question about belly crack

[TroyH]

was finishing up a self backed hickory bow for a guy I work with.  Tiller and all looked great but just as I was finishing up, I noticed a crack on the belly side.  I guess it is a compression crack.  It runs side to side at about a 45 degree angle and appears to be about half as deep as the limb itself.  I actually thought it was a scratch from the scraper at first until further examination.  You can feel it if you run your finger over it.  I'm going to try shooting the bow to see what happens, but what are your thoughts on it?  Is the bow safe?  Should I just wrap it in that spot on each limb for security sake and to make it look even?  Do you think the back of the bow will eventually be compromised?

[Art B]

Running half way through your limbs it's sure to fail.......quick! Two things come to mind, since it's hickory, save the bow for backing material, or, do a patch job on the fret.

[TroyH]

By patch job, do you mean cutting out the fret section and splicing in some new wood?  I think one of the Bowyers Bibles had a section on that, or I saw it somewhere.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Be careful with that bow. I have a few whitewood bows with minor chrysals, but they are only "skin" deep. Half way is very bad news. Try glueing down a belly lam of osage on each limb. It works! Start out with about .040-.060 thick and taper it down with sandpaper after glue up.

[Nim-rod]

Wow...I didn't know hickory woudl do that without being on a serious hinge first.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Hckory is more of a tension hog than compression.

[Art B]

How long was your wood seasoned?

I've had very well tillered hickory bows fret bad. Low grade or fresh wood being the culpurt IMO. I put my money on the cause being fresh/dried wood. I don't see frets in well seasoned wood.

That's pretty deep for a repair. You can try dishing out an area 6-9" long until you think you're reached the bottom of the fret. Using thin lams fill in the now concaved area. I would highly recommend urac for the glue.

[TroyH]

The hickory was cut summer before last, so it should be well seasoned.  I made another bow out of the same tree quite some time ago with no problems.  The affected area runs roughly at a 45 degree angle across the limb belly about 2/3 out, so the area is less than an inch long.  The depth is what concerns me most.  I think I could try cutting out a square piece and splicing it in.  Might want to make a splice out of thin lams as has been said.  Art, you said dish out an area.  Is there a reason to do it that way other than ease?
I found the article about repairing a limb.  It was in the bowyers journal, summer 06 by Mark St Louis.  In the article, he is repairing a bug hole on the back side of a flat bow, but the principle is the same.  The bow he was working on had a backing of course, but the bow I'm working on is a self bow, the area under the bark being its back.  If I cut out the affected area, I should still have about 3/16 of the bows back in place.  What do you think?

[Art B]

With adding a square piece like you suggested you're trading one crack for potentially two cracks. Looks like crap also!

What I suggested, you'll have no end cracks. Think of a football patch. If your limb has any radius at all then that's what this kind of patch will look like. By dishing out that spot, all you have to do is add lams (area will be too deep for a solid piece replacement), and add a clamp or three in the middle. Mask off this section with tape and work the material down with a rasp/file to the tape. Remove tape and sand flush.

[Bert Frelink]

If you go to Dean Torges's website there is a great Tutorial on doing a fix like Art is describing,  www.bowyersedge.com  and under the "writings" heading there is an article called
"Patching a Bow Limb".
Don't string or pull that bow until you read that article.
Good luck.
Bert.