Finished my first Osage selfbow.

[joekeith]

Unfortunatly I finished right after she developed a crack.  Had O' Butch over helping me through the tillering and everything seemed to be getting straightened out.

  While pulling it back a bit we heard a crack.  Looked it over and couldn't see anything. Worked on her a little more and then back to the tillerin' tree.  Pulled a few more times and heard another crack.   This time I was able to see it on the edge of the limb.

  No knots, nothing that looked like a problem area.  Just a crack on the back, near the edge of a limb.

  Oh well......it was my first attempt, and as soon as I can come up with another stave I'll start on my second.  I did learn alot.  Now I just need to hurry back into it before I forget it all.  

[DVSHUNTER]

that's too bad. If you can come out my way, give me a shout. Maybe I can lend ya a nice stave.
ps... I'd blame butch ;-)

[Stiks-n-Strings]

The first one I thought was gonna make a shooter broke on me as well.

 That stave tought me a bunch and so did the next three or four after that. I was havin a blast and learned a ton though and finally produce a real nice character bow.

 You'll get it just keep after it. If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin'.


 Stiks

[Andrew Wesley]

depending on how bad the crack is you could super glue it and wrap the area with something like silk.

[Osagetree]

Take the back down to the next ring.

How long is the bow and how far was it drawn to when your heard the CRACK?

[Pat B]

One of the fun and informative things about wood bow building is finding out why problems happen, figuring out how to eliminate or deal with it and learning from the experience. Sorry your first osage bow developed a problem but this is wood bow building and stuff happens. Study the problem and learn from the mistake.
  Will you post pics of the crack? This will help us and you figure out what happened and if it can or should be repaired.

[joekeith]

The bow is 62" ntn.  Was drawing it about 24" when she cracked.  If took it down to the next ring there wouldn't be much left.

I thought about gluing and wrappin' it, but Butch just said it was no good.  I dunno, I'll look at it again I guess.  Couldn't hurt.

[Pat B]

Share pics with us. Lots of trained eyes may help you come up with a solution.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

Never bend more than your final draw weight..reduce wood ..take your time !!!  words of wisdom !

[bjansen]

Way to get at it Keith.  I'd say take it down to the next ring, shorten it and turn it into a kids bow and start on another!

[Big Riser]

I WAS TOLD 6 HRS. IS ENOUGHT TIME BUT LET IT COOL TO ROOM TEMP ???

[walkabout]

i agree pics would help. ive salvaged bows that cracked, and they turned out to be great shooters just as good as the ones that didnt crack. check out the"how bad is it" thread, i lend some of my advice to jason/woody about how i deal with cracks. some circumstances call for diferent measures but as long as it didnt rip halfway through the limb it may be salvagable. like pat said lots of eyes here who can help because of experiencing the very same thing.

[Mudd]

Hey Keith don't let it bother you as long as you learned something from the experience.

I think that I told you already about my 1st, it also broke.

My biggest mistakes turns out not so much with the wood as it was the person working on the bow got in too big of a hurry to put a string on it and draw it to the point it wasn't really ready for at that moment.

I found a way to slow myself down by having several staves going at one time so when I reached a point I was tempted to do something stupid I could lay it aside and keep my mind off of it by working on a different piece.

I am proud of you for starting... sometimes guys will look at a stick of wood for months before gather the nerve to start..lol The only way to fail is to fail to start... and the only way to succeed is get started...lol

God bless,Mudd

[George Tsoukalas]

Keith, start another. I had around 15 break before I got a shooter. I still get one now and then. I've been making and breaking bows since '89...the last century. If you ain't breakin', you ain't makin'. Jawge

[canopyboy]

I'd have to go back and look to quote it properly, but I remember reading something like, "No need to take your time getting started, 'cause if you mess it up you don't want to have wasted both the stave and your time."

[Mudd]

Originally posted by canopyboy:
I'd have to go back and look to quote it properly, but I remember reading something like, "No need to take your time getting started, 'cause if you mess it up you don't want to have wasted both the stave and your time."

Can you translate this one for me. I must be dense because I seem to be having a blonde moment with it?

Thanks in advance!
God bless,Mudd

[DVSHUNTER]

Mudd, I think he was being sarcastic... ti think. :-)