Broke Bow

[bowman_137]

I just finished my first bow, it is a red oak board bow that is 60" long. The first day i worked it slow and went out to shoot and it shot great but the next day I worked it a little bit before i drew back to full draw but when i finely got to full draw a heard a snap! I checked it out and found a crack in the top limb. Does anyone have any idea what i did wrong!?

[Pat B]

Without seeing it it is hard to say. Could be bad grain, wood too dry, poor tillering or just cause.  Make your next one a little longer. Less stress on the limbs that way.

[bowman_137]

If the wood is too dry, is the a certain method of re-hydrating it? If it was poor tillering then obviously its my fault.

[Pat B]

The moisture content of the wood is directly related to the surrounding humidity. If you live in Arazona then it could get too dry. East of the Mississippi, not likely under normal conditions except in the dead of winter.   Can you post pics of your bow so we can see the break?

[bowman_137]

I will try to post pics tomarrow. I'm not sure if you will be able to see the crack in the pic but I'll try

[aznboi3644]

what there a hinge?

[Del the cat]

Happens to us all on occaision, at least you got off a few shots.
Post a pic and we'll offer some sort of critique, to hopefully improve your chance of success on the next one.
It's just the hard school of experience.
Del

[Bill Skinner]

Until I sat down with a bowyer who walked me through the entire process of making a bow, I broke every bow I made, including a hickory bow that I shot 200+ times before it broke.  You got to hang in there and keep trying.  Sooner or later, it will all come together.  And you will have a whole bunch of fire starter and kindling while you learn.

I still ask questions and I am still learning, that's what makes it fun.

[mullet]

I've made one board bow but from reading George's Site it seems the most important thing with Board Bows is choosing the best grained piece of wood. Keep it up, like George, I have a few holding up tomatoes and beans.

[Eric Krewson]

My guess is you made it too short and overstressed the limbs. You have to be spot on with your tillering on a short bow, one little hingy spot and BOOM! Make your next one 66" nock to nock, if you draw more than 28" make it 68" or 70" NTN.

[bowman_137]

I'm a short feller I've got about a 26" draw. i took pics but the crack is so small you can't see it but ill post them anyway and see what ya'll think.

[bowman_137]

Sorry the pic is so small too many megabytes..."what ever that is..." But i circled where the crack is hopefully that helps someone help me. I had to modify the pic a little bit.

[Eric Krewson]

I have a 25" draw and never make a bow for myself shorter than 64" NTN. The old adage is "the longer the bow, the longer its life".

[Gordon]

Looking at your picture I'd wager that you did not have enough thickness in the inner limbs and given the abrupt transition at the fades, that's exactly where it would fail.

[Josh B]

Just my opinion, but it looks to me like your edges are to sharp. If you round the edges off they will much less likely  to lift a splinter.  The other thing I see is probably  more to blame is the shoulder of your fade looked to be way to sharp of an angle. If you make the angle of the transition no  sharper  than 45 degrees. It will be much stronger . I could be wrong on how sharp your fade is, it's hard to tell without a straight on pic from either the back or belly.   Josh