limb-crack hickory bow

[osage outlaw]

Hackberry is good.  It's supposed to be the easiest wood to recurve.

[Jude]

That is a surprising failure for hickory. I had two hickory bows fail in compression this year, both of which did fine in central Alaska and the Mojave Desert, but didn't do as well in the upstate NY sogginess.  One was just a couple weeks back, when I strung my 80# bow for the first time since mid-winter, and it just felt mushy.  Then I saw the frets in the lower limb, which had also taken another inch of string follow.  Had it in my garage for the winter, and didn't take it in when the rainy weather started.  For hickory to fail in tension, it seems like there had to be a rot issue of some sort.  Generally, you want the back crowned and the belly flat to avoid compression failure, and nobody worries about tension failure, even with major grain violation.  Odd.

[richardzane]

thanks Jude,for the thoughts
we're pretty humid here too.
when i made the bow, i had no bow to compare it with, but just memories of old hickory bows we shot as a kid,
but it felt right to leave the back crowned from the trees own curve, just fine sanding and slicking it with a polishing stone
and it also seemed right to flatten the belly. but there was no hint of rot in the whole stave.

I did most of the interior shaping with cabinet scraper so as to keep everything being reduced evenly.
oh well, looking forward to the next attempt!

[Marc St Louis]

Prepping the back is making sure there's no finish on the wood, wiped with a solvent to make sure there's no oils and then roughing the wood up a bit with sandpaper.  You only want to do this to the area where you will be applying the sinew.  I never bothered wrapping around with sinew jut lay it down along the limb.  The few times I did such a patch I didn't even have to re-tiller the bow.  Make sure you soak the crack with hot glue before applying the patch and apply backwards pressure to the bow so that the crack is pressed tightly together.

[richardzane]

tizhameh(thanks) Marc,
I'll give that a try. its just another challenge of problem solving.

[George Tsoukalas]

Start another. I'd be cringing every time I drew it if I fixed it. I think leaving a little extra wood around that knot may have kept it together. When tillering knotted areas I tend to leave them a little stiffer than the rest of the limb. Jawge

[richardzane]

thanks George,
i've already eyed out some "prospectives" to cut on the property.
and one thing i've learned for sure...cut and cure a BUNCH of staves. being bowless is the pits.

I'm just returning to archery after some left arm nerve damage ,
that 40# hickory was JUST the thing for getting me back in the flow.
having long arms, the 62" felt perfect (well...so I thought).