Shoddy repair story (long post)

[gograntgo10]

Never got around to posting this story here and thought you guys might find it interesting. It has been a year since I did this repair and the bow is still going strong. Wish me luck.

So a while back I got a great deal on the auction site for a Shakespeare Custer.
     
It had some limb twist, which I dealt with, and was missing a lot of finish. Still, I wasn't too worried, I love refinishing bows. Well, fast forward a few months, half way through the refinish I noticed a crack that looked like it was running the full length of the shelf.
     
It was hidden under the old finish. At first I wasn't too worried, then I strung it up and noticed that the crack extended under the shelf by an inch and got bigger when the bow was strung.
     
 This meant that the riser was flexing at the crack. I was pretty bummed about this, figuring I would have to hang up this old beauty. I decided to try to fix it. It is only 40lbs, so if it explodes hopefully it won't kill me.

Part 2 coming soon.

[gograntgo10]

It was around this time that I started jokingly calling it Custer's Last Stand because I figured it would just explode the next time I strung it.  I decided to try an old gunsmithing trick for fixing gunstocks. First I spread the crack as much as I could and filled it with epoxy. Then I drilled a couple holes smeared them full of epoxy and screwed in some course brass screws. Then all I had to do was cut off the screws, file them down, and sand everything flush. Ok, so it was a lot of work, especially since I have no power tools besides a drill. After that I refinished the riser with 10 or 15 coats of tru oil and polished it back out.
Here is the finished product:
 
 
 
Here she is strung up:
 

It has been about a year now and the repair is still holding. No movement in the riser at all. I know it is still probably going to break, but at least I got to shoot it a little bit first. I still where eye protection when I shoot it, and I won't ever sell it, but after a few thousand arrows I am feeling pretty good about this repair.

[Bvas]

Glad it's workin out for ya. But gotta say.....you're a braver man than I. I have an old York recurve that has developed a vertices crack where the two halves of the riser were glued together. Im scared to shoot it anymore.
But I can't bare to get rid of it as I used it to kill my first trad deer. Maybe someday I'll use the zebra riser as part of a bow build.