reworking old bow

[walkabout]

so ive been thinking for some time about refinishing my first board bow, its 71 ntn and pulls 45#@28". the fades are far from great, and the finish has some wear on it. i was thinking about taking off the old riser, which shows signs of stress at the seam, and gluing a new, better faded riser on. has anyone done this and will it change my tiller/ draw weight?

[Pat B]

By changing the riser and making softer fades it will change the way the bow bends. If the present riser is showing stress at the glue joint try using 3 to 5 thin layers of graduating lengths to make up your riser. It will have a little more "give" to it and should prevent the glue joint stress.

[walkabout]

yea the current riser has horrible fades, it being my first handmade bow, now i cut my fades on the bandsaw and shape before glue up to get more consistency, thought this bow could benefit from some tlc. i think the stress on the fades currently is due to them being stiffer than they should, i had to reglue a riser on this bow because it popped the first one.

[UnderControl16]

From what you said it sounds like first that your glue isn't strong enough but(!) it sounds like you have a considerable amount of handle bend and that is why you're having riser issues.

[walkabout]

i might, given that the current riser is pretty short. i think its only 6 inch,2 inch fades and 4 inch handle section.id make it a bend through handle if i was certain it wouldnt blow on me, ive thinned the handle section down from 1 1/2 to 1 inch or so.