First vine maple stave! (and overall first stave)---[Hinge broke the bow]

[ionicmuffin]

i was just thinking, what if i heat treat the belly portion that has the hinge, since there is less wood i would need something to make it stronger in compression. either that or add more wood?

[burchett.donald]

            Let us see it on the long string with a gentle pull until hinge shows. Looks like it's still 1/4" thick. Go sloooow tillering the rest of the limb.
                                               Don                                                           

[ionicmuffin]

Here are pictures of the hinge... and the other limb, which looks great.

[vinemaplebows]

Thats the reason you don't try to follow the dips while tillering.

[rossfactor]

I hate to say it man, but I think that one is gonna hurt. The amount of wood removal needed to fix that hinge is gonna seriously drop your draw weight. Heat treating is an iffy fix, it may provide a short term, local solution at the hinge, but my opinion is that it's unlikely to solve this problem.

Gabe

[SLIMBOB]

A thought....That should be the static part of the limb at 3 inches or so from the tip.  Should have been left thick to start with, but...glue a belly lam to the tip.  I have an Osage bow at 64" inches that I nearly snapped the tip off when heat bending.  I took Eastern Red Cedar (very light, good in compression, grows everywhere here) and fashioned a belly lam.  Actually 2 of them so the tips would match.  Sanded, glued and and thinned it as needed.  The bow has shot hundreds of arrows over the years.  You can't tell there was ever a problem. 

[ionicmuffin]

well, what wood should i use? i dont have much else other than some plumb or maybe rhododendron wood which is tough as nails, or just some of the original wood. What do you guys suggest i try?

[bubby]

Thats the reason you don't try to follow the dips while tillering.

depending on your skill level slimbobs idea would work, i think i'd just pike it and build a young boy or girl a bow and chalk this one up as practice, Bub

[ionicmuffin]

Thats the reason you don't try to follow the dips while tillering.

depending on your skill level slimbobs idea would work, i think i'd just pike it and build a young boy or girl a bow and chalk this one up as practice, Bub

Well, i guess i could, just to let you know, this bow is only 60 inches long anyway, so thats pretty short, The other thing i could try if non of these things work, is to remove enough wood to put a full lam on. Maybe thats what slimbob was talking about.

[SLIMBOB]

Any wood should work.  Keep it lite so it doesn't slow the bows performance.  I would think even something like spruce would work since you can adjust the thickness for strength.  Looking at the picture, I don't see why it won't work.  Might be a little tricky getting the two surfaces to mate up well, but you should be able to get 'er done.  Leave the lam thick so you can come back and thin it as you need.  I simply feathered both ends and sanded till I had a good fit.  I used epoxy, but someone may suggest another type of glue.

[ionicmuffin]

I assume epoxy because it has a high strength bond. That makes sense. In any case, i was just thinking that if its only at a little less than half draw(before this happened) and it was about 40-50 lbs then maybe if i were to tiller the rest of the limb i wouldn't need to do anything with it. I will most likely however glue up a lam just to be on the safe side, but its still very heavy for its draw length. which is about 12 inches, maybe 14. Id rather be on the safe side of course, but just thinking here, make sure to shoot down that kind of thinking if its no good. or reaffirm it if its good to think that way.

[SLIMBOB]

Nope.  Just a lam to cover the static part of the tips.  Way easier than a complete belly lam.  Look, it may not be worth the effort to some, but it's your baby.  What I described is really pretty simple and it saved a bow for me.  Take it hunting every year!

[Bryce]

Agreed. Belly lam the last few inches should do the trick.
 

[SLIMBOB]

In case you decide to try it, here is a picture of what I did.  Granted you have some humps and hoop-d-doos to deal with, but I would sand it flat (on the belly) or at least flattish, and feather it in.

[ionicmuffin]

sounds good, thats what ill do!