Fixing a Hinge- When all Means Fail.........

[Jim Davis]

And use a tillering gizmo! It makes your life a LOT easier.

...  STAY AWAY FROM THE GIZMO if your bow has any character, it is meant for glue ups and board bows!

                    Cody

And straight staves.

[Wiley]

It's best to just try and avoid them all together, or at least catch them early. Before you get a hinge you will get an area or areas on the working limb that bend more the rest of the working limb. Mark that are and do not remove any more wood from there. Remove wood from stiffer spots until when it's bent the whole of the working limbs bend uniformly.

Too low weight, if your not a self bow purist, Nothing stopping you from gluing on a belly and/or back lamination. You then have more wood with which you can work the hinge out and not end up under weight.

[Bogaman]

After reading the original post by RT, I'm not sure if he's talking about a 'hinge' he created or a 'hinge or dogleg' in the stave. He started this thread then has gone silent. I think he needs to speak up and fill in some info.

[Pat B]

We need pics!

[JW_Halverson]

Sometimes to preserve your ego, you need to admit to yourself that the hinge is the only part of the bow that is built correctly and all the rest is just WAAAAYYY too stiff! 

Screw up a few staves more than you can afford in money and time, and you quickly learn to go slow in the earliest stages of tillering and even a bit slower as you get closer to finished.  Experience is a good teacher if you are willing to learn from mistakes. 

Good luck!

[RT]

Thank you all for the feedback and sharing with me your experience.

I have my photos of the hinge stored in Dropbox.....I need to upload to photobucket and paste the URL so that you all can see the pix correct?

Pics will follow shortly.....

[RT]

http://s43.photobucket.com/user/robt188/libra

[DarkSoul]

It is badly hinged in both fades. Especially the right fade is not just hinged, but almost looks as if it's broken. Very bad tiller - I'm sorry. No way to fix this, IMHO. Start a new one and focus on floor tillering before you put a string on it.
What wood is the belly? It appears to have a palm handle, right?

[PatM]

A good rule of thumb is that if you see a hint of a hinge at brace, it won't go away if you draw it back farther. 
 Part of the problem is that you are using natural materials to make a pretend glass bow. That rarely goes well.
  The belly lam has to be thin to make the curve in the fade and once it is thin enough to be squeezed into position, it's too thin to hold up when asked to bend in the draw.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Im not seeing the same thing you are Jorad. Im seeing a fine left side and slightly weak right side.

[PatM]

I don't know Pearlie, The right side almost looks like the back is bulging up in that fade.
 Keep in mind there doesn't even appear to be enough wood in the fades to support the stress of a full draw even after the mid-outer portions are reduced.

[DarkSoul]

The outer two thirds of the left limb is not bending at all. All the bend is localized in the first six inches after the handle. But the right limb is the most worrying. It has a severe hinge right next to the handle. Exactly what PatM said: looks likes a bulge almost.

Jorik

[PEARL DRUMS]

I was thinking that bulging area may be a poorly placed node?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Still repairable in my eyes. May not make weight, but salvageable Id say.

[Josh B]

Hard to see the bulge on my little phone screen, but if its there its toast.  If not, just getting the rest of the limbs working will make those hinges go away pretty quick.  Obviously I don't want any hinges to work through, but given the choice i'd rather have it start to hinge on the inner limb than the outer.  Inner limb hinges (usually )  can be eliminated without losing much draw weight.  Outer limb hinges (especially whip tiller)  mean a lot more wood and draw weight will have to be sacrificed to fix.   Some closer pics of the suspect fade would help a lot on determining the approach on this one.   Josh