Hop horn beam and belly frets

[bassman211]

why?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Your tiller or design is flawed.

[Weylin]

Or there's too much moisture in the wood. if you live somewhere humid you may need a hot box and you should consider heat tempering your next one before you tiller it out too far. But none of that will matter if your tiller and/or design is off, like Pearly said.

[superdav95]

I second what they said.  I’ve made some bows with hhb from around here and it’s hard to find straight ones.  If you do get it right it makes for a screamer of a bow.  Super hard after heat treatment.  I try to fix most of my limb twist and such using a caul form during heat treatment.  They ended up super thin after getting them to the weight I wanted.  Get moisture down below 10% before heat treatment if you can and get less checks in limbs.  Very strong wood if you can find straight ones.  Don’t give up on it.  I kept mine around 1 3/4” wide or under on limbs.  Did you have to draw knife the bark off or did it slip right off?  The white woods like a pristine back.  Keep us posted

[bassman211]

I have made 4 attempts. 62 inches long 25 inch draw for 40 to 45 lbs. . 1.5 at the fades to half inch at the tips. Same technique. 2 shoot good ,and 2 developed frets. I have, also made 4 bows with the other  horn beam (blue beech). All are shooting fine. These bows were made over a period of a year. Both woods dried the same length of time, and made in the same way. Same length, and same poundage, and good tiller. Thanks for the tips guys.  Could be the design, and it could be the moisture. Maybe both. I have one more  I am working on right now, and I am going to get the wood under 10 percent moisture before belly heat treat, and make it a flat bow style.

[George Tsoukalas]

I have never had a bow with high MC fret or chrysal.
If the  frets are spread out over a large area of the limbs then it is a design issue ...too narrow or too short.
If the frets are localized to smaller areas then the tiller is off...too much bending there.
Hard to tell about tiller without photos.
Just because the tiller "looks" good doesn't mean it is a good tiller for the stave.

Jawge

[bradsmith2010]

it could be the wood or you,,need more info,, but interesting

[bassman211]

George like Dave said  to much moisture with heavy belly heat treat with this wood may be counter productive. Maybe design to, but I don't think so. I have made many bows with my technique , including black locust, and many white woods, and never have fret problems any more including white birch, and walnut. Brad,  the log is pretty straight, and was long enough to get 7 staves at 62 inches in length. 5 inch non working riser with 2 inch fades. The outer  white wood varies in thickness from end to end ,and when finished their is some heart wood on the belly. I don't know if this is common with this wood, or not. First time working with  Hop hornbeam , so it may be a learning curve for me. I have more staves, so I will get it right eventually. I wanted some insight  from those of you who are well versed with this wood. Thanks again for your trouble shooting tips. I will keep them all in mind. This try will be a flat bow design  with a trapped back, and some other method mods.

[BowEd]

+1 of what George said.If the tiller is good before heat treating it should stay ok with no issues.That's all depending on the character of the bow also.Overly charaterish bows can be more susceptible.
I personally don't like heat treating bows with a lot of knots in them.

[George Tsoukalas]

Batman, frets go across the grain on the belly side.
If the wood is too wet when heat treating that will cause drying cracks which are almost always with the grain.
Don't ask why I know so much about chrysals and frets.
Jawge

[BowEd]

Correcto George...Could it be you cut your teeth with bow making with BL?

[bradsmith2010]

could we see a pic

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes sir, Bowed. Yes, BL will teach you how to tiller properly. Jawge

[bushboy]

Sometimes tension fractures caused by reflecting can be mistaken for fretts..just saying

[Marc St Louis]

I cut a small diameter HHB many years ago and started making a longbow out of it after seasoning it for a year.  Had to quit on it because it started to chrysal badly.  Not too often HHB chrysals but it does happen