Have you had this happen before?

[George Tsoukalas]

I always tiller knotted areas to appear slightly flat. Knots are weak spots. Jawge

[crooketarrow]

  Some sort of a stress crack where you left the exture rings. If it stops between the rings that likely what it is. leave built up wood around knots. Quit doing that long ago. No need to plus it afects tillering some what.

[jimmy]

I recently had that happen on a black locust bow, except it was on the back.  It's as if the "island" of growth rings there around the knot started to seperate.  I gave it a thick sinew patch because I could not stomach trashing it.  It is good so far.  Will it last? Who knows.

[Pat B]

Never leave an island on the back of a bow. Generally speaking it is OK to leave an island on the belly but I guess this was the exception.

[jimmy]

I know what you're saying Pat, and I agree.  I've had those layers in the built -up wood around knots seperate more than once.  The problem is, the only reason I ever did it was because all the books advise to do it.  Was this bad advice on the author's part?  It seems so in my experience.  Am I wrong that the books advise to leave islands around knots? 

[Pat B]

Jimmy, lots of changes have ben made in bow making from when I first started back in the 1980s. Back then only osage, yew or lemonwood and maybe hickory were acceptable for bows.    We've learned a lot since then. If you read TBBI then read TBBIV you will see that the guys that were the experts back then learned from everyone else that what they had to say in the former had been disputed and viligent experimentation opened more doors for budding bowyers. Not that they were wrong in those days but all avenues had not been examined yet. 

[Del the cat]

Like Pat says...
And remember one of the first points made in TBB1 is "don't always believe the received wisdom!" It's discussing 'stacking'.
Yes read and listen, but do you own experiments, become your own 'expert'.
Same as all the stuff about 'never violate a ring on the back'... I think that comes from working Osage. The sky doesn't fall in if you do it (with sensitivity) with Yew.
Del
And another thing!
TBB is wrong about the Mary Rose.....
The Mary Rose was pulled up from off Portsmouth.. not Plymouth grrrrr Fttzzzz Hissss 

[Pat B]

Hey Cody, you jinxed me!       This is an osage bow I'm just finishing up. I went out to put a few more arrows through her and after about 20 or so I noticed this. I think it is similar to your situation. The bottom ring of the riser started lifting right where it feathers to the limb. There is a whoop-te-doo right below the handle and a knot at the fade. I guess I remove too much at the whoop-te-doo so it bends just enough to cause the grain to lift. I think I can add a sinew wrap on this and it should be a pretty simple fix. Hope yours works out for you too. 

[missilemaster]

OK,
        So I thought about patching it, but I decided to remove just a hair more to see if I could create an island where the pull up was happening, since I had left extra wood anyway. Well, I didn't have to go deep at all to get an island, then I took my draw knife and...POP.. out it came, barely 1/16" deep. At this point I could still patch it, maybe with an ipe lamination, But if it isnt a hinge, would sawdust and glue work as well?

                Thanks for the help, Cody

[missilemaster]

one more

[Utmostcone]

Yep, on my last bow... i shoulda' just left it in a corner but I tried to use it and it cracked in half.  if you think you can save it,  by all means go for it. good luck to ya.

[PatM]

It wasn't doing anything there anyway. If you have a spot where there is nothing but air supporting it a slight scoop isn't going to make much difference.

[Buckeye Guy]

Looks good to me the way it is !

[Del the cat]

I think I can still see the chrysal at the bottom of that scoop ... faint pale hair line?.
I'd go a bit longer and deeper on any patch. belt and braces, no point doing it and then thinking  wish I'd gone deeper and longer.
Del

IMO a scoop like that is asking to collapse, it's a bit like the string angle thing.... if you take a bit of card and push edge on it's quite rigid, but you put a slight curve in and whoops it collapses, once the force isn't straight down the length of the wood /card whatever, once it has an angle of leverage... it will bend more. Put a U bend in the middle of a long strip of steel and then push on the ends... guess where it bends, yet the steel is the same thickness all along.

[mikekeswick]

It is of course very hard to tell from the pictures.
I would be able to give a definative answer if the bow was in my hands!
First thing I would do is sand it smooth and then string it and check if the balance between the limbs has been affected. eg. is this limb weaker? At all? Even just a fraction? If not then I would start drawing it slowly, again just looking to see if that limb is acting weaker than it was before. If the tiller hasn't changed then take it gradually to full draw. Then i'd be looking to see if there was any damage to the belly there. If mot you've got your answer!
If this areqa does at anytime start to look weaker then it will require a little bit of tillering to bring it back into balance.
If worst case scenario a chrysal starts here or it looks hingy (unlikely) and you don't want to lose any weight then doing what I suggested earlier is really the only way to go (that will last!).
Did you look on Dean Torges site?