Martin by Howatt Super Diablo Catastrophy

[Golfbuddy45]

Hello Bowers, Been a member here for about 12 years. . Been shooting recurve bows since I was 8 and that was 70 years ago. . . In all my years of shooting my Bears, Hoyts, Martins recurves and my Eddie Fransiscos and Shane Hymes longbows I have NEVER seen anything like this . . . Details: Have had this Martin Super Diablo By Howatt 55#@28" beauty for 12 years. Shot her a lot when first got her but been sitting in the rack in my bedroom closet for last 10 years due to so many other bows I prefer to shoot. Absolutely clean and spotless with no scratches or dents anywhere. . .  Friend wanted a Martin so he was shooting good wood arrows at back yard target. First 3 hit center very nicely but 4th arrow flew hard into the target but low... Went to knock 5th arrow and noticed string was really close to the grip. Looked at the top tip and it was fine. Looked at the bottom tip and our hearts went down to our feet!  Have you ever seen anything like this? Is it even possible to fix it? Second image is the bottom tip before shooting.  Last 2 pictures show where the string ended and still tight... 

[jrstegner]

That bow is toast. That is the reason people advise not to use FF strings on older bows that don't have the tips reinforced with phenolic. 

[Mad Max]

That bow is toast. That is the reason people advise not to use FF strings on older bows that don't have the tips reinforced with phenolic.

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[Golfbuddy45]

I took the bow to Adventure Archery here in Riverview, Fl where they had 3 bow techs working today. All 3 of them agree this bow is fine with Fast Flight Strings and all 3 of them said they have NEVER seen damage like this.  There is a Bower in town that they say has repaired some unreal limb damage that everyone else said would be impossible. He is going to look at the bow later this week and let me know what he thinks. In the meantime I am going to contact Martin Archery and see if they have any ideas on what caused this. We will see what we will see. . . Thanks for the inputs and please keep em coming... Even us old folks can learn new things. . . 

[Mad Max]

Ask your Fast flight string question on facebook page Damon Howatt
B-50 is what they will tell you, a lot of old DH bow shooters out there.
A thicker overlay on the top (back of the bow) and don't file threw the overlay at the string groove would help.

Something like this not filed down to the glass, this is sheep/ram horn

[Golfbuddy45]

Mad Max - So what you are saying is the OVERLAY is bonded over the existing bow tips?  Makes sense to me and I will ask the Bower about that. Would love to save this beauty if at all possible.  Thanks, Ralph

[skeaterbait]

I wonder if a bit of filler/padding in the bow string loops would have helped that? Just to fatten up the loops a bit so they don't bite so hard.

[Mad Max]

Mad Max - So what you are saying is the OVERLAY is bonded over the existing bow tips?  Makes sense to me and I will ask the Bower about that. Would love to save this beauty if at all possible.  Thanks, Ralph

Damon Howatt's and other older bow mostly have a thin wood overlay, and the belly underlay is filed threw the wood, making that Y shape. NOT  good for FF strings.
Sand off the wood and use something that will  hold up to the FF strings but you still have the belly Y file threw the underlay. As you can see in your 3rd picture the string cut under the overlay splitting the glass.


HEY skeaterbait, been a while

[Mad Max]

I saw your post on Facebook and yes we see this happen every now and then, the last time was not to long ago.

I can find any good pictures to show you but I have these.
The Y on the belly is there but not into the glass, you can see the glass 2/3" from the nock



The black is Horn (water buffalo) the red may be phenolic

[Kirkll]

The bow can definitely be salvaged and repaired.... But with those splits so far down the limb there would be no guarantee it will not continue to split if it were shot again.

The toughest part about that repair is going to be getting the string out of the split without splitting it any further.
Even if you could get the string out clean, the odds are the string wax contaminated the core and nothing is going to bond it together again. The only thing that would hold it together is new overlays on the back of the curl, and new tip overlays. Of course you would have to do both ends to match... Even then..... those limbs could split length wise if it was to be used.

Fast flight string without padded loops on an older bow without tip notch reinforcement is a recipe for exactly what happened...

But.... it could be repaired enough for a wall hanger no problem.   Kirk

[Mad Max]

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