Is this salvagable?

[EHK]

Glued up my second recurve last night, and when I took it out of the oven, dangit - got some pretty nasty looking gap issues right at the curve. The pictures are both sides of the same limb.  the other limb is fine.  Looks like the air hose didn't have good pressure on that spot.  Is there any way to fix this, or does it get finished as a wallhanger?

Thanks for any ideas...

Eric

[Bowjunkie]

Ewwww. Not good. That's a lot of seperation and I doubt I'd mess with it. I'd pitch it, correct the cause, and start another.

How far apart is the gap in that area of your press? Same as everywhere else? How much pressure did you put in the hose? Did it stay inflated the whole time? There weren't side alignment plates or anything right there that could have kept the lams from being pushed together was there?

[EHK]

I was afraid that was the response I was going to get.  No side alignment plates to interfere.  the gap over there should be just under 1.25" - same as everywhere else, but I'll verify that for sure.  Hose was inflated to 60 pounds and held pressure throughout the cook.  

My press only has locking plates in 2 places, so I think I'm going to add two more.  Maybe things shifted when the hose was inflated?  I don't know what to think since my first bow came out of the same press with no problems.

[Buemaker]

Too bad, but If I understand you correct the space between your lower and upper form is 1 1/4 ". I would say that is too much. 15/16" to 1" would be better. Bingham say 3/4" from top side of laminates to upper form, that gives about 1" total opening. On my take down form I use a 15/16" total opening. Bue--.

[EHK]

Thanks for that, Bue.  I'll drop the whole thing by a quarter inch then.

[Bodork]

Like said above, that's not gonna work. However, you can still turn the bow into something useful. I had the air hose deflate on a longbow a few months ago. Lost close to $200.00 in wood. I cut the limbs off, finished shaping the riser, drilled a hole through it, and walla! A lamp!

 

[D]

That lamp is freaking awesome..

sorry about the bow though.

[jsweka]

Originally posted by D:
That lamp is freaking awesome..

sorry about the bow though.

Yup.

[fujimo]

am new to this glass thing, and am busy with some bows using kenny M's patterns. and he recommends an inch and a 1/4-
wonder why the significant differences- anybody any input?

could you not cut the bow in half- build another half and build a 2 piece take down- maybe just easier to start afresh.

i really empathize!

[heartlandbowyer]

You should be able to salvage the riser wood if you really wanted to, just band saw it out of the bow and clean up on the sander and its ready to go. Seems up to the point your at that's where most of the work was done especially if ya used more than 1 wood in the riser.

I have right at 1 inch clearance on all my forms before I add my stack. When I add my stack and hose I can just get my bolts in the holes. If I have a little air in the hose I use a bar clamp to compress so I can get bolts through holes.

The next glue up will go smoother.

Cory

[kennym]

My bows are longbows and have more stack thickness than a recurve, so an inch would be better for a curve.

[fujimo]

thanks kenny

[EHK]

That is one cool lamp.  My wife wants me to finish the bow anyway so we can hang it on a wall somewhere.  I think I'll cut the riser out though.  I know I can re-use some of that wood elsewhere.  And, I'll definitely make a form adjustment prior to the next glue-up.

[monterey]

Before you toss that bow, take a file or drum sander to those sections to see how deep the gap goes.  Might be a limb in there somewhere!

[canopyboy]

Originally posted by monterey:
Before you toss that bow, take a file or drum sander to those sections to see how deep the gap goes.  Might be a limb in there somewhere!

I'd agree.  If the forms are farther apart, you should still have gotten your best hose contact and pressure in the middle.  Gaps that big, it seems a bit of a long shot, but I don't see what you have to lose by digging down to your limb profile and seeing what it looks like.

Oh, and I love that lamp.  I'm sure I'll have a chance to do that one of these days, I just need to start making nicer risers first!  (I have plenty of cut-off bland risers...)

[BenBow]

Here's what I've done with my messed up limbs.
 

[Bodork]

Dang Galen! I threw the limbs away. Otherwise I'd definitely use them like that. My wife even suggested wind chimes hanging on them!