Black Locust help please

[Lee Lobbestael]

Hey guys. I have tried to make a black locust self bow once before but halfway through the tillering process the bow developed compression fractures all over the belly. I know bl chrysals easily but I made the bow 70" tip to tip and 1 1/2" wide. here is my theory for what I could have done wrong. The wood may not have been dry enough, I may have tillered to quickly, and I did not heat treat the belly of the bow once the tillering had begun. I'm about to start on a new bl stave that has had another year to dry. Can you guys give me some ideas to prevent me from wrecking this one in the same way?

[Pappy]

The only advice I have it go slow and keep the bend/tiller even from floor tiller
to full draw,the last couple I did turned out fine,the first few ,not so good.Even tiller is key with black locust in my opinion. I have heard heat treating the belly helps also,never tried it but probably will on the next one. 
  Pappy

[Badly Bent]

I'm with Pappy on his advice Lee even thickness taper and bend throughout the tillering process. I'm a slow bow builder on any wood but
when working bl I really go slow. I tiller it out increasing draw length slowly over the course of days spending more time checking taper   
thickness often and keeping in the hot box between sessions. I don't heat treat to deep on locust myself, depends on the stave, but have
had some good results with moderate heating on locust.
i also think black locust quality can vary from tree to tree. some really good, some not but the wood will let you know as you work it.
Hope this helps but keep in mind I'm no expert. Good luck, bl makes a great bow when it all comes together.
Greg

[Pappy]

Jawgs works a lot of BL I believe,maybe he will chime in with some  more detailed advice. 
   Pappy

[George Tsoukalas]

I have done a BL bow in a bit but you gave good advice though it wouldn't hurt to go 1 3/4" wide/ I've never heat treated it but I always go slow too. Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

Lee, did you remove the sapwood? Jawge

[Lee Lobbestael]

Ok I think i'll go wider and work slower. Yes I did remove the sap wood on the last one.

[mikekeswick]

B.Locust is another tension strong wood which can overpower the belly - trapping if not from a small diameter tree is your friend! Heat treating makes b.locust one of the fastest woods out there in my opion.

[scp]

I just "trap" the bow and make its belly real flat at the first hint of chrysals (frets, compression fractures). You can probably start with rounding the corners on the back much more than you usually do.