Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Elktracker on December 14, 2011, 02:29:48 pm
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Ok so I cut this out last night and wanted to make a sinew backed short Yew recurve but when I was cutting it out l noticed a bad spot in the wood so had to make my limbs a bit narrower to get it out of the limb. As of now the stick is 48" curve to curve (where it starts to curve), 1 1/2" wide the whole way to a few inches before the tips. I feel like The limbs are maybe to narrow at 1 1/2"??
And then when I was heating in the recurves a crack started to develope that was pretty bad as you see so I super glued it and clamped it and it worked ok. I had planned on wrapping the tips with sinew.
So I guess my question to all of you is...... Is this bow worth the trouble of sinewing and trying to finish with the info you have? I was wanting something around 50# @ 24" but I think thats asking allot but then again I have only worked with sinew one time so I wasnt sure?
All of your thoughts and opinions will be valued and taken into consideration, and if this one has to end up firewood I wont feel bad because I only have about 35 minutes in to it so far. Thanks
Josh
(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af314/mandoman1540/IMG_20111213_230644.jpg)
These are before glueing the crack it closed up pretty good and seems ok.
(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af314/mandoman1540/IMG_20111213_230746.jpg)
(http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af314/mandoman1540/IMG_20111213_230729.jpg)
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Trash it if you have more staves to work on that are clean.
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I am not an expert, but I would go ahead and finish it. I believe you'd want to wrap the curves after the sinew backing was on to hold the sinew down in the curves anyways, this would further help protect that area. I wouldn't give up on it just yet.
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Might wanna scratch my idea a go with PD.
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Hmmm???...my opinion is that's borderline,and I tend to stray to the side of saving it and finishing it. I don't see why sinew backing and wrapping that crack where it runs off wouldn't be a problem holding up at the draw weight and length you mentioned. Make it a bendy handle or slight bendy,and id think you'd be ok. But that's just me...and I don't know much...so take that for what its worth.
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Thanks guys for the replys so far, I may just finish it just to see how it works but I am thinking about maybe doing a rawhide backing and then wrapping the curves with sinew so I dont spend so much time doing the sinew thing as you all know it isnt a fast process. What are your thoughts on that? I am one of those guys that likes to try and take on challenges and problems in wood just to see if I can beat it and get a shooter out of it, plus I usually learn more this way. Thanks
Josh
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I'm no expert but given that the recuves are mostly static and you are wrapping them where the crack runs out I would bet they will hold. You have too much work into not to see it through in my opinion. It aint broke till its broke.
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Thanks Steve :)
Josh
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Just wrap! ;)
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Josh, you might want to reconsider the rawhide and go with the sinew on the back if you really like the bow. I have a short sinew backed recurve that Marc St Louis built out of elm. The belly of this bow is full of crystles and cracks from years of shooting and being overdrawn by the previous owner and it still shoots great. Without the sinew I'm sure this bow would have broken years ago. PM Marc and ask him about "Sinbad".
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Ok steve thanks I was just considering the raw hide as it wouldnt take as much time to do but I wasnt sure if it would be a good choice or not. Thanks
Thanks druid
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Like I said Josh I'm a green horn and have never backed any of the few bows I've made myself. But I've seen first hand what sinew can do and I was very impressed. Maybe rawhide would work ok too. Your right about sinew being labor intensive though. I watched Gary Davis do a couple of bows at the Kalamazoo expo last year.
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burn that mofo!
haha
i hope to get down your way this winter....
don't worry about the dvd's i'll pick them up when i visit.
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Ok aaron thanks
josh
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Considerating that the string groove placement will be above the crack, drawing the bow (in my opinion) will put heavy stress on the crack repair which does seem to follow the longitudinal grain and run off the side of the limb. With that grain violation, the failure may have happened later in the tillering process, anyways. If the crack bisected the limb, I can visualize a tightening bow string loop might aid in keeping it together.
I am usually one to attempt a repair but in this case, I think that I would use it for kindling. This time, I'm erring on the safe side.
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You can tell by looking at the grain pattern that crack is following a natural split line perpendicular to the annual rings running through the center of the wood.
I personally don't think there is any hope. It'll just keep growing.
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Ain't gonna happen. I would put it in the stinky can, so to speak.
Lane
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Josh, you need closer to 2" width near the fades to withstand the compression forces of such short limbs. Going to the trouble of appyling sinew to that piece of wood would be a waste of effort in my opinion.
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Simple.
Finish it...
Not because it's necessarilly a good idea, but because you will learn a lot about what's possible.
Del
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If your gonna trash it or burn it,then don't,and send it to me and ill waste my time sinewing and wrapping it,and ill try like heck to make a bow out of it just to prove the naysayers wrong...lol >:D .. hmmm...there goes goes my big head talking out loud again ::)
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Really that's a great idea Blackhawk, maybe everyone will learn from this. Josh, you know you'll always wonder what if...
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If you where to wrap and sinew that end, would all the added weight to an already static tip make a total dog? Just asking.
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I saw you said that from the beginning of the curve to beginning of curve is 48"? Personally I'd cut off below the crack and go back to work with the 48" stave. You can put curves back on it and sinew back it. You're only wanting 24" of draw length. If you sinew back it and recurve the tips again you should have no problem getting that draw length. That's just my two cents.
~Barry
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Thank you all for all the replys and all of your valued opinions, I think im gonna stick this one in the corner of shame and who knows maybe someday something might happen with it :-\ but for now I think I will move on to something with less problems, I am sure I can get a bow out of it but If I did I would probably have to shoot for lower draw weight . Who knows maybe someday you will see her on here. :D Thanks again for all of your input!
Josh
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I'd wait till you have a similar length billet and splice the good limb to that. Just remember to save the entire handle so you have some length to splice. Tillering and matching an already tillered limb to a one not so is quite a bit of fun. You could also make a takedown, that's what I did last time.
George
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Thanks George I very well may do that thanks
Josh
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i would hold off and just ask john...
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Haha ya I know what he would say, I was working with him about a week ago and he was working on a bamboo backed Yew recurve and it was beautiful!!! he called me the next day and said that a large splinter in the bamboo let loose so he did a rawhide patch and wrapped it then I went by the next day to check it out and after I shot it for a while it started to lift another splinter! He was talking about cutting it up for firewood and I talked him out of doing that and doing another wrap because he had put a fair amount of time into it and it was such a beautiful bow! He did it but said if another one came up it was fire wood! I said ill buy it from you if another one comes up lol
I think it was just a bad piece of bamboo as I have seen lots of these bows that he has built that had no issues. But never the less I would hate to see any bow he worked on go to fire wood!! Even if it was a complete break I would take it ;D
I know if I wanted to complete it I could and I could bandaid it up to probably hold for a good long life but I just dont think its worth the time and energy and as gordon said its probably under built for what I was wanting to get out of it. Who knows though someday I may want to do something with it :D
Thanks John