Superglue and heat treating

[JW_Halverson]

I got a little aggressive chopping chunks outa this stave while roughing out and ended up with a crack between two growthrings and running up the fadeouts toward the handle.  I drowned it in superthin super glue and put a clamp to it.  It worked.

But I was a little ambitious in trying to "shave" it out of the limb and ended up with the tiller going a little weak just out of the fades.  Long story short (you only say that when it is too late) I started heat treating the inner half of the limbs to try rectify the weakness. 

Has anyone had any experience with heat treated areas that have been superglued?  Did I just make a bad thing worse?

[Cardboard_Duck]

Super glue a test piece and cook it under a heat gun???

I've got super-glued tip overlays hot before without any problems.

[randman]

I've heat treated over CA glue before without any problems. If you boil some of it out of a crack or something while heating you can always flow some more into it. I would avoid breathing the gasses involved when you heat it though cuz it kinda stinks.

[Pat B]

John, the location of the splinter would worry me. That area of a bow takes more stress than any other. I've heat treated limbs with super glue in checks and just added more later if needed but they are under very little stress.

[JW_Halverson]

But what's a poor feller to do, Pat?  I'm contemplating doing a sinew wrap, even though I hate doing them at wide spots on the bow limb. 

[Pat B]

Then use rawhide. I think I would wrap it.   If it were up in the fade a bit more I wouldn't worry about it at all.   You could grind it out and put a Torges plug in it.
  You may not have heated it up enough to adversely affect the glue.

[JW_Halverson]

Thanks Pat, I always appreciate your help.

[Bryce]

Pat's the MAN!

[sleek]

Hey buddy, your looking at this all wrong. No need to heat treat if its only a little out of whack. You should pike the bow enough to be able to leave the fades alone and tiller the now stiffer mid to outer limbs only to bring it back around. If the heat treat is still needed, do it very slowly. That way, less temperature is needed, and the glue is less likely to be hurt. You could also try a wet sponge a few times on the area to keep temp on the glue itself under control.

Another neat trick that deserves its own paragraph is dont heat treat the entire width on the damaged section. In the picture you provided, only heat the right side of the limb and leave the other side alone. You can get enough of the wood stiff enough to actually completely unload that damaged area of compression stress, just by tempering to the outside of that area only. It wont twist on you either when you draw it, its too wide there for that... Good luck!

[JW_Halverson]

Problem with piking is that I don't have the extra length to afford that trick, dang it all. 

I'm going to see if the cracks opened any tomorrow and go with a another soaking of the thin superglue and then suck up my bad attitude and sinew wrap.  Or apply the 3Rivers fakesnake skins and then wrap, undecided on which comes first.  What do you folks think?  Wrap over or under the fnakeskins?

Heat treated the other limb this morning, all told I think I added about a scant inch of reflex.  Black cowhorn overlays on the nocks are also on the menu for this one.  I'm hitting crunch time since this has to ship to the guy in time for Christmas and I can be slow as a glacier. 

And you are absolutely right, Bryce.  Pat is the man.  Between this forum and his one on one teaching that guy has really been a great help to a lot of bowyers. 

[sleek]

A wrap under the skin would make the skin where the wrap is stand proud, and look out of place, or resemble a bad job and make it obvious it was a repair. Do it over the skin on each limb to balance with a complimentary color to the sinew and it will look like a decoration and as if it were meant to be there...

[JW_Halverson]

Though it looks like the heat treating was pretty even on both limbs, one limb didn't "take" near as much as the other so the tiller is way outa whack.  This one goes back in the corner and I have to fall back on Plan "B". 

Looks like I gotta pull out that bow I posted earlier, Plain Jane.  I sure loved her, but she's now destined for another man's hands.  I just don't have time to start from scratch and make it onto Santa's sleigh.  So once again, I don't have ANY of my own bows to shoot, I'm left shooting other people's bows.  Mind you, I own some pretty dang nice bows!!!

And you are right Sleek, wrap over the skin would look best. 

Thanks for the help everyone.  You people are the best.

[Pat B]

Thats what the corner is for John. She wasn't quite ready to be a bow. Her true destination will come to you in time. 

[JW_Halverson]

If she ends up whittled down to a 12# @ 18" baby bow, she will find someone to love her and cherish her.  My bow shop looks like nothing so much as the Island of Lost Toys!

Oh man, I am so going to miss Jane. 

[BowEd]

Jdub....when the heck are you going to get down to southern Iowa and pick up these hickory staves man!!!!!