Is this one a goner?

[Eric Krewson]

Back when you could get the old Urac I fixed a bow that had a joist fall on it during a house fire. It was busted all to pieces lidderly, Urac and sinew brought it back to life. As far as i know this bow is still shooting.

All the lines you see in the picture are urac filled cracks that were gaped open on the break, this bow was bamboo backed as well.



Never give up, it is worth a try just to see if you can fix it. My guess would be no but I would try anyway.

More back story on the bow; I made it for a guy who put the hardwood flooring in my house as a thank you bow for putting laminate in my utility room on his own time a finishing up around midnight. He wouldn't take payment for his work so I made him a bow.

He took to trad archery like a duck to water, killed a deer with the bow and according to him could hit anything out to 35 yards.

He started feeling sick, losing his balance and getting progressively worse over time. Testing showed he had a high level of arsenic in his body. He came to find out his wife was having an affair with guy  who had a business behind his and had been poisoning him. The house fire was suspicious as well, when he divorced her and got to keep his new house, it mysteriously caught fire.

When the bow was broken in the fire he brought it to me, told me how much he loved it as asked if there was anyway I could fix it, so I tried and it came out OK.

Last I heard from him he was having his ex wife charged with attempted murder. He had sustained permanent neurological damage from the arsenic and couldn't run his flooring business anymore and it folded, sad story

[Stickhead]

I think I'll try again with a thinner piece of bamboo.  On this one, I conclude that had to remove too much wood to get it to bend, because the boo was too thick.  This one's going on the bone pile.  Might use it to experiment with dyes and such.

[Eric Krewson]

I will bring this to the top because I added the story of the bow to my post.

[Philipp A]

when looking at the side view it looks to me like the grain is running out towards the surface of the belly at the spot it broke. I would try to rasp and scrape out the broken area and gently sloped to each side and glue in a matching new piece of wood. I think it is worth a try since the rest of the belly viewed from the side looks fine to me. It also looks like you had some delamination so that might be part of the problem as well.

[Jim Davis]

when looking at the side view it looks to me like the grain is running out towards the surface of the belly at the spot it broke. I would try to rasp and scrape out the broken area and gently sloped to each side and glue in a matching new piece of wood. I think it is worth a try since the rest of the belly viewed from the side looks fine to me. It also looks like you had some delamination so that might be part of the problem as well.

I know this is the way Dean Torges approach this kind of problem, but I think the tapered plug is a weak approach. I prefer to cut a cylindrical hole and plug  or cut out a rectangular slot and plug. The wood is in compression, so square shoulders hold well. I make the plug such that it won't fit in the hole unless the bow is slightly bent toward reflex. Then when the limb is relaxed, the plug is already under slight compression.

[Jim Davis]

This bow has been in service for four or five years now.

[Philipp A]

Hi Jim, I think your approach is better than mine, I agree with your logic on this. What do you think, I believe this bow is fixable with not too much effort?

[Jim Davis]

Hi Jim, I think your approach is better than mine, I agree with your logic on this. What do you think, I believe this bow is fixable with not too much effort?

It's my feeling that we often learn as much by trying to repair something as by starting over from  scratch. I would certainly try to repair it.

[ohma2]

I to would try to fix it and Jims way is one ive used before.better looking than wrap.

[bushboy]

Bummer!my take is your glue line let go from what I can tell.