Disappointments.......Life's full of them

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I just finished an Osage longbow that turned out really nice, much better than I thought the potential of the stave I was working on even had in it. The stave I started with had more turns and twists and lumps than a light heavyweight boxer!
I've had the bow finished for a few weeks now and really had it shooting good until yesterday.     :rolleyes:    

I noticed a crack starting around a problem knot area that concerned me from the beginning and I had my doubts about what kinds of problems tillering and so forth I would have with that area. It wasn't as hard to tiller as I thought it would be, and actually turned out real good.

Well, once it started to go it pretty much went all at once. The bow didn't break, because I stopped shooting it before it could go that far, but it's very dis-heartening to say the least. Especially when I was gearing towards hunting with this Osage longbow in a few short weeks from now.    

[Dean Marlow]

You need a little closer photo of the knot. It looks like your knot is in the handle area. It looks like you thinned the handle area down pretty good. Also I am not a fan of cutting in an arrow shelf in a selfbow. But a-lot of people do. Take a close up picture of your handle and we can see what is happening a-lot better.

[horseapple]

As Dean said, "not a big fan of a cut in shelf" I see this type/style of bow alot from guys who are just building there first selfbow, they try to make it look like a glass bow         how about trying your next one without the big cuttin shelf and locator grip, lots of good tuturials in the build along section showing the more popular designed selfbows, good luck bud with your second one. P.S. heres a good one. build along - ultimate wooden bow by Shaun

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Thanks Guys, I'll get some close ups of the knot and where it started splitting and update this post. The knot is actually above the handle taper where it starts into the upper limb, but that doesn't mean that the handle/riser in combination with the knot working together isn't what caused the split, that's entirely possible? Like I said, I'm a Fledgling "Rookie" Bowyer Wannabe so I'm sure there are a plethora of mistakes made on this bow build.      

I'm also taking a few pics of my next stave that's still green in the middle and I'll be asking for some advice on how I can speed up the drying process once I get all the unnecessary material off of it. Right now I'm just getting the bark and sap wood off and squaring up the stave to determine the general area where I can go through without hitting anything majorly dysfunctional.

[John Scifres]

Are you talking about the knot in the handle or the area just past the fade in the upper limb?

[John Scifres]

You beat me  

I'd say you cut through the grain and then left the swirly area on the edge.  You have to follow the grain around imperfections in the stave like water flows around a rock in a stream.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I'm going to try to do this as an entire album so there won't be multiple image links and you can just click the one link to view all images in this folder, let me know if it doesn't work for ya.

 http://s714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/Bow%20Fail/

There are also 2 pics of the new stave I'm working on right now.
The Red piece of weed eater string is pointing directly at the knot in those pictures where it's visible. Also those dark lines running cross ways on the limb are just rub marks and not cracks. The cracks are running lengthwise and you can see how they follow or track the grain around the knot.

The cracks are really hard to show on pics when the bow is relaxed. I could string it up and take some more if you need me to. It's more definite when under stress.

Thanks Fellas for taking the time to help out on this, I really appreciate it.

Chris

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by John Scifres:
You beat me    

I'd say you cut through the grain and then left the swirly area on the edge.  You have to follow the grain around imperfections in the stave like water flows around a rock in a stream.

Hey John, I think you hit the nail right on the head, because that's exactly what I was thinking when I was building it and almost knew in my gut that it was going to be a problem.
I guess I should have went with my instincts on this one, but being a newbie to this craft I really didn't know better.
Thanks

[Eric Krewson]

Super glue the cracks, give the area a tight wrap with serving thread and soak the thread with superglue until it won't hold anymore. Bet you can shoot that bow for a while, maybe not for ever but it is worth a try.

Here is a similar fix I did. the fix held but the limb broke in a different place after about 10,000 shots.

 

[John Scifres]

been there, dun that.  The grain must be followed.

2 things on the new piece.  You said you had your wood stored at the edge of the pasture.  Best to store cut and split woods indoors if I understand you correctly.

Second, was your wood sawn?  Best to split.

[John Scifres]

A similar problem.  Edge pin knots ignored.  Lifted a splinter.  Superglue and a sinew wrap and the bow lives on today.

 

   

   

   

 

[horseapple]

Good advise from John and Eric, the second post of pictures tells the tale.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Thank you all guys.

 Eric - Thanks for showing me that because now there may still be hope? I'm glad I quit shooting it when I did so maybe I'm able to make a repair. Had I gone any further the limb may have seperated completely with no chance of survival. I'm definitely going to give that a shot! I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 John - That looks all too eerily familiar. You can bet that I'm going to avoid any areas like that at all costs in the future, knowing what I know now.

Also, my logs were sawn with a chainsaw, then split by hand with sledge and wedge following any natural splits already in the log.
I've got 4 staves all debarked and sealed up in the rafters of my garage and the rest (5-I think?)are stacked on top of logs in the pasture so they can get air all the way around, I did seal the ends of them so they hopefully wouldn't start checking from end to end.

  http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/Osagelogsforbowstaves004.jpg  
  http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/Osagelogsforbowstaves010.jpg  

I've actually got a beautiful stave that is straight, no twist, and no visible knots that I've already taken down part way and sealed up in my garage rafters that I'm saving as a special winter project. It should make an awesome longbow, and much easier to deal with than this one.

