OMG...why do I have such an issue!

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

I just have to vent for a moment. This deer season has been one of my worst to start! I jump deer everytime I either go to one of my stands or I don't see a deer at all... The other night I went out and jumped a huge buck from his bed scouting a spot that I typically hunt.

Ok on the venting about my bowyer skills... Last night I was working on a bow blank that I got from SEMO... It is beautiful boo backed ipe. So I was going very easy with working on the tiller and I heard a "tick" I looked the bow over and saw a slight sliver on the boo!!!!! WTH!!!

Guys can this be saved....
 

Also in the picture of the profile the right limb has a little dip to it that wasn't there before... I truely am going slow an steady but somehow I have issues! I am not a craftsman by any means but can't I catch a break!

Here is the profile view of the limbs... look at the right one!
 

[Roy from Pa]

That sliver happens a lot with boo. You can put super glue on it and wrap the limb with sinew about 1/4 inch out past each end of it. That little dip looks normal, your limbs are going to take a little set, or that could be a weaker spot in the limb and you will have to take wood off out past it as the set has already happened in that area. A braced picture would help. How far have you had it pulled?

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Roy I am not positive on how far out I had it... On a long string probably about 14 inches or so. I was to the point were I thought I could brace it just about an inch or two but apparently not... I will glue the crack in an hour or so when I get out of work and will post a picture of it.

[Nim-rod]

If you need a nice Hickory stave let me know. I'm in Manchester NH and have many staves sitting here and I'd be willing to give you one.

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

That would be great Nim... I would absolutely love to try a hickory stave... I have been wanting to try one for a while! Nice to see another bowyer in this area... I haven't heard of any others around

[Nim-rod]

Yea we are a small crew over here. I'm teaching a few folks right now. Not that I'm an expert but I pass on what I can. I'll PM ya with my info and stuff. One day maybe we can get a NH group meeting somewhere near here for idea exchanges jsut like some of those guys in the south.

[Roy from Pa]

Justin, do yourself a favor and throw away the long string, they lie. Before you even put the bow on the tree, cut in your string grooves, then get or make a string that just fits into the string grooves, and tiller with that. Also there is a thread on the Bowyers Bench titled Tillering Gizmo. It can't be very far down the list, and that tool will help you a lot. Work the bow on the tree with the longer string till you have the limb tips bending to about 7 or 8 inches. Then get a regular string on the bow and brace it to 6 inches. Once braced to 6 inches, check your tiller between top and bottom limbs. You want at least 1/8th to 1/4 positive tiller on the top limb. You need to get the positive tiller as soon as you can on the tree. Actualy you could get it close at the 6 inch brace height before even pulling it. Reason being, if the top limb is stronger than the bottom limb, and you keep working the bow down the tree, the stronger top limb is going to stress the bottom limb more than it should be, and that will cause the lower limb to take more set, or it could work in reverse and cause the top limb to take on more set ya dig?  Roy

[Roy from Pa]

Gizmo Thread Justin..

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001047

[Eric Krewson]

I have stopped scraping the rind off bamboo because of the possibility of raising splinters like the one you experienced. I now sand the rind just enough for it to take stain now instead of scrape. In the process I will remove 2/3s of the rind but still have some streaks of it left.

[Roy from Pa]

I also sand off the rind now Eric, but I remove all the rind. I also quit rasping facets in the back of the bow, hence rasping the edge of the boo. I feel that is where a lot of my boo splinters came from. Instead I now use my palm sander and just round over the edge of the boo at the same time I take the rind off. So far it's been working well. Of all my BBO bow's, the boo getting a splinter has been my # 1 problem, especialy on the edge.

[Eric Krewson]

I use a belt sander for the sides to make sure my tips are lined up centered with the handle. I put the handle on my shoulder and sight down the limb to check for alignment. I look for any irregularities in the sides of the limb as well. I want the sides parallel and straight as an arrow. I call this step "sighting in a bow".

If I have the tips visually lined up with the handle and all the wavy stuff on the sides of the limb straightened out I never have a problem with string centering or a limb wandering off to the side when the bow is strung.  

I follow up with a palm sander for the finished look and to radius the corners of the limb.