weight on the stick?

=hov

xstatic1971 · October 21, 2010, 05:02:00 PM

Yeah, the back is totally smooth, the edges are rounded and I was testing the weight on the tillering stick. Before the crack I was at 40lbs at 25"

Thanks!

Eric Krewson · October 22, 2010, 08:45:00 AM

About all you can do to save the bow is sand the bows back until you are out of the cracks and glue on another piece of hickory or perhaps bamboo.

hova · October 22, 2010, 09:45:00 PM

I'd do like eric says and get you some hickry backing .

-hov

xstatic1971 · October 23, 2010, 09:55:00 PM

Sounds good. Thanks very much for the responses. I actually just ordered some bamboo a couple of days ago, so I will definitely go that route and see if I can pull it off.

Thanks!!

Craig

hova · October 24, 2010, 07:14:00 PM

keep us updated, I'm looking at hickry for my next bow...

as a new bowyer , how do u like that tillering stick?

xstatic1971 · October 29, 2010, 02:37:00 AM

The tillering stick has worked well for me so far. I have also been using the mirror to check the tiller as well. No crazy stuff happening yet with the stick though I am pretty careful with it...

Still waiting for my bamboo to arrive...

Eric Krewson · October 29, 2010, 08:53:00 AM

After years of faithful service my favorite osage bow started developing the same type of cracks on the back.

I wrapped the first few places and kept on shooting but a year later more appeared so I turned the osage bow into a bamboo backed osage bow. The bow in my #1 bow now, headed to the woods this evening with it.

Make your bamboo very thin at the edges(1/16")prior to glue up or your bamboo will overpower your hickory belly wood and give you the same cracks you have on the back but on the belly.

Rich Evans · October 31, 2010, 06:38:00 PM

I agree with Eric 100%

xstatic1971 · November 11, 2010, 07:26:00 PM

Just saw these replies to this post. Thanks Eric and Rich. I have since then done a Bamboo Backed Ipe bow and sure enough have a tiny little crack in the belly. I wish I would have seen your 1/16" comment earlier Rich. :(

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=125&t=004514#000013