Fixed my longbow

[Pine]

Well finally fixed it .
I posted a long time ago about my delaminated longbow and got a lot of thoughts about what to do with it .
Mudd suggested using super glue and wrapping it with sinew .
Soooo .... Used Gorilla brand super glue and wrapped it with black sinew .
Looks good , got it strung up .
But now I am scared to draw the 61# time bomb back .      
Guess I getting to be a wimp in my old age .

[wingnut]

Superglue will not hold for long under that much tension.  She's going to blow. ..captain!


Mike

[Possum Head]

Nice lookin stick. Hate it for you but fear of an explosion will probably flaw your shot execution.On a brighter note the chance of losing an eye if she blows is less than that of getting T-boned by a texting youngun!    

[Pine]

I find it interesting that over the past year I have seen several posts about repairing a delaminated bow .
Several of the seguestions were using super glue because it will get into the very edge of the split .
One guy said he had fixed a few this way and not one came undone .
Guess I have kinda been talked into doing it . Now that I have and posted , all I have got in reply is two negative responses .
That strikes me as very odd .

[kevsuperg]

Lash it to a post, tie a string to it and stand back to draw it.

[tracker12]

I think the comments were out of caution for you and were probably not form the guys who recommended you fix it.  Shooting that bow at 61# is a safety risk and really not worth it in my mind also.  I have witnessed accidents from splitting bows and arrows and several examples have been posted on the internet.  

You yourself said now I am scared to draw the bow back???

A neighbor brought a bow over that he made many years ago in shop class, a Bingham recurve. He barely did anything to the limbs and string grooves, odd little notches and crooked limbs. It took three people to twist and wrestle to get a  wrong string on it.  He borrowed it to someone and they brought back in three pieces, super delaminate job, limbs, riser, cracked back lams. I glued it to together with regular Gorilla glue, limbs riser, added tips, and tillered so it was finally straight and reduced it to about 40 pounds.  That was years ago and the bow is still shooting.
I should add that I wore, leather gloves, my motorcycle leather jacket, and a full face helmet  when I put a string on it and test drew it while tillering. I shot it about 50 times with riding garb before I let anyone else try it.

[jhk1]

I'm not a professional bowyer, but I've played one on TV.  I've used super glue (Loctite 420 or Hot Stuff CA-- these are high quality, very thin/watery super glues that wick deep into cracks) to repair risers and limbs, and Smooth-On EA40 epoxy for certain limb repairs.  Here's my 2 cents: Super glue would be OK for things like a very short split/delam in a limb tip, or a short gap in a glue line on the edge of limb, or a small nick/ding in the glass.  But if you're trying to fix a more lengthy delam in a working part of the limb, you really need to use bowyer's epoxy (e.g. Smooth-On EA40 epoxy).  The epoxy is made to hold up to the shear stresses that occur when the limbs are flexed.  Super glue isn't made to handle the repeated flexing and the resulting shear stresses.

[Zradix]

^^^^^..been there..jacket, gloves helmet and all...lol

graps...if you have one..I'd suggest giving it at least a couple hundred pulls on a tiller tree.

[jhk1]

Another caveat:  I've never repaired a bow that heavy (61#).  I think any repairs I've done have been to bows 50# or less.  Obviously, the stresses (and forces involved in a shattering bow) are higher in a 61# bow.

I don't think that the bow will explode, it may be way off time and that limb may just sag when the super glue gives out.  Should have used the regular Gorilla glue, but you would need to spray water on stuff first, it is water activated and then it expands and foams up really cool.  The problem with epoxy and urac is that it is difficult to get into the cracks.  Personally, the one bow that I had that delammed, got completely stripped down and the rose wood riser is waiting to be used again.

[Pointer]

I think I'd have gone with a good two part epoxy there..use some heavy thread to work the stuff down deep in the cracks and then clamp it overnight. I wouldn't trust any super glue on a 60+ lb bow

[Pine]

Well I shot it today .
Shoots as good as new .

[kevsuperg]

Fantastic, hope she holds up.