advise please

[sailordad]

this is the first bow from a stave that i ever attempted.(first bow period)
when i went to string it for the first time it cracked on its back,i may have been to eager.
i carefully lifted it up,put tbbIII under wraped it with an innertube and let it sits for weeks and then unwrapped it.
the stave has been sitting in the corner for a year now cause i didnt know how to proceed.
now i have a better understanding of what i am doing and decided it is time to try and fix/finish this one.

i have decided that i am going to back it.
i am going to go buy the biggest raw hide dog chew bone i can find for backing material.
i have a question for all you experts, this stave has a little character in the form of knots,which i thought was cool and had wanted to leave them.
however one of them on the back sticks out a ways and i was wondering should i flatten it out before backing it.
i will post pics
this is the reason for needinf to back it,that and i didnt know enough to follow the grain real well.


here is the knot in question


as always thanks for any input and advise.

                                                                           peace,
                                                                                 tim

[Hickoryswitch]

Well I'm definitely no expert but the ones I have backed I did take the knots down some. I didn't take them flat but just made them gently roll. So far they haven't caused any ill effects.

[El Destructo]

That Vine Maple Tim?? I would take it down so that it flowed smoothly ....so that there was no chances of the Rawhide Lifting as it dries....or you could  back it....then wrap it really tight with Inner Tube Strips to make sure that you get all of the air out from around the Knot and the Rawhide good and stretched around it.....also once it is Tillered past this Spot....I would wrap it there also just for my peace of Mind and Personal Safety....Have you thought about Sinew Backing it??

[Pat B]

The cracks look like frets on the belly. If that is so, you need to scrape the wood on either side to reduce the stress at the frets. It probably has a hinge or the beginning of one there. If your back is pristine you shouldn't need a backing.     Pat

[sailordad]

             thanks all,
el destructo: it is shag bark hickory,i got this from a guy i met 2yrs ago at the local ren-fest.it was my very first attempt at a bow.
                   i had thought about sinew backing it,but not sure if i have enough.i have some in the freezer that needs to be processed yet,i think my uncle said
                   it was from the backstraps of 2 bucks.

pat:the top photo is of the back of the stave,if you look you can see a jagged crack that makes kind of a dark little line.the whiter lines that are perpendicular
      to the side are just marks from the inner tubes,lots of extra dried glue yet too.the back is not prestine and i didnt know enough a year ago to follow the
      grain as well as i should have.

i dont care if the bow ends up with a lot of draw weight or not,i dont mind shooting 35 lbs at targets.
i would like it to end up as a bow and not fire wood.a year ago alot of folks said to use it for smoking ribs.
i cant do that, its the "never give up,never surrender" attitude i have.
actaully its cause i aint gonna let it win.
i also figure its a good one to learn how to do a rawhide back on.
here is a pic of how the back "lifted".


thanks again

                                                                                     peace,
                                                                                          tim

[nailbender]

  Tim,
 I had the same thing happen on a hhb bow i made for my dad. I actually had the bow finished (had drawn it on the tiller tree about 300 times and shot it about 100 times). He was showing it to a guy at work and it cracked around a knot on the back. I attribute the crack to a couple of factors:
 1) Inexperience; It was one of the first bows I had made from a stave, and I had violated the back in several spots, the spot where it cracked being one of them.
 2) Low RH; When he was showing off the bow the temps were running -20 to -30 (farenheit) with the resultant drop in relative humidity.
   I am currently in the process of rehabilitating the bow. What I did was glue the crack with super glue, then covered the crack with several layers of sinew. Then I am going to back the whole bow with deer rawhide for safety's sake(as I said, I violated the back in several spots).
  This is the first time I have tried to repair a crack in the back of a bow, and I am not finished with the repairs yet, so I am not sure how it will work, just thought I would share the solution I came up with. Hope it all works out fo ryou.

   Dale

[El Destructo]

Tim....How long is this Bow??? 10 Leg Tendons is enough to do the Average Bow....I dont know how many Backstrap Tendons it would take....because I have never wasted them on Bow Backs....I use them for Tips and Arrow Fletching