Messed up big time.

[LittleBen]

Originally posted by Bert Frelink:
It's not ruined, grind the tip overlay and glass off(carefully) scarf joint another piece of glass to replace the end piece, glue on another piece of glass to cover the glass joint underneath and replace your tip overlay.
You would be way better of to round the edges to loose weight than grinding the surface glass, maybe tuck that away for next time.
Good luck, let us know things work out for you.
Regards.
Bert

X3 for berts plan.

Or cut it up and throw it in the bin,

[EwokArcher]

Well this thing is too dang pretty to cut up, worse case scenario(if this scarf thing doesn't pan out) I shorten it Polish it up and have a 75-80 pound wall hanger.
I do appreciate all the feed back guys.

[ty_in_ND]

If you don't feel confident in the scarf patch, instead of just shortening both tips, how about trying to make it a two-piece takedown bow with a new limb to replace the one you sanded into too much?  I've seen other posts where guys will take a good limb from a bow that failed and make another limb for it.  It's a little more expensive than your current solution, but I think it would be better to do that than to make wall art out of the bow.

[Robertfishes]

The scarf repair scares me, I am afraid it Will lift and... Could you pike it and narrow the limbs? I did repairs on 2 D/R longbows for friends where tips were smashed in doors or tail gates. Both had to be piked, narrowed and new tip overlays glued on..I did not enjoy these repairs.. Most guys only sand the belly side to reduce weight or adjust tiller. I think someone here on TG peeled the back glass off and replaced it with new glass on a bow..maybe it was JamesV?

[EwokArcher]

It's not a recurve, I feel like there should be near zero limb movement this close to the tip which will work in my favor.

[Crooked Stic]

Well good luck.

[Crooked Stic]

Well good luck.There is bending there thin part of the limb.

[Greg Szalewski]

I hate it when that happens.

[EwokArcher]

The old boo-boo is about where I'm pointing and the overlays is about 3 inches on either side of the joint. Gluing on a new tip and I'll start putting it through some testing on the tillering tree

[Crooked Stic]

Looks good. but the glass butt joint there will be you problem eventually. I could be wrong though.

[Roy from Pa]

I would never trust that.

[Bodork]

On one of the first bows that I made my bottom mdf form gave way at the riser during glue up and the glass had a gap mid way up the bottom riser fade. I ground the glass off from the top of the riser ramp until I got to the glass that was glued down. Glued on about a three inch piece of glass and blended it in. You could barely see the splice-until it failed after a Few weeks of shooting. Learned 2 things. mdf does not make good form material and the fades flex a lot higher than I thought they did! Mike

[Pago]

Your repair looks really good. However I would cover that butt joint with glass or something similar.  If you do that, you could feather the top layer as you move away from the butt joint underneath.

[EwokArcher]

Bow failed. But it was actually in the riser when I was stress testing the bow. Looks like the glue didn't bond well at all to the desert camo stuff where I mixed it with osage. Maybe I should have degreased it better or something.

[EwokArcher]

 

Also... after dissecting the corpse the clear glass that was intact with the desert camo lams just peeled right off. Super weird. All other glue surfaces were just as strong as normal. What did I do wrong here?

[Holm-Made]

The glass to veneer bond is not nearly as strong as any wood to wood bonds.  The epoxy just doesn't soak into the glass as it is very dense.   It is not surprising to me at all that the glass peels right off after the bow broke.  It you ever cut out longbow limbs on a bandsaw then take the scrap pieces and you will see that you can peel the glass off but you can't get the wood to wood pieces apart.

Your original fix for the bow should have been to grind off any overlays on the back of the bow.  Then using a heat gun heat up the glass on the tip enough to get a knife between the glass and veneer.  Heat the glass enough to loosen the epoxy as you work the knife between the glass and veneer all the way down the bow.  This is a five minute job as the glass comes off easily.    Then use 60 grit sandpaper to hand sand the epoxy off the veneer being carefiul to keep it flat and not rounded off or dished.    If you want a reduced weight on the bow then get yourself a thinner piece of glass.  Butter up the veneer and glass and put it back on the form.  Cure it at a lower temp.  About 110 degrees for 4-6 hours is about right.  Leave the pressure on for 24 hours.  Carefully profile the glass so you don't snag it and peel it.  The bow will be as good as new.
I've done this on a half dozen bows that had flaws under the glass.  These bows have been used and abused by myself, family and friends for years and are just fine.  BTW I have never sold one to a customer just because, but feel confident that the bow is as strong as original.
Chad

[EwokArcher]

I appreciate the feedback back. Good to know about being able to remove glass so easily. Thanks all. I hope we can all learn from This a little.

[Crittergetter]

Did you clean the two pieces in the riser with acetone?  Acetone will bring any oils in the wood to the surface and can cause an inferior bond.
Just a thought I had when I saw the pic

[EwokArcher]

No acetone, I prepped the pieces by blowing them off with an air hose then wiping them down with paper towels.