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Author Topic: Not my night  (Read 3702 times)

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Offline gstoneberg

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Not my night
« on: August 31, 2011, 12:23:02 am »
Had a great day at work today, but things went downhill when I got home and went in the shop.  Took my yew bow off the vise, where I'd bent the handle to get the string aligned.  Strung it up,  pulled it and kapow, 2 pieces.




I've been trying to coax a bow out of this for weeks and have been failing miserably.  It had the most reflex I've ever tried to tiller through and by the time I was finally able to string it I'd blown the weight badly.  Tried heat treating which helped, then flipped the tips.  Have a feeling I overheated that spot, probably got the back too hot as it looks like it got brittle there.  Too bad.  I'm sorry Tom, I tried.  Next time I have a bow with that much reflex, I'm taking some of it out.

George
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St Paul, TX

Offline Elktracker

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2011, 12:29:40 am »
How much reflex did it have? I would lean more toward the multiple heating but who knows what the true cause could have been :-\ Did you allow it plenty of time to rehidrate after all the heating? Sorry wish you better luck next time :( just goes to show it can happen to the best of us :)

Josh
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my friends think my shops a mess, my wife thinks I have too much bow wood, my neighbors think im redneck white trash and they may all be right on the money!!

Josh Vance  Netarts OR. (Tillamook)

Offline MWirwicki

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2011, 12:33:44 am »
Sorry for your loss.   :(
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Matt Wirwicki
Owosso, MI

Offline Pat B

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2011, 12:35:01 am »
Ouch! Sorry George.  It did break in tension. Any pins in that area? Did you remove the sapwood? A bit of sapwood makes an excellent backing on yew.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline ken75

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2011, 12:57:13 am »
George , i haven't worked with yew so i dont know what it will tolerate . but i saved your pic and blew it up high as i could get it and it looks like a draw knife divot at the point of the break , several more down the limb . but like i said i dont know this wood and its tolerances. looked like it was gonna be a purty bow!
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Offline criveraville

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2011, 12:59:24 am »
Hay Chihuahua!!! That's no bueno Georgy:(


Patrick, we need a pic for this.
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I was HECHO EN MEXICO, but assembled in Texas and I'm Texican as the day is long...  Psalm 127:4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Offline Blacktail

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2011, 12:59:51 am »
thats kind of weird...the sap looks fine and i dont see any pins on the out side or inside...but,the close up photo. some of the wood looks grainy...i dont know really what went wrong...maybe you can make a west coast bow or save it for anther billet...sorry to hear it...john
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Offline gstoneberg

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2011, 01:04:15 am »
This is what it looked like back when it still had draw weight.



There was 1 pin knot in this stave, near one of the tips.  Unbelievably clear.  I did mess up the sapwood though by not taking into account the crown in the stave.  I thought I had 3 rings of sapwood but when I followed the ring to the limb edge there was only 1 left.  I had to heat the bow near where it broke at least 3 times to get it straight.  I must've damaged that single sapwood ring.  Could've damaged it with the draw knife too, hard to say.

I do love the yew, but it sure is different than osage.  I have another yew stave ready to start.

George

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St Paul, TX

Offline Pat B

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2011, 01:34:30 am »
George, leave 1/4" of sapwood on the back of your next yew stave. You can even have violated rings in the sapwood and it will still make a good bow.
  Yew is definately different from osage. It and ERC are the only woods I can use a spoke shave on.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline druid

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2011, 02:37:03 am »
What a strange braking. Seems that wood is totaly dehidrated. Sorry for that man..
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Offline soy

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2011, 04:16:25 am »
 :'( shhhh! A moment of silence please  :'(
« Last Edit: August 31, 2011, 04:19:26 am by soy »
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Is this bow making a sickness? or the cure...

Offline bubby

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2011, 07:32:28 am »
man that blows, sorry George, bub
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failure is an option, everyone fails, it's how you handle it that matters.
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Offline gstoneberg

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2011, 07:43:41 am »
Will do Pat.  I have a spokeshave somewhere, but haven't seen it since we moved down here.  Gonna have to go through my boxes in the shop again.  I have an ERC stave ready to go as well.  Maybe I should play with that one?  Sure tempting to go back to what I'm familiar with.  Also have a couple boards and some laminate possibilities I could play with.  Now with the trading I have options I never would have in the past.  Funny to be a newbie after all these years.

Thanks for the sentiment guys.  Breaking is part of the learning process so it should be no surprise.  I wasn't bummed for long.  Probably was more upset over the 3 flint points I destroyed after the bow.  Not smart to knapp then, but therapeutic.  ;)

George
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St Paul, TX

Offline Pappy

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #13 on: August 31, 2011, 08:04:17 am »
That was looking good,sorry ,but it happend, Looks like you got it to dry to me, The break looks a lot like others wood does when it has dry rot.  :)
    Pappy
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Clarksville,Tennessee
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Offline dwardo

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Re: Not my night
« Reply #14 on: August 31, 2011, 09:19:08 am »
Looks exactly like a break in a wide elm bow i had recently, completely my fault as i didnt alow long enough to re-hydrate especialy given the hot dry weather at the time. :(
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