6 piece Asiatic style bamboo bow

[superdav95]

Wow that’s great info Ed.  Thanks for that.  I’ll have to measure  my horn thicknesses to make some records.  It feels stronger now and I also tapered the horn towards the tips.  I’ll measure horn thickness tomorrow.  They were identical strips that were heat curved the same profile for each prior to glue up.  I had to flatten the bellies of the bow limbs to get glue up done.  All went well I think.  I think I’ll make a peg board Monday to get ready to start bending again.  Fingers crossed…

[BowEd]

You should like that peg board.Different sets of holes can be put into it for different lengths of bows.
That info was just something I kept track of years ago along my journey.Thought it would and was helpful at the time.With longer bows [above 62"] after horn is applied they can go narrower than also because of the density.
The more percentage of horn on a bow makes it more elastic.Seemingly less stable but once settled in it stabilizes as I'm sure you've noticed.
The more wood the more stable of course.
I'd treat bamboo the same as wood for stability.

[superdav95]

Tick…tick…. Bang!   This little bow is done!   Oh well.  Turned out to be bad section of horn.  Take a look at the break.  You can see some lighter inclusions.  When I shaped up this horn slats I noticed them and figured it would be fine as I didn’t see any cracks.  They just seemed like lighter in Color.  Clearly this bow was not meant to be.  It will go with the others that have failed.  Had it not exploded it was likely  going to be somewhere between 50-55lbs.  Oh well.  Have a look.  I may do another attempt. 

[BowEd]

What the F!@#.
That sucks!!!
Had to be the horns fault.
I've got a pile of failed attempts on a shelf over here too.I rob the tip overlays off them.....ha ha.

[superdav95]

Ya it does suck but this bow making ain’t for the faint of heart.  My main mistake with this was not being more selective on the horn.  The other side looked great and the issue was not glue up or wood or sinew.  I knew as soon as heard the ticks getting it to brace it was done then bang!   Like a gun goin off.  Scared the crap out of me actually just how loud it was.  I knew enough to put safety glasses on in case especially with these suckers with such stored energy and reflex.  They seemed to bend nicely up to that point though with most of my looking like was going end up inner to mid limb.  Too bad really but that’s how it is.  On to the next one.  I’ve gotten away with colouration in horn sections before without issues but not on a bow like this.  Lesson learned. 

[simk]

Sincere condolences 🤝 at least the reason is obvious and you could learn and become better 🤗

[superdav95]

Not being one to leave well enough alone I decided to re horn this little bow.  Glue up went well.  Really inspected horn well to hopefully avoid another explosion.  To my eye it all looked good.  I bent tested each piece of horn to reveal any potential issues.  All looks good.  I also put a layer of sturgeon glue on the horn and will let it dry for a week and try bending it.  Here’s some pics.  Thanks for looking. 

[Bob Barnes]

awesome...and this is out of my wheelhouse, but a week doesn't seem like nearly enough time to dry/cure properly.  I'm sure Ed will know.

[superdav95]

awesome...and this is out of my wheelhouse, but a week doesn't seem like nearly enough time to dry/cure properly.  I'm sure Ed will know.

Thanks bob.  I should have been more clear.  It was glued up over a week ago already.  I just got around to posting updates now.  I’ll be ok I think as far as glue up goes by next week.  I’m just hoping horn is good this time around.  It took a bit of work to get all that bad horn off carefully without wrecking the bow and start again. 

[Bob Barnes]

You and Ed know way more about horn than I do, but I don't even string a bow for a couple of weeks after glutting snakeskin on it...months for sinew... it's all too much work for me to take a chance by rushing it.  It looks great though.