I killed my new bow, why?

[Old Ways]

I finished shaping and sanding my longbow the other day. It was made of red oak with a poplar stripe through the riser. It tillered out nice and had a good curve to it from the tips to the riser. It was 68" and pulling about 50#@28. I even shaped a recurve style pistol grip and arrow shelf into it. To me it was beautiful.

Before putting a finish on it or any backing I thought I would see how it shot. I made a temporary string out of some heavy twine I had. Because of the stretch in the string it braced out at about 4". I grabbed a handfull of scrap arrows and went outside.

It drew and shot smooth and fast. I was pleasently surprised because this was the first adult sized bow I have built since I was a teen. I then took it back into the house noticing the string had strenched more and now it had a brace height of about 1/2 inch. I drew it back one more time when -SNAP- the upper tip broke off about 6" into the limb. I am not happy.

Why do you think it broke? Was it like dry firing it with that stretchy string? Or because I just shot some light aluminum arrows? Or was it because I didn't have it backed yet?  

I'm thinking of trying to salvage it by making it into a 56" bow and taking it down to about 35-40# for a short draw kid. Hate to see it become fire wood.

[Pat B]

Without seeing the break it's hard to say. I would just guess either there was a bad grain runoff at the break or it hinged badly there.
Can you post pics of the bow and the break?   Pat

[Frenchymanny]

Hi OldWays,

if it was a boardbow, chances are it broke because it was not backed.

Sorry to hear that, good luck next time

F-Manny

[Old Ways]

Yes it was a board bow. A board selected from many for just the right grain qualities. I knew I should have backed it first. I guess I got impatient.

I'll try to post some pics so others can learn from my mistake.

BTW- the limb fractured straight across the front surface and folded back on back fibers.

[ibohuntwhitetails]

old ways

do you have a child to use the bow if you salvage it? if not I am in the market for a youth bow (actually 3 youth bows for my daughters) if you are interested in selling it. let me know.

tom

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I am sorry to hear about your bow but I have to say, backing a board bow just cause it is a board bow is not the way to go.

I make almost exclusively board bows and if you select the right board, there is as little chance of it blowing as a tree stave.

I use quarter sawn lumber not flat sawn and I take my time getting the right board and I have not blown up a single bow in the last 20 I have made.

this is not to say that some board bows dont need to be backed but it is just one more option, not a rule for every case.

[Luke Vander Vennen]

From the way you described the break, it sounds like there was a hinge there. It might have looked fine on the tree, but shooting it a couple times will sometimes really bring out the true tiller of the bow. It's kinda hard to tell without any pics.

[gordonf]

I've wreaked lots of bows. You have to learn to just accept it and move on to the next one. After all it's just wood.

[AZStickman]

If you have a bow braced too low the string won't stop the forward momentum of the limb tips and allow the energy to go in to the arrow...... Instead the energy winds up in the limbs and is like you stated just like dry firing it...... I learned this the hard way a few years ago...... I like to pre stretch my strings by hanging them with a weight on one end.... any way of getting tension on the string would work..... and even then I recheck my brace height after every shot until it stabilizes..... The only way to get over a broken bow is to take the knowledge gained from this one and get started on the next one...... Terry

[AZStickman]

Here's an example of what I'm talking about....
  "Low brace dry fire"  

Take a close look at how low this static recurve was braced in the first shot pic with the arrow in my McKenzie Deer...... The energy found the weakest point and split out in the handle along a wind check....Fortunately I was able to recover this bow with a little creative advice from the tradgang selfbowyers...... Terry

[Old Ways]

Thanks guys for the feed back. I am a going to start another one and this time not take chances.

Tom, let me see what I can do to salvage this one. I might be able to turn it into a lower weight shorty

[George Tsoukalas]

Board choice is vital. Boards with bad grain are not safe. A backing can make a marginal board safer but your bow never had that chance because you didn't back it. LOL. I always back a bow-log  or board-after long string tillering and before stringing it for the first time, if I plan to back it. Like Ragi said not all boards need a backing. More on my site and Ferret's. Jawge

[hickstick]

surprised no one has said, but please make sure you use appropriate string material next time.  if you need a tillering string, I or many others on here would be happy to make you one.  I've got plenty of dacron....shoot me a PM.....