my first completed bow

[Whitehawk23]

heres some pics of my first bow, i still gotta back it and stain it. i shot it about 5 times and heard a cracking sound and decided to stop. but thanks to tony, and roy for the help and supplies guys it really helped. ill post pics of it at full draw tomorrow

 

 

 

 

[Whitehawk23]

please tell me what yall think, good bad, ugly, it dont matter any help is wonderful

[Sigmazxcs]

Hey, nice bow! Love the shape.
Was looking around to get started on my first takedown riser!  

Just my opinion, I think the shelf area is a little narrow. Not much wood there to hold up the poundage. Maybe you wanna give that spot a check? Might be the cause of the cracking sound!
Just my opinion though, might want to wait for Roy or the rest to give you some real tips!
God bless!

[razorback]

Glad to have been of help. Have you worked out what was making the cracking sound. Check the back and you glue lines real carefully. Take a cotton ball and run it over the back of the bow. It will snag on any cracks too small to see.
Bow looks real nice, I like board bows. Let's see a full draw
Pic.

[Roy from Pa]

It looks nice Justin, but I too think the shelf area is too narrow. Be careful pulling that bow after you heard a crack.

[Red Tailed Hawk]

The grain on that red oak looks pretty good as far as I can see. I would not shoot it anymore until you get it backed. My experience with red oak board bows is that they seem to have a short lifespan. The higher the pound the faster they will lift a splinter on the back. I have found making bows from staves to be much more reliable than boards.

 I do still have some 45 # and under red oak board bows that are still shooting well after quite a few years now. Be sure to check the back of the bow for a splinter after you hear a cracking sound like you did.

Workmanship on your bow looks good and the braced tiller looks spot on to me. You may have cut your shelf in a little deep if the weight of that bow is over 45#.

Congrats on your first, you are sure to be hooked now.

[Whitehawk23]

Ok thanks for the advice guys. how would I fix the narrowness of the shelf without taking away from the shelf area?

[Whitehawk23]

If the bow is cracked how do I fix it?

[Sigmazxcs]

I saw this archived thread by Hera, a Taiwanese bowyer who used only 2 power tools to craft a splendid t/d recurve. 
He spotted some splintered area, so he filed a block of waste wood, the same wood used for the splintered area. The dust from the wood was applied to the splinter with some normal PVA glue or superglue (he loves super glue, even use it for his finish). Sand it down a little and it looks flawless again. 

Here's the link:
 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=40;t=000116;p=11

[Whitehawk23]

Oh wow that's awesome thanks. what should I do with my next one about the narrowness without taking away space fifths shelf?

[Roy from Pa]

Make the handle deeper front to back.

[gobbler716]

I like it!

[Sigmazxcs]

I hope this is right, adding some more wood on the belly side at the shelf might help. Glass lam backing might help. I heard some people use bamboo to back their bow. Perhaps you'd want to use bamboo as the added belly material? They can stand quite a beating.
I'd trap the limbs too.

[Whitehawk23]

Sorry I'm new to this stuff, Roy what do you mean by make the handle "deeper"  I'm kinda confused by that ( sorry imma dumb redneck from Texas you gotta dumb it down for me sometimes) lol

[Whitehawk23]

Question....the end of the shelflf, doesn't it have to be in the middle of the handle? Not necessarily dead center but the middle part width wise? If not then that would be a easy fix for my narrowness

[Whitehawk23]

the red line represents the center of the handle to hinda give you a better idea of what i mean

[Whitehawk23]

[Whitehawk23]

Here's a pic for reference of what I'm talkin about

 

[red hill]

Nice profile, whitehawk. I'd suggest not cutting in an arrow shelf. Glue on a shelf of wood or leather. Works well.

[vanillabear?]