HB Red Oak Attempt #2

[Strongbow]

This is my most recent project that I finished up a couple months ago.  Bow #7 for me.  66" ntn, 58# @26" Reflexed during glue up and still holds 3/4" after resting.  Seems to have a bit of hand shock, or it could just be that it is 20# heavier than my last bow   Finished with vinegar/steel wool stain, and spar urethane.  This is the 2nd attempt at this wood combo, simply because I had cheap access to both.  The first one shot sweet but started to crysal badly in mid limbs due to poor tillering and has been retired as a wall hanger.  This one shows a couple small crysals but they have not been getting worse.  Take a look and tell me if you think it is a tiller issue or the bow is overstrained with this wood combo/design.  Hickory backing is about 1/8", limbs 1 7/8" to mid limb tapering to 1/2" nocks.  8" stiff handle.
 






Also here is my new bow rack made from black walnut I cut at my grandfather's place (the rest is curing for next year's bowmaking), and my new set of target arrows I finished up.  Hand tied fletchings without glue, self nocks, brass bullet points, and black walnut hull stains. 









Thanks for looking!  Pointers welcome on the bow design.  Hope to share my first self bow with you all in the next couple weeks.

[jturkey]

i really don't see anything wrong off hand with the tiller i bet it is the hb being too thick for red oak to hold up to. but i don't do alot of backing of my red oaks. just lucky i get less than 1.25 in set in mine lol

[gmc]

YouR bow looks perfect to me, well done.

Nice arrows as well.

[lesken2011]

Great Job. Love the brass arrow tips!!

[soy]

Bow looks great, awsome looking rack

[Jimbob]

Nice lookin bow, Cool tips on the arrows too.

[Matt S.]

Nice looking bow and arrows!
The RO is probably chrysalling because it is being over powered by the hickory. Red Oak is not the best compression wood, so if you make another Hickory backed Red Oak I'd thin the backer strip to less than 1/8" (about 3/32").

Another thing to consider is the degree of difference in "Red Oak" boards (I'm assuming this was from a board and not a stave). There are many species of Oak sold as "Red Oak" and some are better than others. This species variation combined with the natural variation in density between two trees of the same species leads to some "rolling of dice" when buying red oak boards. In my own experience I've made RO board bows that turned out fantastic, and others using the same or similar designs that either chyrsalled or took lots of set.

I really like the finish job on your bow, I've been wanting to do that for a while. Looks great!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Great looking tiller. The back is a touch too thick, but I dont believe it caused the chrysals. Red oak is just plain difficult to build bows with. 

[bubby]

i think the hickory is just overpowering the red oak, thin it and trap it should make a differance, bow look's nice as well as the arrows, the rack is cool to, Bub

[mikekeswick]

Are the chrysals on the lower limb, the third nearest the handle?
Tiller shape should be determined by the way the limbs taper in width. Yours appears (can't tell from pics) to be the same width until just past mid-limb then tapers to the nocks. If i'm right then your tiller is a little off, as in there is a little too much bending going on near the handle.
Parallel limb width limbs should have an elliptical tiller eg as you move away from the handle towards the tips the bend should increase. This is because this style of limb taper means you also have a thickness taper eg. it gets thinner towards the tips. The real key is to remember that as wood gets thinner it can safely bend further. Think of a paper thin shaving...it can bend in a full circle and not be damged. Get the traditional bowyers bibles - they explain it better than me.
If the problem was purely the hickory overpowering the oak and your tillering was perfect then you would have small chrysals everywhere. If they are only in one spot then only that one spot is being asked to take too much compression. 

[Strongbow]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Mike-I think your diagnosis is correct, there are only a couple crysals and they are in the 3rd of the limb closest to the handle.  I suspected it might just be a really slight hinge that I didn't notice during tillering or shooting in.  If I try this wood combination again I will use my planer and take the backing strips down to 1/16 or 3/32.