Osage recurve selfbow-Crack in the back!

[Marc St Louis]

I would not waste the time and sinew on a bow that will maybe survive.
Its very hard to see in the photo, but any crack across the grain is never a good thing.

You would be surprised with what you can do with sinew

[George Tsoukalas]

The stave is 54" with a rather large handle area and what looks to be very little working limb.
What is your draw length?
That crack looks like the bow was pulled to far for its design.
I would back it and wrap the suspect area with sinew after I backed.
Rawhide is good.
I would probably just start another.
Jawge

[Aries]

I second the exploding!

[osage outlaw]

I would not waste the time and sinew on a bow that will maybe survive.
Its very hard to see in the photo, but any crack across the grain is never a good thing.

I agree with Goat.  If I'm going to sinew back a bow it is going to be designed and planned for sinew from the very beginning. 

[bubby]

I would not waste the time and sinew on a bow that will maybe survive.
Its very hard to see in the photo, but any crack across the grain is never a good thing.

I'm with these two, if you want to try and fix it go with jawges plan

I agree with Goat.  If I'm going to sinew back a bow it is going to be designed and planned for sinew from the very beginning. 

[wizardgoat]

I would not waste the time and sinew on a bow that will maybe survive.
Its very hard to see in the photo, but any crack across the grain is never a good thing.

You would be surprised with what you can do with sinew

I've only made 4 sinew backed bows, no surprise for me. All 4 were clean staves though, I've never done a sinew bandaid before

[VanceMan]

No it is definitely the wood below that is showing. Now that the backing is violated, im pretty sure my only options are to chase the next ring (though im not sure I will get 40# with these dimensions), or use sinew to provide strength and security (im not sure rawhide will fix a violated back will it?).  Anyway, I have the sinew already prepared I just want to know if someone has been here before and got a successful bow out of the situation.. thanks!

[paulsemp]

Me personally I would not spend the time and energy into fixing that. It will only get worse never get better. Sinew is a performance enhancer not a permanent cure all. I would put it in the corner of shame for a further date and if you do not have a corner of shame it's about time you start one

[wizardgoat]

Haha yup. What would a bowyer be without a corner of shame?

[mikekeswick]

If you've got the sinew prepared then have at it! I'd be looking to use about 2 to 2 1/2 ounces on that bow.
You will learn something from doing it anyway no matter what happens.
As George says though your handle is too long. See if you can rework it so that the grip itself is 4 inches long, the fades 2 inches and then straight into working limb.

[VanceMan]

I think I will put a good thorough single course of sinew on it and retiller in about a month.  And yeah that is a good idea with shortening the handle and fade section.  The bow used to be 2inches longer than it is now before I piked it so that's why its too big..

Although I must add that I have already started on another osage stave   

[VanceMan]

Me personally I would not spend the time and energy into fixing that. It will only get worse never get better. Sinew is a performance enhancer not a permanent cure all. I would put it in the corner of shame for a further date and if you do not have a corner of shame it's about time you start one

Oh and trust me I have a corner of shame lol. I have been making bows for 5-6 years now and I have about 10 un-usable/compromised bows and only 3 bows that turned out well.  I have an Hickory English longbow, white ash flatbow, and osage shortbow.. so my failure rate has taught me to take it with a smile lol.

[PatM]

What would have necessarily been "designed" differently about this bow if it was intended to be sinewed in the first place?

[VanceMan]

Im not sure I understand the question, but it was my intention all along to sinew this bow... my original question was whether or not the backing quality of sinew was enough to prevent the crack from getting any worse and if not what else should I do to prevent a break

[VanceMan]

Im not sure I understand the question, but it was my intention all along to sinew this bow... my original question was whether or not the backing quality of sinew was enough to prevent the crack from getting any worse and if not what else should I do to prevent a break

Ah, I think I get what you are asking.  It was originally 2" longer than it is now, and therefore had larger fades (I wanted longer fades to allow the limbs to store more energy in the early draw). But since I have piked it 2" and now I have reduced the fades and it has a 4" handle, and is still destined for sinew. Except now the sinew is primarily to keep it from breaking and secondarily for performance.