Just Busted Another One!!%#%$##

[Easternarcher]

I have made two  Hick Backed Osage Bows recently.
First one Blew up directly across the grain...really clean break at full draw.
I saw nothing wrong with the quartersawn slat or the Hickory backing. I think posted that break on here somewhere.
Well I just blew another one on the tree at low brace. I was very picky on my slat and backing strip and all.
Saw absolutely nothing wrong....only thing I noticed was that the Osage slat seemed not very dense, and the limb thickness seemed unusually thick down thru for all the weight I was pulling. So I assume the Osage was not dense enough and was just doomed to fail from the start.
It broke right off the fade....if I recall both slats were from the same supplier(whom I will not mention).
Bummed out for sure....I think I'll stick with Ipe for a while.
Really kills the confidence level.

[Josh Shuck]

Do you have a pic?

[Easternarcher]

No, I already cut the remains up to salvage what I could for overlays etc.

[bushboy]

Yes I know that feeling all to well! Quess that what make bow builders a unique bunch in the the fact that we all have failures but still reach for another piece of wood.your not alone on this one.

[Pat B]

If the second one broke like the first one I'd say throw the hickory away. The only time I ever saw hickory break across the grain was when it had fingi in it and you can't always see the fungi.

[Easternarcher]

If the second one broke like the first one I'd say throw the hickory away. The only time I ever saw hickory break across the grain was when it had fingi in it and you can't always see the fungi.

Pat, never thought of that.....I actually found the broken limb after I threw it in the scrap pile...tried to size the pics but can't get them small enough. I can't tell...maybe it was the hickory. but it looks sound.

[Pat B]

Unfortunately you can't always go by looks.  Even with hickory that is bought from a reputable wood dealer you can't tell how it was treated after harvest. If it layed on the ground for only a week in the summer I'd say it had fungi in it.

[Easternarcher]

Unfortunately you can't always go by looks.  Even with hickory that is bought from a reputable wood dealer you can't tell how it was treated after harvest. If it layed on the ground for only a week in the summer I'd say it had fungi in it.

Well, I got some nice ash I could try.....can't use bamboo on this bow (by new owners request).
I'll have to source out some new hickory too I guess.
So your opinion is that it is not bad Osage????good vertical grain and all but......maybe I shoulda used flat sawn bellywood??

[Josh Shuck]

I'd almost be certain that its not the Osage.  Hickory is much more fickle on how it's treated.  Even if the Osage was a lighter density I would expect it to take set and not necessarily break.

[Easternarcher]

I'd almost be certain that its not the Osage.  Hickory is much more fickle on how it's treated.  Even if the Osage was a lighter density I would expect it to take set and not necessarily break.

Well, thats twice it went KAPOW!
I'll try different hickory or ask maybe...see if I can blow that one up...

[half eye]

Dont want to high-jack your thread but I recently finished a little easternwoodlands from a quartersawed piece of osage that MWirwicky gifted to me.....it's a self bow with flipped tips and not backed at all.....43# @ 25" would some pics maybe help?
rich

[DarkSoul]

I actually found the broken limb after I threw it in the scrap pile...tried to size the pics but can't get them small enough. I can't tell...maybe it was the hickory. but it looks sound.

Upload the pictures at http://www.tinypic.com
Do not resize them, but just upload the entire picture and post the link here. We need a picture to find out how it broke and what the solution would be.

[Easternarcher]

OK, lets try this.

[okie64]

That hickory has something wrong with it, hickory will not break cleanly across the grain like that. It will usually pull up splinters and look like a paintbrush.

[Easternarcher]

That hickory has something wrong with it, hickory will not break cleanly across the grain like that. It will usually pull up splinters and look like a paintbrush.

Ya, I'm believing that now after two bows failed like this, cept this one failed right off the fade before I got to low brace..the first failed after a couple hundred arrows out at mid-limb. The break looked very similar tho.