Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: PeteC on July 21, 2021, 06:40:08 pm
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I have a very nice osage bow that has developed a crack across a knot during tiller,@ 3/8" long. The bow already has several thousand shots on it,and it does'nt appear to be growing,but, it is enough that it cracked the finish. It still gives me the creeps however,and I'm considering drilling a 3/8" hole with a forster bit,then gluing a 1/8"deep osage plug in . Any of y'all ever tried it? If so ,what were the results,and what kind of glue did you use? Thanks, God bless
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I've always used titebond 3 for tip overlays.
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Is the crack only in the knot? If so it may not be a problem. Will you post a pic of the knot showing the crack?
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Pat, I couldn't get a decent shot that shows it,but it is across the knot and barely into a tiny part of a ring island I left around the knot itself is 5/16" across, with maybe 1/32" into the island. I was thinking of straddling the crack with a 3/8" forster cut hole ,then filling it with a plug maybe 1/8" -3/16" deep. What do you think?
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I've never plugged a knot so you might wait for someone with more experience. What I'd do is probably just fill the knot with thin super glue allowing it to sink into the crack. Sometimes that takes a couple of refills. But, without seeing the knot it just a guess.
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Don't use TB3 use a good quality slow setting epoxy.
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With epoxy on ash.
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You want a plug to be a tight fit...
Del
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Well, you took a little super glueable crack and made it into a big circular crack. Some have had good luck with glued in patches and plugs, I have not.
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Align the grain too. Bit late now but I have had good success with superglue and wood flour on small splits like that one
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I hav'ent done anything yet. I might try the slow super glue trickle first .The crack is a hairline, so I'll just keep shooting the bow and keep an eye on it.Thanks for the input from everyone. God Bless
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With the modern flexible epoxy and precision tools, almost anything is possible with minor cracks or chrysals, even in the middle of the working limb. But it would be cheaper and faster to start with a better stave, unless what you have is rare, expensive, or very special to you. Still super glue is too easy and convenient not to try. I would wear safety goggles or use the tillering tree, for the full draw. Good luck.
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Super glue and keep it flattish thru that area. Fill it until it won’t hold anymore. Then just keep an eye on it and cross your fingers.
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Not mentioned yet is another possibility - putting a patch over the knot and crack. Could be linen threads or flax fibres for the full traditional treatment or synthetic fibres if those suit you better. Hide glue works great for the glue and I would trust that much more than hoping glue will keep a crack shut on the tension side of the limb.
Mark
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I think it’s the belly (compression). Is it not?
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I would poke around on the knot to see how punky it is. If it is bad I drill out to clean wood, and use a mixture of red bottled super glue ,and saw dust ,and pack each layer in tight. That fix has saved my a.. on many a bow builds.
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The cracked knot is on the back of the bow slimbob. Yesterday I super glued it and left a tiny ridge on top of the crack. I let it cure all night,sanded the little glue ridge just a tad,(trying not to mess up my tru-oil job),then braced it and shot at least 200 arrows through it. The first time I hit full draw there was a tick from the glued crack,but I can't tell where it popped loose.Every thing still looks good,with no visible cracks. It never changed the whole shooting session. I feel pretty good about it now. I am hoping to hunt with this one this year,but w'ell see.GodBless
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The cracked knot is on the back of the bow slimbob. ....
Just incredible. I think most people assumed the knot is in the belly. Where in the limb is the knot?
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Being the knot is on the back of the bow, and you heard a tic, I would keep shooting with caution. I would also wrap over that area as a safety precaution if I was going to continue shooting it, and I would if it were mine.
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Here is my 1st osage selfbow that I built. 63” ttt, tillered out to 57#@28”. After shooting for awhile I decide to see how it would shoot at 29”. Well that didn’t go well, and it lifted a big splinter, 1/4”wide and 1/8” deep at a cluster of pin knots. This was about 4 days before I was going to an out of state shoot, and this was my only selfbow. It survived the shoot, and when I got home I wrapped over it as a precaution. That was 10 years ago, and I still hunt with it.
I did take the wrap off about 5 years ago, and reduced it to 50# due to a bad shoulder. It showed no sign of the splinter lifting, so I refinished it, rewrapped it, and am still hunting with it. I did retire it from the 3D circuit in hopes of keeping it from further damage.
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Yeah, I assumed the belly. Only a guess, but I would think it will just get a little bigger until it finally goes. Hope I’m wrong Pete. Might back it with rawhide.
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I also thought it was the belly which for me would put a whole new light on the subject now that I know it is the back. This is just me , but when I run into that problem, and have enough stave left 36 to 50 inches, and the rest of the stave is clean I wack it off at the knot ,and make horse bows.
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Well , out of somewhere around a hundred self bows,I have never left an island ring around a knot on the belly.I build flat belly bows, and only leave an island around a knot on the back if it's steep and there is a danger of violating a very thin ring on the knot. I have wrapped many bows that lift a splinter,or have a windcheck near the edge,but I can't see wrapping a knot with a crack perpendicular to the bows grain. But I could be wrong. I also have quite a few bows with knots with parallel cracks that have lasted for years and are still in service.Sorry I did'nt make it plain in my description. God Bless
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Also, I shot an hour and a half today,and still no change in the glue job. That's probably a total of no less than 400 arrows since glued.
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Osage is some strong stuff. You may be OK with it the way it is. I would just keep my eye on it to see if the crack should start growing. It may last for years, you just never know.
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Pete I really hope that bow lasts you a life time.. I have patched bows that are still shooting fine, but I have had more than my share of self bows blow up at full draw, and some were from knots on the back of the bow coupled with improper tillering. Now I hunt for clean staves no matter what kind of wood it is, and if the back looks questionable to me I will sinew back it. I like making horse bows , also, and if I have to cut the stave I can mostly still get a bow out of it.