can i save my bow? .... afraid not.....

[Zradix]

Thank you Fujimo.

This is all quite a transition for me.
When buying a bow I've most always wanted high performance.

Trying to build one..little different..looking for "forgiveness".
Not the normal easy to shoot forgiveness but forgiveness in working the wood and design I guess.

I've read that yew is prone to chrysals and sometimes just explodes in low temps.
This may be a rumor..who knows "I heard this one guy's yew bow blew up when it was 10˚ out" kind of thing.
I have no experience with any of these woods.

I really like the "math" on yew.
By the numbers it looks great.

[Echatham]

i used ipe purely because a friend gave me the board. its what i had and thats why i used it. sure does seem ideal though.

[Zradix]

Availability sure has a way of trumping other options.

That's why I'm making an oak bow instead of a hickory one..lol

Thanks for the reply.
   

[fujimo]

heres my opinion, for what its worth.
you have built a good bow, no ... great bow.
you are kinda past the initial learning phase where you dont want to invest time into building a bow that might fail due to inexperience- i am sure that oak in skilled hands does well. i just seem to read about so many faliurs- it worries me and makes me respect the bowyers that get a good one built.
my feeling is, get good materials, and build a good bow.

[Roy from Pa]

If you want to build a good, reliable bow, with way less chance of failures. Then save your money and buy Osage. Below is a sponsors website. For $75.00 + shipping, you can get great material for a BBO bow. Do a search on his website for BBO kits, prolly under bow building materials. Call Mike and talk to him, tell him your wants and needs and he will treat you right, I promise that.
 http://www.pinehollowlongbows.com/

[Echatham]

i ended up putting on a bit more sinew because there were some gaps in coverage that i noticed once dry. gave it a day to dry and gave it a generous rub down with gorrila glue impact tough formula (blue cap) gave that a day to dry, and shot it a few dozen times yesterday. shoots the same as it ever did, Im happy.  It doesn't look as ugly as I thought it would... gave it a little character IMO.  I believe I am going to have to try one of those BBOs Roy, but I'm committed to an osage selfbow for my next project.  will have my stave next week. stay tuned!

[Echatham]

well.... i got to the 3d shoot this morning... pulled my bow out of the sock, and looked it over before stringing up.  the bottom limb had lifted a splinter in the same exact location as the top did.  this one was a little worse than the top limb seen above.  i rubbed super glue all in the splinter and over it, then served over it real good and tight with some diamondback serving i happened to have in my quiver.  got me throught the shoot (actually i outshot both the old timers that i shoot with for the first time             ) anyway when i got home i removed the serving and examined the splinter. it layed down nicely.  i have the second course of sinew drying on it now. so my limbs match again.  since they both lifted in the same spot, my conclusion is that the failure resulted from to much pressure and not enough padding from my clamps during glue up.  these spots are exactly where my center posts were.

[rollingrock]

Sinew won't help material failure. We had a horn bow built a while ago with sinew back, bamboo in between and water buffalo horn on the belly. Everything seemed to be fine until we started curing the new bow. The bow snapped when the draw reached 25". Tool a close look to find the bamboo on one limb had undetected weakness point. That piece failed and snapped the whole bow. If it were a laminated bow with glass covering, you would reap a lot of grief if the bow snapped in ur hand.

[Echatham]

rollingrock it's just a lifted splinter and the sinew is wrapped around the limb with super glue just like in the pictures above.  it's held that limb together for thousands of shots.

[red hill]

Eric, hope your repairs are successful.

Roy is correct on the materials from Pine Hollow. I've ordered the last few boards, staves, and backings from Mike and he is terrific to work with. I second Roy's recommendations on Pine Hollow. Awhile back I posted a request for finding 'cheap' sources of material. Mike's prices are great and the materials are top quality.

[Echatham]

well that repair held on and its been shooting great.... 10 minutes ago i stepped out to shoot a few arrows. on first draw i heard a "tick"... took a look.... a new splinter in a new place...top limb again this time... just above the original splinter.  well.... how many bandaids can you put on a bow lol! im done with it for now. on the rack it goes.  I don't trust it for a 3d shoot much less hunting.  gonna shoot my fedora and work on my selfbow for now i guess.  think it would be possible to remove the boo and put on a new piece?

[Zradix]

do you have any idea why you're getting splinters?

I think you said earlier you thought you may have used too much pressure/not enough padding at the mid limb pads.

Is that the only place you've had this problem?

Thanks

[Echatham]

well this splinter was farther up the limb... not near the center posts... I have no idea anymore... maybe just bad boo.

[Zradix]

hhmmmm...

Sorry about the problem Eric.
That really sucks.
At least you have plan B on the bench...lol

[Echatham]

im ok with it i guess... it lasted a while... i guess not to bad for first try.  im wondering if a new piece of boo  could make it like new again.

[Zradix]

I bet you could do it.
I have no idea what profile would remain in the ipe.
I would think it would lose most of it..I hear it's held that way from sheer forces on the glue line.

I would think your handle would hold the profile in that area.
Just have to figure out a new form to get your curves back.

Of course you may run into problems keeping your draw weight up while retillering.

I don't know man...for the cost of materials..it sounds like a lot of work...

[vanillabear?]

[Echatham]

well i could glue back in whatever shape i wanted... maybe less deflex and more reflex... might give me a few more pounds to work with in re-tillering. I don't think it would really be to much work to do. might use hickory instead.  I would really just like to know why it happened. I wonder if that dry fire could have done all that damage to the boo... and it just has been surfacing every since.

[vanillabear?]

[Roy from Pa]

Boo is nice stuff, but it will make you tear your hair out too. I have a love hate relationship with it. Love a BBO when it makes it, hate a BBO when the boo splinters up. Just part of the game we play.