field bow repair

[fiddler49]

I was at a monthly 3-D shoot bragging to some friends how great my red oak take down has been working and looked down at a splinter rising up on the back next to the handle!!! After a big laugh I found a piece of rope on a bag target and unwound a strand and wrapped it around the splinter, then finished the shoot!!! cheers fiddler49

[fiddler49]

When I got back home I  glued and did a tight close wrap

[Eric Krewson]

It has been my experience that a good thread wrap like you did will never fail.

[blackhawk]

Plain n simple truth:

That's a flawed design. It splintered there because of the abrupt 90° fade transition with too much bend and fulcrum pressure on that sharp fade.

[bow101]

Yep; just not thick enough.  Is it less than 9/16" . 

[JW_Halverson]

Good work perservering and holding things together!

[fiddler49]

for a flawed design it's got about 1500 shots and the wood only cost me about 12 bucks. I shot it another 200 times this last weekend after the wrap fix. The original pieces of wood were 48" x 2.5" x 1/2" riff cut red oak.
The working limbs are 32" with a 3" overlap = 35 total, 4" reflex, about 55 lbs at 31.5".  cheers fiddler49

[Hamish]

 Your repairs look good and will most likely  cure your problem. If you make another set of limbs in the future you could try a reverse fade(a fade on top of the limb, on the back side,) increase the working length an inch per limb. You would need a good glue to insure the area won't lift/delaminate. Also the extra lamination on top of the area where the bolts fix the limb to the riser will significantly increase strength in this area. Fg bows can split at this area if they are overtightened.

Not really a fan of the reverse engineering a fibreglass design to an all wood design. Fibreglass gives so much more strength to the limb/fade and or centreshot part of a riser, than natural materials can. Like you have discovered with this lift in the grain. on the limb. It most likely can be done intelligently, but even then I find the idea stylistically unattractive, and an inelegant usage of materials. I guess that is just a personal preference, even if the function is still there.
                                                                                                    Hamish.

[fiddler49]

ham, yeah, my bows are never going to be a bow of the month. As a tradesman, I don't make my pipe wrenches shinny and put leather handles on them and give them a name either. My bows are just tools. In the end, out on the range or on a hunt, the only thing anybody cares about is the shot! cheers fiddler49

[blackhawk]

I'm not trying to negatively criticize...jus trying to help ya out and inform ya to make better decisions next time with these designs.

At 1500 arrows that bows still a newborn infant...I shoot that many arrows in less than 2 months,and I sure as heck want my "tools" lasting a whole lot longer than that. Cost of material is irrelevant to a bows design. All my materials are basically free,but that doesn't mean I wanna build a bow and invest all that time into it just to have it shoot for a couple months at the most.

The wraps will work,but I'd insert wedges like all proven 3 piece bows have next time. There's a reason why they are there,and your dilemma here is that very exact reason why they put them in there.

[Onebowonder]

<snip>The wraps will work,but I'd insert wedges like all proven 3 piece bows have next time. There's a reason why they are there,and your dilemma here is that very exact reason why they put them in there.

Sorry - I'm pretty close to ignorant on three piece designs.  What are these wedges you are speaking of here Chris? ...and where do they go???  Do you have a Pic or a drawing for the simple minded sorts such as myself.

OneBow

[bradsmith2010]

nice bow, I am sure with some fine tuning, the next one will be even better,, B

[bow101]

<snip>The wraps will work,but I'd insert wedges like all proven 3 piece bows have next time. There's a reason why they are there,and your dilemma here is that very exact reason why they put them in there.

Sorry - I'm pretty close to ignorant on three piece designs.  What are these wedges you are speaking of here Chris? ...and where do they go???  Do you have a Pic or a drawing for the simple minded sorts such as myself.

OneBow

Hey all, I think this is what BlackHawk is mentioning.  The wedge is about 8 1/2" long.

[mikekeswick]

Yup that's the one, it's like a fade on a 'normal' bow. They spread the force and stop the stress riser effect of not having one.

[blackhawk]

Yup...that's it...and this is the reason why they are there