Here's a pic of my special stave, see what you think of it.
  http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/Osagelogsforbowstaves026.jpg  
  http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/Osagelogsforbowstaves023.jpg  

Just a little bit of natural reflex
  http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/mohunter68/Osagelogsforbowstaves024.jpg

[John Scifres]

Bugs will chew your wood up in a hurry out in the pasture.  If it were me, and it has been, I'd get it all down to heartwood and eliminate the possibility.  Here's a quick way to do it if you have a bandsaw and a sharp blade:    Roughing Out an Osage Bow

[Osagetree]

Kinda late in the conversation to butt in,,, but I will if you don't mind.

I like your enthusiasm! Your gonna make this one work I bet. You have a good stave there but from what I can see you need to go down some more rings. Counting your pincil mark as #1, count down to the fith ring. Go at least to there. But, I would go to #11,,, yep that 1st big thick ring. It looks to me you can go there and still have more than enough for a hunting bow.
Going to #11 will also remove mass and let it dry quicker. Two birds so to speak!
Did you chalk line it? Looks mighty striaght?
On your other bow... It looks real nice and I bet you were sick! I know,,, we all know that feeling. But life goes on and you're gonna go on to hunt... with a bow you've made!
When I started out hacking on osage and for sometime I thought,,, & like you said previously,,, "Once I get it squared up"....... Forget all that man! The wood will be what it wants to be. You've just gotta help it along a bit. Follow the vertical grain, swim around the knots, flow with the growth of that tree. And,,, keep in mind,,, tree's grow round not square. Someone wise once told me; "There's nothing square about a selfbow or anything else that comes natural. Ever see a tree that has square edges? Selfbows should be smooth and everything rounded off real nice like."    

Keep us posted!

[SEMO_HUNTER]

John- Yes, I had thought about the bugs we have a history of termites around here too. Now you got me worried....thanks.  :D  
Thanks for the link, I saved it to my favorites for future referrence.
I wish I had a bigger band saw, all we have is one of those small craftsman ones. I'll figure out something, if nothing else I'll get the best ones put up and the rest I could haul over to the barn and maybe they would be ok in there?


 

Originally posted by Osagetree:
Kinda late in the conversation to butt in,,, but I will if you don't mind.

I like your enthusiasm! Your gonna make this one work I bet. You have a good stave there but from what I can see you need to go down some more rings. Counting your pincil mark as #1, count down to the fith ring. Go at least to there. But, I would go to #11,,, yep that 1st big thick ring. It looks to me you can go there and still have more than enough for a hunting bow.
Going to #11 will also remove mass and let it dry quicker. Two birds so to speak!
Did you chalk line it? Looks mighty striaght?
On your other bow... It looks real nice and I bet you were sick! I know,,, we all know that feeling. But life goes on and you're gonna go on to hunt... with a bow you've made!
When I started out hacking on osage and for sometime I thought,,, & like you said previously,,, "Once I get it squared up"....... Forget all that man! The wood will be what it wants to be. You've just gotta help it along a bit. Follow the vertical grain, swim around the knots, flow with the growth of that tree. And,,, keep in mind,,, tree's grow round not square. Someone wise once told me; "There's nothing square about a selfbow or anything else that comes natural. Ever see a tree that has square edges? Selfbows should be smooth and everything rounded off real nice like."        

Keep us posted!

Thanks Osage. It sounds like you've been in my shoes before? Yes, I was and still am sick about the bow, but you know what....this was just a practice run anyway and I never dreamed it would make it all the way to a shootable hunting bow. So with that said, I'm fairly proud of my virgin voyage into Bowyerism.    
I think it will be ok, when I get some flax and do a good patch job on it this bow might be around for another few years...who knows?
I've got my Bear Grizzly recurve to fall back on so I'm still going to hunt traditional, but I was really anxious to carry my "Own" hand made longbow. Hopefully it will still happen.

I didn't and won't let it get me down. I was pretty bummed out last night and after sleeping on it, I jumped out of bed this morning, got some coffee, and headed straight for the pasture to pick out a new stave. This was a learning experience and I'm a little wiser because of it, so it's actually a blessing because I won't make the same mistake on my nearly perfect stave.
Yes, I did put a string on it and you can't imagine how straight this stave is.

I'm saving this one for winter when there's nothing else going on and take my time with it. It's going to be sweet! I want everything perfect on that one. I might be asking for ideas and designs when the time comes to start on it, like riser shape, length, shelf or no shelf, limb width, everything.

[n8-mac]

Jon and Eric will this type of repair work on my fret? i really want to save my bow....

[Eric Krewson]

No, won't work on a fret, but this will. OOOPS photo bucket is down, will post a picture later.

You can remove the damaged wood and replace it with a patch like this one.

 

[John Scifres]

A barn's better than outside but they will still eat it.  Get some pesticide on them if you can.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by n8-mac:
Jon and Eric will this type of repair work on my fret? i really want to save my bow....

Nate- I've been going back to your thread off and on checking in to see if any progress is being made. I gotta say that I really do feel your pain and yours is much deeper than mine. I can always cut out another bow from a stave and start shaping, but you have glue time invested, way more $$$ invested, and more materials tied up in it. I'm almost sick to my stomach about your dilemma, that it makes me feel not so bad about my own. I really, really, hate it for ya man. I sincerely hope there is some way to salvage all your hard work and that this story turns out with a happy ending.
Keep your post up to date because I'm checking in on it periodically.
Good Luck!
SEMO