Please help me diagnose this kaboom...

[Roy from Pa]

No, you have to smell it..

[Roy from Pa]

       

[Zradix]

ok..I'll bite..

What does bad hickory smell like?

[Bowjunkie]

Smells like ash.

   

[Zradix]

 

Hey man...it's not beyond possibility that smell is how to check.
thought maybe it had more of an earthy scent or something.

but ok..ya'll got me.

[Roy from Pa]

LOL

[wakolbinger]

I would say your design was just too radical for the materials. Too much reflex and deflex. Mid limbs get insanely thin when your try to coax them into uncurling. If the belly had been solid osage without the middle lam it might have held up better. But than again other may be right and it might have just been the hickory failing. I only use bamboo for just that reason. Not a fan of wood backings.

[Zradix]

I agree.
Problem #1, #2, #3...ME

Here's a few picks of the left over hickory.
It's about 1/8" thick.
One end I snapped yesterday as a test...broke pretty clean and straight across.
The other end was cut.

Today I took this piece, held it between my hands and snapped it.

You can see how it broke.
Surprised it broke in 3.
I later took the long piece, held it over the edge of my desk to beak it. Just popped clean, no splinters.
When I look at it very closely it almost looks porous and has sort of a fuzzy/spongy look to it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming the wood for this fail.
Nor am I blaming the gentleman that sent the wood. I'm positive he wouldn't send crap wood purposefully.


Are these types of breaks normal for hickory?
I just want to learn what to look for.
Does the wood look normal to you?

   

   

   

[Pat B]

The porous nature of that piece supports my fungi theory. It really doesn't take long for fungi to get into any whitewood. If this hickory tree was cut and stacked in the weather before going to the saw mill the fungi has a chance to get in.
 I found out about this "rot" when I was given a squared off hickory log that had been cut 2 years before and stored in a garage. When the tree was cut it sat on the ground for a week before storing it in the garage.
 When I got the log I took it to a friends portable sawmill and we sawed it up into backing strips and a few staves. The first bow I backed with one of these backing strips broke across the grain. The rest was used as kindling. d:^(
 This is also when I fund out about TB glues releasing at 150 deg. I called the TB folks and asked how to remove the backing strip glued with TBIII and they told me to heat it up to 150deg. I used a heatgun and screw driver to remove that backing strip, cleaned it up and re-glued a different backing strip on.

[Bowjunkie]

I agree. It may not have been cared for properly. Wood for bows, backings and such, due to the dynamic life it will lead, requires specific care. I too had a friend give me some hickory staves that weren't strored properly and they were no good. Dang shame too, as they were beautiful, clear, straight.... um... firewood. They didnt break, but took a lot of set very early on. It was actually kinda funny.

All hickory can look porous if you make a very smooth cut on the end.... but it shouldn't look fuzzy. Did you get to bend it at all? Did it take any set?

[takefive]

Hang in there man, it ain't easy being a new bowyer.  I've been at it for all of a year and so far I've chrysaled walnut and cherry, cracked the tips heat bending elm, and raised splinters on hickory and hard maple backing.  If not for the fact that I've managed to make a few that I like to shoot, I would have quit by now.  I have yet to find the perfect board, but I agree with the old hands on here that your piece of hickory had to be inherently bad to break that way. Nothing you could have done about that.   I'll bet if you tone down the deflex and reflex in your form (copy Roy's, that's what I did), you'll be back on track.

[Zradix]

Thanks guys.
I appreciate the info.

I had just barely got the bow to a 2-3" brace.
When I pulled the tips down about 3-4" Pow.

I had previously had the tips moving about 9" on a loose string.

I just put my bow back up on the tree, the good limb is appx 1/4" lower than when I started....doesn't seem too bad to me...

...who knows..maybe just that end of the piece was bad..
I'm not going to burn this one yet.
Going to salvage the riser and horn off the tips.
I'll be keeping the backing just to compare to next time...

...and to think..I went to hickory on this one to avoid unforeseeable boo problems..lol..  

[Zradix]

Oh yeah t5, it can be rough..lol
this is only my 4th attempt. 1 oak board (little chrysal), bbi (no good), BBO worked and is my hunting bow now, then this..my first kaboom.

I already have some plans for tri2...
Not so radical..but still have to make it hard to do..lol