Russian olive warbow 76"ntn

[Josh B]

This was a piece of Russian olive I harvested in Price UT.  The tree was 4" thick, about 40 rpi and riddled  with knots.  1 1/2" wide at the handle, 1 1/4" thick and 76" inches long.

27"-  90#   

28"- 94#   

29"- 99#   

30"-   

[Gus]

Ouch!

Man that's a Heart Break...

Sorry to see it.

-gus

[sadiejane]

what a bummer
was really looking forward to seeing that bow
sorry bout that!!

[Sidewinder]

ooops. How in the heavens did you manage to pull that thing back being that heavy? It gave me a hernia just thinking about it. Oh well, onward and upwards.   Good experience though I'm sure.

Danny

[Bernal]

Bummer about break...

I'm not familiar with the Russian olive, was the break due to the knots or the wood itself?

[Dictionary]

Bummer about break...

I'm not familiar with the Russian olive, was the break due to the knots or the wood itself?

I'd like to know as well.

[blackhawk]

Yup we all break em...there mustve been a bowbreaking ghost running around,cus last night I had an osage fail in tension and broke clean off the upper part of my upper limb. I feel ya brother

[bcbull]

man josh thats a big boom  : im in castledale now  workin got some juniper here but never olive i get that at home lol made some flat bows with it turned out ok but never a war bow haha im bettin if ya get a piece knot free a good one it will work  so now ya got some ideas in my head  ha  brock

[Josh B]

Big boom is right!  My ears were ringing after it went CRACK ! . This stave had alot of odds stacked against it. Paper thin rings, high crown, and riddled with knots.  Unfortunately, none of that caused the failure.  Due to some rough handling during the trip home from UT ,  I had inadvertently dented the back in several places.  Normally, I just raise the dents with steam and all is well.  A few months ago while doing just that, I was interrupted before I got the last dent raised.  I then promptly forgot about it until doing my failure analysis during which it became painfully obvious that, the dent was 100% the cause of the tension failure .  I'm still a couple months away from my 40th birthday and already plagued with CRS!  I will definitely try Russian olive again.  Josh

[bcbull]

josh  how did that sap work ?  im thinkin to try it  the ones i made were backed with no sap did one with white oak a cople rawhide  man i tell ya the stuff is reallly pretty when finished but i have been takin it off same as i do osage and maulberry do u think the sap helped  such as usin erc or yew sap  iv been wonderin about that brock

[Josh B]

I'm afraid I don't have enough experience with Russian olive to give a well informed opinion. I honestly believe that any kind of wood with that kind of square edged dent would have failed.  Yes, even Osage which is as close to bullet proof as I've ever used. That being said, my gut tells me that it would be sound.  I put a helluva strain on it before it blew.  The only indication of failure was the dent.  It had only taken an inch of set after pulling it numerous times to 29".  It was still holding 3 " of natural reflex.  One more reason to kick myself I guess.  Oh well! As Jawge says "if you ain't breakin', you ain't makin' "  Josh 

[Keenan]

Oh bummer Josh  Looks like it would have been a dandy

[Will H]

 

[MoNative]

Trust me man we know how it feels! Heart sinks to your stomach when that happens

[criveraville]

Josh, sorry to see that. What is CRS?

Cipriano