Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: huntinoly on February 04, 2009, 10:57:06 pm
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I just finished tilling an osage longbow, it was my first attempt at splicing billet. The problem is when I draw the bow and shoot it there is a clicking sound in the handle. The clicking sound is in the first one inch of draw, and repeats almost every draw. The area spliced is about one inch thick with another piece of osage glued on top for support and a grip. I was thinking of sawing off the the support piece and steaming the splice to see if I can separate the splices and try to glue it again, but I am not sure urac will separate with steam. Any suggestions? Greg
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urac will not steam off. Hmmm.......you might saw/plane off the handle block and expose the splice, glueing it from the outside with thinned epoxy. Several ways to do that and make it work. Or, just shoot it till it breaks.
piper
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Like piper said heat wont touch the urac glue. I'd just try to thicken the handle section up some to stop it from bending. Maybe add a overlay over the front of the splice on the back of the bow?
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I suppose you could drill a hole or two through it and glue an osage pin in it.
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How about a takedown sleeve. Saw it in half and glue it in a takedown sleeve.
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I would try to find the source of the squeak and fill it with super glue. Then tightly wrap the handle with hemp cord from wally world and set that in Massey finish.
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I had a similar problem once and fixed it by wrapping the entire handle area with heavy thread set in super glue. It worked great but was not the prettiest :)
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Did you glue a piece of wood on the belly for a handle. If so, how thick is it?
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How about a picture! ;)
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Gordon, I did glue a piece of osage over the belly, it is about 5/8" thick, it is part of the grip. The bow seems solid but that ticking noise would not be good for hunting. What if I drilled a small hole thru the splice filled it with glue and put a wood screw in it. I can not do pictures yet. Greg
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A wrap would be more secure than adding a dowel or wood screw. IMO
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My first and only spliced osage billet bow worked great for a few thousand shots, then started making a tick sound, then later more ticking. It finally broke at the joint. What I should have done was take the wrap off and glue a backing to the belly, so I did more ticking. Then I glued a thin peice of wood on the back of the bow and that made it solid,using urac. If that helps you any. Dismount
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Okay, with that thickness the handle shouldn't be flexing and you probably have a defective glue joint. I would probably drill two holes through the side of the splice, about 1 inch from each end and fill each with a fitted wooden dowl that is glued in. I would then wrap the handle tightly with braided dacron fishing line (~50 lbs test) and then soak the wrapping with superglue. That should do it - though I make no promises :P
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There are lots of times in this forum we talk about wrapping handes with something, or wrapping splinters, etc.
I like nylon seine twine or mason line. When i wrap with it i run off a section long enough to do the job. Then I make the spool end fast to something solid, like a post in my carport. Starting at the working end I overlap the first two or three wraps on the bow and then back off till the line is TIGHT, like TWANG-Y tight, and begin rolling the bow in my hands, turning it under great tension, till it is filled in as far as I want to go, MINUS ABOUT THREE WRAPS . Those three wraps are done with half-hitches, the end clipped 1/4" long or so, melted with a lighter and finger-tapped down, so it never will un-tie.
Done this way, there is no danger of it ever getting loose. Further, it is easy to stay accurate and is easier on the hands than handling cord, and pulling it tight with the fingers.
piper
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Gordon, what size dowel and what type of glue. Thanks for all the help guys. Greg
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1/4" birch dowel like you get from home depot would do it - and some white glue.
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I'd use wedged dowels so that they never feel like sliding out, no matter what glue is used. Saw perpendicular slots in the ends of the dowels before driving and glueing and prepare hardwood wedges to fit. Glue, insert dowel, insert and drive wedges.......allow to dry, saw off excess.
piper
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Thanks everyone I am going to try the dowel and fishing line. I will let you know how it works. Greg
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You should try and find out what the problem is, if the problem is not the splice but the glued on handle piece then doweling the splice won't help. You can do this by clamping one of the bow's limbs near the handle in a padded vise and then apply pressure on the other limb while examining the handle. You should be able to see if there is any movement in the handle
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Thanks Marc, I will give it a try. Greg
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I have heard noises in bows only to find out that it was the string in the nock . It is hard to isolate a noise coming from a bow as it can be transmitted through the wood and seem to be where it isn't. You could put the bow in a vise with the string removed so as to pull each limb by hand. This should tell you which end of the handle to fix. You may get lucky and find that you don't have a problem at all. Good luck!
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Thanks Matte, good idea I will check. Greg
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Well it ended up being the 5/8" cap that I glue on for support and part of the grip, after moving the limbs back and forth in the vice a crack developed in the glue line. I popped the piece off with a chisel. Thanks to everyone for the help. This bow is for a friend of mine who helped me pack out my bull last season. He developed an interest in self bows after seeing what my bow did to the bull. Greg