Crysal fix

[Tree_Ninja]

 
Hello folks,

This one was a bit of a fail. I must not of shot it in enough after tillering (before finishing) and missed a bad tiller. A couple of crysals showed up between a couple of stiff spots.

Its oceanspray 66" NTN. Was 44#@28".  As you can see I had put a leather wrap and handle and finished with poly (which is how I found the crysals)

Ive removed wood on the stiff section and between crysals. The left lim is lower, and sitting  a little higher on the tree because of the handle. (Bend thru). Its about 25" draw now.
The tips seem stiff still. I found one crysal about 6" on the bottom limb and another about 10" on the bottom limb (from center)

All tips and comments appreciated.

[Tree_Ninja]

Crysals on bottom limb

[PatM]

Looks like OS doesn't like pins. Many really hard woods are like that. Nothing you can do except start over and try leaving areas with pins a bit wider.

[bow101]

I see your dilemma Ninja.   Try to challenge yourself like DC build bows with a non bendy handle.   Believe me; you will get to the punch much quicker,   your tillering expertise will develop faster.   
Never the less your work is looking better. 

[bradsmith2010]

well it does not seem the bow was not bending evenly,, it still looks to need work,, getting the stiff parts to do their share of the work
fixing a crysal,, is very debatable,,yes it can be done, I have seen the whole belly scraped flat and wood or horn laminated on,and  thats alot of work,, you will get alot of opinions on the state of your bow,, and it is really hard to tell from the pic,,
I have a black locust bow that fretted or got a crysal,, I evened up the bow and it is shooting 20 years later( after many tournaments and a nice buck to boot), so it can depend on how severe the damage is,, if it was my bow,,  I would even it up the best I could to a lower weight and just see how it goes,, if the damage is light ,,,it may hold up,, or it may get worse and then you would have a wall hanger,,

[wizardgoat]

Your limbs are not bending much, especially the right.
PatM is right, OS does not like pins, problem is its next to impossible to find a clean stave.
I made an OS bow a while back that had frets around pins very early on, and they still made bows.
Mine were a little raised, you could really feel them

[wizardgoat]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=52209.0

This bow has shot many hundreds of arrows, but has been hung up for the past while.

[Del the cat]

Chrysals go surprisingly deep.
You can rasp out a gentle scoop going about 3/16-1/4" deep and glue in a matched patch. BUT you must ease off those outers to get e'm moving else you'll just get the same again.
Treat it as a no loose experiment.
Del

[bradsmith2010]

I have never worked with OS,, but if you could make it a bit longer next time,, it would give you more wood working,, or if the stave wont allow,,,, make the draw shorter,,

[Tree_Ninja]

Thanks guys. I know fixing crysals doesn't really work, I was more looking for the cause. I'll remove some wood from the outer limbs to get it working more.

  I have a couple other bows with worse crysals than this I have kept shooting, I was just hoping this one turned out. Oh well, Next one.

[bradsmith2010]

the main cause it the wood needs to work more evenly,, and that just takes practice,, you are on the right track,,

[Del the cat]

... I know fixing crysals doesn't really work...

grrrrr. It does work if you rasp 'em out, patch and re-tiller
Del

[Tree_Ninja]

grrrrr. It does work if you rasp 'em out, patch and re-tiller

I meant it probably won't work for me. I am hoping to fix this, so I might get a bit creative.

[DC]

Bring it up when you drop in. I hate to say this but The only Os bow I made that crysaled  was my very first and it was about 5' long and I was pulling way back close to my 27" draw. I got major crysals. Since then with decent lengths I've had no problems(touch wood). 66" should be lots. especially with a bendy handle. The only thing I can think that I do is flood any small knots or pins with thin CA and then I keep doing it as I work my way down. Bit that doesn't seem like a major thing. I have a little bow that I patched some thin spots(like Del mentioned) and it was easy and lasted.

[bradsmith2010]

I was just reading Jay Massey,, he suggest drilling out the pins and replacing with wood plug to prevent cracking around the knot,,,, I have never tried this .. osage doesnt seem to mind pins,, but I think if it worked for Jay,, it could work for the OS,,