Bark-on experiment turns into a disaster

[Bowyer Wannabe]

I decided to to build a bark-on bow from a nice Hazel stave that I had sitting in my living room for more than a year.
The build was going great and the bow was shaping up nicely. I took off most of the material on the belly side, I floor tillered the bow and everything looked good.
Then I decided to brace it with a string for the final tiller and... crack! I heard a cracking noise. At first I thought it was just the bark on the back of the bow cracking, but on a closer inspection, I noticed a small splinter lifting. I immediately abandoned the bark-on idea and started to scrape off the bark in order to investigate.
It turned out that some bad bug has badly eaten fullers in my my bow's back, underneath the bark, without me noticing anything! 
I will never again leave a stave with its bark on.

I am posting photos of the damage.
My question is: can I save the bow by super gluing on some leather over the damaged area and then wrapping it with super glue-soaked serving thread?
Any other ways to salvage the bow?
Thanks!

https://s5.postimg.org/8cw51pf4n/IMG_20161223_015549.jpg
https://s5.postimg.org/io8hud6tz/IMG_20161223_015606.jpg

[DC]

Did you cut the wood or was it already dead when you got it? The reason I ask is that it looks like the type of worm damage that comes from rot. That said I don't know what kind of bugs live in your area. Did you notice any other bug tracks when you were reducing the bow. If the wood was already decaying when you got it there is really no point in beating a dead horse.

[Bowyer Wannabe]

I cut the Hazel stave from the woods nearby. It wasn't rotting or decaying, it was fresh, green and alive.
I did some rough shaping with a draw knife immediately after cutting the stave, then I let it sit in my room for about 1+ year with most of its bark on. Looks like it was plagued by bugs from the get go.

The bow is pretty strong right now, no signs of rot or anything, just these nasty bug fullers.

I'm just wondering if there is a way to fix the problem. The bug fullers are about 1,5mm deep (that's counting bark and cambium). Maybe there is a way to fill them up with epoxy or something of that sort and then put a tight bandage over them?

[PatM]

Did you cut it in the winter or during the growing season?

[Bowyer Wannabe]

I cut it in the late summer / early autumn.

[George Tsoukalas]

I've never used hazel for a bow. Made lots of arrows from hazel shoots.

So take my remarks with a grain of salt.

It doesn't sound like you have much time invested in this stave. I'd start another.
Jawge

[FilipT]

Hazel is awesome wood, even makes 100+ warbows. I think bugs have eaten it in your house. Never saw bug damage on living hazel, but after all I live in Balkan area, not sure if you are from Europe or not.

[Del the cat]

Hazel is awesome wood, even makes 100+ warbows. I think bugs have eaten it in your house. Never saw bug damage on living hazel, but after all I live in Balkan area, not sure if you are from Europe or not.

+1,
Put some details on your profile... even just the country and state (if USA) helps. We are good on this forum but not psychic
Mind, doing some detective work from the 'local time' on your profile, its the USA. You guys have some bad bugs out there that eat anything, including Yew sapwood despite books that say bugs don't eat Yew.
Shame about the bow , probably more trouble to take the back down evenly and back it, tha it is to make a new bow.
Del

[stuckinthemud]

How far above target weight are you? Hazel is a really forgiving wood so smoothing off the damage and fairing it in nicely with a good sharp jack plane and a scraper wouldn't actually take very long - like maybe a 1/2 hour to dress the whole of the back?  You could lose about 10# and you probably wouldn't need to back it, but even if you did, laying on a backing also wouldn't take that long.  A plane white silk is virtually invisible. Fixing it is gonna take less time than starting again, it all depends on whether the loss in draw weight is acceptable, although I suspect that you won't lose much weight as the damage had already decreased the draw-weight, you just didn't know it til you stripped the bark.

[Bowyer Wannabe]

I live in Bulgaria (south-eastern Europe), if that helps. I too believe that the bugs must have eaten the stave while it was sitting in my house.
Unfortunately, I can't start working on another stave, because I don't have one (excluding a crooked Ash stave that will take hours of steam bending to make it semi-usable). Plus I really like Hazel - it is so easy to work with and makes very lightweight bows.

Anyway, I think I will try to salvage the damaged stave somehow. Maybe filling the bug grooves with hot melt glue would help?

[Del the cat]

Filling damage on the back will not help... think about it, it is in tension and will just open up. A continuous covering of the entire back may do the job, something like linen thread maybe ? The alternative is rasp out the bad stuff, get it falt and glue in a backing strip, If you have a bandsaw, you could saw a thin slat of freshly cut hazel from the outer edge of a log, it would season V quickly if it was just 3 or 4mm thick.
It's give you something to do over the holidays 
Good luck.
Del
(BTW. Never seen bug damage like that in Hazel the UK, but I have had some that was slightly discoloured and weak.)