Is This Bow on It's Way To Bow Heaven?

[Japes4]

Was sitting in the woods hunting the other day and noticed some small  marks in the belly of the bow, on both limbs. After doing some looking around, I am fearful this may be chrysalling   :confused:   hopefully it is just the urethane. what do you all think?  If it is chrysalling, should I be expecting a short lifespan from this bow. It is a Red Oak board bow backed with paper.  
 
 

[razorback]

Is the tiller the same on both limbs and are the marks in the same place. Can you post a pic of full draw and show where the spots are. I'm no expert but I'm thinking chrysals  :(

[PEARL DRUMS]

Your fears are correct. That's pushed up wood fibers.ie fret, chrysals.

[Bowjunkie]

Yes, and looks like they took some stain, so they were likely there since prior to finishing. How old is the bow?

[Japes4]

Bow is about  a month old. Have about  150-200 shots through it.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Ive never shot a chrysalled bow long enough to know how long they can last. Keep in mind most bows break in tension. My best guess about longevity would be that it could last for a long time, it will just weaken quicker than a healthy belly would.

[Art B]

Agree with the others. But if that's the worst of it then I'd keep on shooting 'er. Keep an eye on things, and if you notice 'em spreading or getting worse, then think about a patch or building another bow..........Art

[John Scifres]

Got any pics of it braced and drawn?  

They will likely get worse.  If you've only shot it 200 times, it is hardly broken in.  Red oak often fails in compression but it will blow up once the tension strength of that area is exceeded.  Be careful.  I think I'd be drawing it on my pulley tiller tree about 200 times and see what happens before I'd trust it as a hunting bow.

[Japes4]

Here it is drawn...it is all happening about 6-8" above and below riser.

 

[John Scifres]

It might be bending a bit much there.  You could probably work the middle of the limbs a bit and prolong the life of the bow.

[Pete W]

To me they look like tool marks.

[Japes4]

So I went and put it on the tiller tree and pulled it about 200 time and then shot it about 30 more. I still see plenty if little chrysaling marks, but none of them grew in size. Is it normal that the would not "run" or should I expect them to grow in size.

[John Scifres]

They probably won't grow, just become more numerous.  I've never had a bow chrysal that did not eventually fail unless I reduced weight a lot in other areas.

[macbow]

I have a,35# BBI longbow that has crysals just outside the fades.  Don't mind if it is reduced in weight.
If I wanted to improve it's chances should I remove wood everywhere but these areas?

[John Scifres]

Macbow, Expect no miracles, but yes, it can help.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Your experiencing my biggest complaint about poor bow woods. Sure, they teach you tillering perfection, but the truth is your tiller is pretty good. Maybe it could bend a tad more in the middle as John said, but all in all its pretty close and frets shouldn't even be an issue or thought. If you didnt tell us you had frets developing and simply posted this bow, you would probably get compliments on its tiller from some experienced eyes.

[Japes4]

Thanks all for your input.  Guess I will chalk this one up to learning experience and start building another one.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Grab some hickory, elm, ash, osage, hhb, hackberry or maple if you can. Im not a fan of red oak for anything but furniture and trim. Just my .02 cents on the stuff. Ive seen some nice bows come from it.

[John Scifres]

Frets can appear due to overly aggressive tillering and poor design.  Red oak can make a good bow.  But wide and long are called for.  And very gentle tillering is a huge benefit.

I have fretted more than one osage mostly from trying too hard to get done too fast.  But I have one that is a good design, carefully tillered that has just failed on me.  I have had to make it really light just to keep it together.  It's still a cool bow but I don't trust it at all.

We haven't really talked about design on the subject bow of this thread.  What are the dimensions and draw weight and length?

[takefive]

I have a hickory backed cherry bow I really liked that started to fret after shooting it in.  If I ever try another I'll make the backer much thinner; more like a veneer.  I don't shoot it any more.  Just couldn't relax worrying about those frets every time I drew it back.  Too  tough to have a productive target practice in that frame of mind.