2nd bow cracks

[benchristy]

In rough forming my second bow I have noticed cracks on the side of one of limbs near the fade outs. The bow is made from hickory and the limb is 2 inches wide at the point of the cracks. I have considered either reducing the width to 1.5 inches or gluing the cracks. Are either options viable?

Thanks for the help.

pictures.
  picture 1

  picture 2

[red hill]

Can't tell for sure but I'd reduce the width to 1.5" to see if the cracks go deeper. Your stave looks pretty rough. Have you bent the limbs at all?  I'd hold off bending until I see how deep the cracks go.

[benchristy]

I have not bent the limb at all. The other limb is on the verge of being able to be floor tillered but not his one. What would have caused cracking like this?

[John Scifres]

Those look like internal fractures that ca occur during strong winds or during felling.  They are often called wind checks.  Was the tree pushed over?

It's possible they don't extend deeper into the stave but I wouldn't bet on it.  I would look the stave over very carefully.  

You can likely save the bow though.  Continue your roughout and then leave that area a little stiff.  Watch it very carefully during tillering.  You might even make a small pencil mark art the end of the checks to monitor their spread.  If they open up during tillering, you can try and get some thin supergue in the and then clamp that area.  Good luck.

[LittleBen]

I'm with John .... for the most part. The onyl thing I might suggest slightly differently is to do the superglue right now, before tillering instead of waiting for a problem. Pro-active vs reactive. Then again I've never had this particul;ar problem so I'm really just throwing it out there, but superglue is usually your friend on things like this.

[Pat B]

I would do as LittleBen suggests and go ahead and super glue the checks now.

[benchristy]

I jumped the gun before seeing the above posts and reduced the width to 1.5 inches. I noticed around that the wood that cracked was a dark brown sickly color and i removed all of this wood. It is the only bit I have seen has cracked and I have look it over very well. I am guessing that I will need to reduce the target draw weight slightly now though or could I still safely reach 55 - 60 pounds with 1.5 inch limbs?

Thanks for all the help!

[John Scifres]

The discoloration is common with wind checks.  I suspect it occurs when water seeps into the fractures and begins the decomposition process.

[Paul/KS]

I'd go for a lighter draw weight to be on the safe side and still get a bow out of it.

[LittleBen]

Originally posted by Paul/KS:
I'd go for a lighter draw weight to be on the safe side and still get a bow out of it.

x2.

IMO better to have a bow that shoots fast/well for a 40# bow than a bow thats a dog for a 50# bow.

Since it's hickory it's probably not going to break, but if it takes alot of set you may not be very happy with it.

It'll probably be faster at 50# than 40#, but with more set, you may end up with less FPS at any given grains/lb or arrow weight.


What length is the bow and what is your draw length? also how long is the stiff handle? Someone with more hickory experience might be able to give you a reasonable idea what weight you can get safely

[benchristy]

I was aiming for a draw length of 28 inches. The bow is 66 inches in length. The handle is 8 inches

[LittleBen]

Traditional Bowyer's Bible suggests that for a 66" bow with stiff handle, full width to mid limb then tapering to 1/2" nocks, 50# @ 28" ... a bow of this design made of hickory should be 1 3/4" wide.

So if you're at 1 1/2" wide, you're not far off ... I'd shoot for 45# and see what happens.