Osage orange selfbow - tip overlay problem????

[Thunderlizard]

Hello Ya’ll.

I made this bow a couple of years back, and over time, it developed a hairline check running down a few inches of the back, right where I dug the knot out of the belly side on the bottom limb. I have since backed it with a strip of rawhide to remedy that (thanks to Jamie, aka Ravenbeak for all the help!). Along with the backing, I decided that I wanted to add horn overlays to it, and as you might be able to tell from the top photo, I sanded down a bit more length than the horn can cover on one tip. Curious if anyone has opinions on whether this growth ring violation  might be a problem. I’m hoping that it’s close enough to the nocks that it won’t bend enough there to break. Still not done shaping and putting grooves in the horn, but I figured I’d go ahead and try for some opinions.

Thanks!
     - Pat

[Thunderlizard]

Full length

[Pat B]

Just shorten the limb tip til it fits. You may have to shorten the other limb too but it probably isn't necessary, as long as the tiller is still good.

[Stick Bender]

Out on the tips there is very little stress or bending you could glue a peace of micro size raw hide and blend it to the design or do a little sinew,hemp or jute or what ever you have wrap ,none of any of those would ad much mass !

[DC]

I'm with Pat on this one, although I keep imagining a nice white chip of bone shaped to fit that notch. It would look cool. I'm just not sure about the strength.

[bubby]

There are a few ways to address this, shorten the tips, get a longer piece of horn, or use a piece of hardwood long enough to cover. You can also cut some thin contrasting lams to build it out and still use that horn

[Danzn Bar]

+1 what bubby said................
DBar

[Thunderlizard]

Thanks for the feedback on this everyone! It may not have come up in the pictures, but I had already glued the horn overlays onto the tips    so I’d like to avoid cutting off eithertip at the overlay, since this bow is already 64” long, and that would take it down to about 61”... that being so, I think I’ll try to wrap it in sinew just below the overlays...
If it ends up breaking below the the overlays, hopefully it goes cleanly so I don’t have a bow any shorter than 61”!

[PatM]

Cut them off with a fine saw along the glueline and then re-do the stack of material.

[sleek]

Use a heat gun to heat ot up and break down the glue bond. It will pop right off. Could possibly boil it off too depending on the glue used. Probably fine as it is, when nocks are cut through the side of the bow, it violates the grain also. There is very little leverage against the broken fibers at the tips so, functionally, whatever you do wont make a difference.

[Eric Krewson]

I would take the hornoff and build up the area with some neat lams to enhance the horn.

Like this;

[JNystrom]

That is beautiful Eric Krewson! I might copycat that one...

[Hamish]

+1. Seriously nice tips there Eric.