crack in my bow

[youngbowyer]

I have a crack in my hickory elb but it still draws fine but the limbs are uneven, so i was thinking would it help if i put some wood filler in it?

Tom

[Jmilbrandt]

Is it on the back or belly?

[nickf]

woodfiller probably won't do any good. It won't make it hold together if it had broken otherwise. You may want to do this for astetics though...

Nick

[ratty]

if the hickory backing is going be carefull or this may happen

this is what happened to my 133# bow when the hickory failed



the footage was filmed in slow motion by alanesq

[adb]

Wow, very cool video!
Youngbowyer... wood filler will do NOTHING. Wood filler is not glue, or a bonding agent of any sort. It's used for filling nail holes, etc.

[youngbowyer]

I think i might try filling it up with some epoxy and put some hickory chips in it and clamp it up.
im ganna make a new bow anyway

[adb]

Try super glue instead, the thin stuff. But, I think you're right... just make another.

[alanesq]

Is the gap wide enough to be able to get some strong wood glue in (such as polymite) ?

I have used superglue in the past but I am not convinced its strong enough to do much good?

[youngbowyer]

yes.... i think i can put some strong wood glue in it..i'll try

[alanesq]

I have never tried it in this situation but I suspect it has a much better chance of holding than superglue ?

It would probably be best to bind the bow as well - although this prevents you from seeing if its getting any worse etc.

[nickf]

ratty, impressive vid man! I'm not really tempted to try hickory as backing... I prefer bamboo. I doubt there's any wood that's stronger in tension than boo, It won't surprize me if high quality 'nature's fiberglass' even beats real glass in tensile strength.

this happened on a 130# boo backed massaranduba:



it's still alive! it's a total miracle why it crysalled that much though. Tiller seemed to be perfect, set was really low considered it's drawweight and other variables; 1 1/4" of set, 1" wide max, 76" ntn, rounded belly.

Nick

[Bill Rogue Valley]

Ratty: Hope you weren't hurt! I was lucky when a white oak board bow let go on me, with just a little blood on my left arm.

[alanesq]

this happened on a 130# boo backed massaranduba:

Have you considered cutting that out and gluing a replacement piece of wood in ?
I have done this several times on ash bows and it works surprisingly well

[ratty]

Ratty: Hope you weren't hurt! I was lucky when a white oak board bow let go on me, with just a little blood on my left arm.

thanks bill, i was lucky  

the shrapnel from the bow completely missed me.