Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: 330bull on February 08, 2008, 02:34:10 am

Title: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: 330bull on February 08, 2008, 02:34:10 am
Unless you have good eyesight you may not even be able to see it.  Take a close look and tell me what you think I should do.  I also included a pic from the tillering tree to see how it looks braced.

Any thoughts?...   :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

Man oh man I was upset!  I traded some Vine Maple for this and I really took my time on it.  In fact I probably had 25+ hours into it.  After getting close to final tillering I took it for some "teaching" and I heard a little "click".  I examined the lower limb and fund a hairline crack across a set of two pins knots about mid lower limb. 

So I opened up, put some super glue in it, then rawhided the entire bow.  After spending another hour cleaning up the rawhide, it was shooting pretty well.  In fact I had it up to 25" or so @ 75# and it was screaming.  However it finally broke while I was gingerly training it again on the scale.  It broke right @ 25". 

Honestly I'm still very proud of this bow since I did not rush it, and I learned a TON on it including:  Using Rawhide, Steaming (8 fricking times on this bow) & bending @ the handle & mid limbs,  using rawhide. 

Take care and I hope everyone got a good chuckle.

Cheers, Joe

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: Gordon on February 08, 2008, 02:53:44 am
If you make wood bows you're going to break a few. I try not to get to attached to a bow until it is tillered and broken in.
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: 330bull on February 08, 2008, 03:03:22 am
Yeah I'm actually glad it broke now as opposed to pulling down on a 5x5 bull this fall.  This thing never even made it to the first date!  It was never perfectly aligned, major plastic surgery on the handle, and the crack would have always bothered me, rawhide or not.
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: El Destructo on February 08, 2008, 05:41:56 am
Steamed it 8 times.....wow...that could have a little to do with its failure too.......... Dry Heat and a good coat of Lard or grease to keep the wood moist ....would have been a lot better...I have ruined a few nice Bows using Steam and Boiling to get out Ginks and curves....when Dry Heat would have served me better.....Steaming seems to dry the Wood out more than add moisture...and it also seems to make the Wood more Brittle too....and always remember to let the Stave set a day or two after Heating like this....so it can reabsorb some moisture again....I know it is hard not to just start bending it and finishing the Tillering ...but wait a couple days...you wont regret it. This still wont save them all....and like you said you learned a lot from  this Bow....so just take it as a good learning experience and move on
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: PK on February 08, 2008, 05:53:33 am
Hey one of my first bows did that I glued it back with TB3 let it dry for a few days used it for a month then through it in the dumster cause it broke again, then I did not know how the grain was supposed to be,but then I did break one that was almost perfect grain because of that darn hinge I didn't see.Hate when that happens  :'(
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: SimonUK on February 08, 2008, 06:22:37 am
Nope, can't see it.
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: Pappy on February 08, 2008, 06:38:18 am
Barely see it,It probably wont give any trouble  >:D ;D ;D.I'm with Gordon I try not to get to
attached.I steam them once most times and then dry heat from this on.   
   Pappy
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: Keenan on February 08, 2008, 07:53:05 am
 Bummer Bro,  On the other hand you could try to fill the whole crack with super glue and go for the FIRST MINI YUMI, >:D >:D ;D   What Gordon said,  Keenan
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: DanaM on February 08, 2008, 08:50:48 am
I think the left limb is bending a bit much, ya might have a hinge ;D
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: Eric Krewson on February 08, 2008, 10:53:20 am
I turned this,

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/frankenbowboom.jpg)

into this with some urac and a new piece of bamboo. Still shooting 4 years later.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/frankenbowgluedcrack.jpg)

You can also cut the bad llimb off and splice in a new one. I have done this a bunch of times.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/limbreplacement9.jpg)

New limb in place.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/limbreplacement11.jpg)
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: cowboy on February 08, 2008, 10:57:14 am
That don't look too bad - probably fix it with some urac and a couple of six penny nails :D. Got a good chuckle out of that one :).
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: adb on February 08, 2008, 12:14:53 pm
Osage is amazing stuff, but it will break. When you're making organic bows, sometimes things fail. It happens to all of us. If you're not breaking stuff, you're not pushing the limits occasionally. Keep goin'. Usually with a failure of your magnitude, I don't spend any more time trying to fix it. You could put in another 25 hours, and end up where you started. Live and learn, and move on to the next one!
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive on February 08, 2008, 03:55:15 pm
that will buff out ;D  -thats too bad, i have fixed a few but that one has a pretty clean break across the back, i dont think it would repair well.
Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: Slivershooter on February 08, 2008, 06:17:47 pm
At 75#'s I don't think I wild try to fix it.  However, if it was lighter it might be worth a try.  Here is a picture of a friends BB Yew tri-lamb that he brought over last fall.  It is his daughters bow and her boyfriend strung it backwards:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Slivershooter/DougsSheepHunt005.jpg)

Here is a picture of it after being glued with urac 185 and wrapped with sinew soaked in super glue.
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Slivershooter/DougsSheepHunt034.jpg)

And here is a video clip of me shooting the bow the bow after the fix (Had to prove to some people on another site the bow still worked).  This bow was a light weight bow 40# @ 26" and I am shooting a 550 grain cane arrow.
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Slivershooter/th_DougsSheepHunt044.jpg) (http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Slivershooter/?action=view&current=DougsSheepHunt044.flv)















Title: Re: Do you think this micro crack will cause problems?...
Post by: BigWapiti on February 09, 2008, 01:58:17 pm
Joe, I'm new to all this stuff, so I had a tough time finding the aforementioned crack -I'm sure the others here can help... :)   Like anything in life, "If you can't laugh about it, why bother?"  Thanks for the laugh. 

Still, I hope thats not the bow, one of your newest builds, that you've been telling me about!

Mike