Help with handle....

[CodyCoyote]

Well today i was working on my walnut bow with a cedar handle, i was tillering it and had it at 25 and 1/2 (starting to learn this bow tillering thingy...) and i moved it to 26 i heard a pop and the whole thing went flying, upon inspection the glue broke at the handle. I glued it tight and used elmers pro something wood glue. What did i do wrong? i liked the bow it was around 40 or so at 25" but havent taken off the eges and the nocks havent been filed perfect. i sanded the handle and the bow back down and matched it to my arrow shelf but i dont know if i should risk re gluing it. What should I do?

[Pat B]

Your bow is bending through the handle. It is a common malady and usually for the same reason. Probably the only thing you can do is add a handle riser that flexes like leather or thin lams of graduating length of wood glued together. The latter may or may not work. You could also reduce the bows weight so the handle area is thicker enough so it doesn't bend.

[islandpiper]

Been there, done that.    A built up leather handle works well and will stay in place. 

I started out making non-bending handles, e.g. the "long-ass handle bow" that had a handle section 14" long in a 68" bow.......stupid beginner mistake.   Now, i'm more likely to let the handles bend and use the whole bow.  My last several bows have been truly "minimal" bows:  60" overall length, 25" pull and about 50# with no handle section at all! 
I have just been winding seine-twine around the handle portion with a floppy rest on the left side.  These bows have been coming in at 314 and 435 Grams total with grip and string, and are a pleasure to shoot. 

My suggestion is to build up a leather handle and cover it with a grip......and make lots more bows. 

piper

[Josh]

i use titebond II wood glue for all my handle glue ups.  I only had one do that and it was because I made the same mistake you probably did...  yeah, sounds like you stressed the glue joint from the handle area bending.  Good advice from everyone else, If you are gonna do a handle riser glue up make sure it does NOT bend.   

[J05H]

I've had that happen twice with Elmer's. I won't be using it anymore. Fortunately, the bow didn't break so I am going to get some Titebond3 and re-glue it.

[Eric Krewson]

Sounds like you used Pro Bond. It is a gorilla glue clone and terrible for use in bow making.

[George Tsoukalas]

Cedar may not be the best choice for a handle. Use a hardwood. You could pin the handle with dowels and I can tell you how if you are interested, Cody. Jawge

[Dano]

It's not the glue, it's as PatB said, the handle is bending, you should always leave about an inch of non bending limb in the fades before the handle transition, just a slight step up to the handle. At this point you could shorten the handle and try to glue it again. I have known guy's that have pinned the handle after glue up with dowels. It may still move even with the dowels tho.

[radius]

use thicker wood, and don't bother gluing on a handle...on the other hand, glue on strips 1/8th inch thick and feather the bend into them...

[Grunt]

I've used several layers of cork sheeting or harness leather to build up a handle in some of my bows. Contact cement works great for built up flexable handles. You can soak the cork or leather with spar varnish before moving on to a wrap. If the handle feels to small at first it is probably going to feel just right when you wrap or sew up a covering on it. The more area in the bow that is working the more the stress in the bow is spread out. I like my handle areas to move a bit.

[J05H]

On mine, I'm afraid to let the handle bend without the part that came off because its too narrow and not much thicker than the limbs. If I let it bend, it'll probably take more set and mess with my string angle. Is there no glue that will hold up? Here are some pics.



Hopefully this will help Cody as well. If not, sorry for hi-jacking your thread.

[Del the cat]

Great answers from everyone already, binding the handle area with twine, linen thread etc will also help, specially if it's done while the glueing is being done, the glue can soak/be worked into the binding....or take it to the local hospital and get 'em to put a cast on it!
Del

[Josh]

Hey I do casts!!!!!    I work for an Orthopaedic Dr.  We use FG for our casts though...   

[Grunt]

From your photos it looks like you have two choices. Drop the weight of the bow and use a flexable buildup or use some kind of a pining method to put your handle back on. As long as the bow is bending right through the glue line and the handle is ridged you will have glue failure sooner or later. Lesson learned, taper the limbs from the ends up into the fades on the belly so the glue line is under less stress.