HELP!!! My custom made selfbow is dying

[Holten101]

If Bryce think it can be repaired then im inclined to belive him. BUT....considdering the work involved, the materials it will take, and the fact that it wont be the same bow afterwards, I would say its not worth it....not by a long shot.

Try making a copy....shouldnt be too hard (but ad some width while your at it;-)

Cheers

[Bryce]

The best fix that I know of, is to laminate on a horn belly patch. The proceed to re-tiller the bottom limb.


-Pinecone

 Now Bryce, I have the utmost respect for your skills as a bowyer ......................... but you did see the picture of the edge of the bow , didn't you? It looks like those nasty buggers go half way through the limb. Kind of putting a band-aid on a dead man ,isn't it?  If you think it would work ,I'll take your word for it.

Thank you for the compliment
Yes I did see the frets and it looks really bad. It's obvious (absolutely so disrespect for the bowyer) that the bow was tillered and then not properly shot in to insure that the tiller was 'stable' and without fault.
It sounded like, from mr.joes opening post that he has some sentimental attachment to the bow. The horn patch would be his best option if he chose to try and repair the bow which would incline that some of the fretted wood be removed, and the patch laid over top. In no way would it be a guaranteed fix. But if pulled off would be nice.
If it was a bow of mine, I would un-string it and retire to bow to the wall.

-Pinecone

[PEARL DRUMS]

Wall art my friend. That is from a board. Ill bet you could build one just like it in no time. Very simple and very symmetrical.

[Badger]

   Jerimiah ( rest in peace) built his bows in the dry New Mexico desert. His wood was all stablized at below 6% humidity. When shipped out to a different climate they would eventually come out of tiller and drop in weight. I am a bit surprised your hickory bows chrysaled that badly. Jeremiah and I used to battle it out on the salt flats in the broadhead self bow class. One of his bows held the 50# record that I took back last year. I kind of felt bad knowing he would not have a shot a a rematch. Very hard to beat desert dry hickory.

[adb]

How did you store the bow? Was it leaned in the corner on it's bottom tip? Or stored horizontal on a rack?

Those are classic frets or chrysalis, and I bet they're right where the hinge is. That's what happens to wood in compression which is over stressed , just before it fails. IMO, the bow is a goner and not worth fixing. Like PD said, it would be easy to build a replica.

[dwardo]

Perfect picture of "The fret of death"  sorry.

I could print that picture out and stick it on my wood-pile to keep other bowyers away.

[lostarrow]

The best fix that I know of, is to laminate on a horn belly patch. The proceed to re-tiller the bottom limb.


-Pinecone

 Now Bryce, I have the utmost respect for your skills as a bowyer ......................... but you did see the picture of the edge of the bow , didn't you? It looks like those nasty buggers go half way through the limb. Kind of putting a band-aid on a dead man ,isn't it?  If you think it would work ,I'll take your word for it.

Thank you for the compliment
Yes I did see the frets and it looks really bad. It's obvious (absolutely so disrespect for the bowyer) that the bow was tillered and then not properly shot in to insure that the tiller was 'stable' and without fault.
It sounded like, from mr.joes opening post that he has some sentimental attachment to the bow. The horn patch would be his best option if he chose to try and repair the bow which would incline that some of the fretted wood be removed, and the patch laid over top. In no way would it be a guaranteed fix. But if pulled off would be nice.
If it was a bow of mine, I would un-string it and retire to bow to the wall.

-Pinecone

 Damn , Pinecone, I thought I might be able to compliment and then goad you into revealing some sort of magic , or the fact that you sold your soul to the devil

[Eric Krewson]

You could cut a couple inches off your lower limb which would stiffen it up enough to let you retiller and and possibly remove the frets, unlikely they will go away but a last ditch effort is better than nothing.

[Josh B]

Sorry sir, I believe she's a goner.  Put it on the wall and make another.  Josh

[Marc St Louis]

The chrysals must go deep for the limb to hinge that badly.  I'm afraid shortening the lower limb or even a belly lam will not help that bow.  If the braced picture was of an earlier time then the tiller was off even then, you can see where the limb was slightly hinged

[lostarrow]

You could cut a couple inches off your lower limb which would stiffen it up enough to let you retiller and and possibly remove the frets, unlikely they will go away but a last ditch effort is better than nothing.

  If you dock the bottom , you will be adding additional stress to  the problem area. It doesn't stiffen it up.

[PatM]

Steve provides the best explanation. Super dry hickory is able to support itself when cut out with "fiberglass mentality" but then the moment the moisture content rises the subtle differences in the wood come to the fore and collapse as their relative strength drops.

 This is why you'll see board bows that someone will want to build mathematically may look perfect at first brace, slightly off at half draw and then suddenly completely out of tiller at full draw.

[George Tsoukalas]

It will eventually fold on itself like closing a book. I think it is done.
I have glued rawhide over the chrysals but I never trusted the bow anyway.
During my early days ans a bowyer I made one for my brother, God rest him, and it eventually folded on itself.
I did make him a nice BL bow which he loved.
Jawge

[turtle]

In my opinion that bow is done for. As to why it happened it very well could be because of the stringing method you described. For your next bow either use a stringer or learn the push pull method. The method you described should never be used on wood bow.

[BOWMAN53]

that bow is gonzo