Cracking sound while tillering.

[Jedi45]

So I was tillering my first bow, it's an ash board bow. I was tillering getting it to bend almost 20in at about 30 lb and was worried that I was over tillering (I was hoping for 40lbs at 30 in when finished). I decided to push it a bit more and around 35 to 40 lb I started hearing cracking noises. I've continued to tiller it and work on it and even shot arrows a few times and will only hear the cracking when I really stressed the limbs. There are visible stress lines in the backing perpindicular to the length of the bow. Is it worth continuing? Or is this bow firewood?

[Swamp Thang]

How was the grain orientation on the board any run off? Knots?   Pics always help but I wouldn't trash it I keep my boo-boos and hold them study the flaw or mistake. But yeah sounds done for.

[Jedi45]

 I guess I shouldnt put any more time into it then. Bummer! When I first heard those cracks I was sick to my stomach. I put so much time and effort into that. There are some ruoffs but it didnt seem horrible. It is backed with 3 layers of wood glue and fiberglass sheetrock tape. I will try again to post some pics tomorrow. I havent had the best luck with that.

[mikekeswick]

The wood glue won't glue the glass....it is meant for wood! the cracking noises are likely the glass separating from the wood. Can you pull it off?
The glass would also overstress the belly and cause it to fail even if you did everything else right. Ash is very strong in tension and never needs to be backed unless of course you are using a board with non straight grain.
The hardest thing about making a board bow is selecting the correct board in the first place. The grain really must be straight on all edges of the board. If not rawhide is a good backing material.

[joachimM]

Padawan45, you started off the wrong track on this primitive archery forum.
No real harm done, but fiberglass on a wood bow  , you're heading for the dark side!

If you're interested in making true bows, you've come to the right place: the truth is out here, and you will find some true archery Jedi-masters.

Some folks around here have their own website with tutorials, how-to's, and so on.
Jawge's site will get you a long way http://traditionalarchery101.com/archer.html

Get yourself a copy of the Traditional Bowyer's bible series (you can find them for some 90 USD). That's the most comprehensive traditional archery reference work, but there are some others as well (The bent stick by Paul Comstock, ...). A good book is the best investment you can make in bow-building!

Read it, start making real bows and get addicted.
 
May the force-draw-curve be with you

P.S. as Mikekeswick pointed out, the backing is probably popping off. Get rid of it, and put on rawhide with hide glue, or sisal rope fibers or so. If you don't find hide glue, get yourself a few packages of kitchen-grade gelatin, that's the same stuff but purified for human consumption.

[Stick Bender]

Your getting some good advice there ,but more importantly like was said, forget about the backing and start looking for really good wood proper grain orientation  that doesn't need backing and your successes will go up , failures sucks and you feel bad but there is a lot to learn from them & they seem to be part of the learning curve and your successes will go up the more bows you make ! I guarantee it ,if you talk to some of these really top notch bowyers around here they will tell you some horror story's of there beginnings ,I always keep 3-5 bows ruffed out hanging on the wall just in case some thing goes south ,I just start another , things around here can seem complicated but there not ,stick to the basics and you will have a great shooting bows !

[Swamp Thang]

You'll get advice quick and straight to the point don't take it wrong I've read past posts where guys feel like it's personal. And don't forget when ever asking for advice give the basic info because I'm my experience the problem lies somewhere in there.

[sleek]

All above I agree with. We still need to see pics, glass or no glass, to help you out with the tiller.

[DuBois]

I agree with Swamp thang, keep it simple.

And, get a stave instead of a board..hehehe

[Jedi45]

So I got the idea for the backing from a dude who had a build along online. The fiber glass tape is a mesh that seemed more like a scapholding for the glue to form around. But I will ditch that crap if you guys say so! I will try to get pics later today when I get off work. The grain wasnt super impressive so I felt like a backing was important. Any tips on removing it? Or where to get rawhide? I am VERY new at this.  The problem I have encountered for finding good staves is I live in the desert surrounded by national parks and preserves and havent had any success finding good trees that I can leagally cut down. But now I feel like I am making excusses... A real stave is what I need to get.

[Stick Bender]

You can get staves on ebay , hickory would be great for desert area it loves dry plus its tuff wood good bow wood !

[Hawkdancer]

Jedi,
The easiest way to get rawhide is the large dog chew "bones" at a pet supply store or the big box stores.  Soak it good, rinse clean, and presto! There it is.  The real way is to get a hide, flesh it, detail it, stretch it, dry it, and it is rawhide!  However, keep it away from the dogs, they love it!  You can cut it into strips and store it in sealable containers.  Sorry to hear about the problem, Hope you can fix it!
You will find the folks on this site have a sense of humor and a lot of good information and advise.
Hawkdancer

[George Tsoukalas]

My personal prejudices is ditch the glass. I'm in this to use natural materials.
Go to my site which joachim graciously posted.
I am not a fan of ash.
I prefer straight grained red oak for a board. 
YOU can back it with linen, silkier burlap for pace of being. I advise  beginners to back their first few.
Did I mention to choose straight gained stocK.
Jawge

[gfugal]

Do you live in southern Utah? Desert with lots of national parks sounds like southern Utah, maybe Kanab?

[jeffp51]

I was born in Kanan. If you are close to there, juniper backed with sinew makes a great bow