Crack in Osage

[Michael C.]

Well I had this over in anything else but it might get more notice here since this area is about bows

I had some good advice about how to bend the snake into line, but what I was scared would happen did. I either rushed it or I already had a splinter coming up and didn't see it in time. The question is I know there are a ton of ways to fix these sorts of issues but I want to hear what has worked for everyone else.

• I could take it down one more ring but I don't know if that's going to take to much out of my poundage. I want to make around a 45-50lb bow out of this one and the ring I would have to take off is probably a thick 1/8 inch which would leave me with about 3/8 of an inch at the thinnest part but that would be at the snake so that area is  already going to be weaker, right?
• Maybe I could thin out the bow at that spot and see if I can't shave off enough to not drop to much weight and hopefully get the whole crack out. Looking closer at the photos though makes me doubt I could do that without ruining it.
• I have thought of is to get one of those dog rawhide chew toys and soften it in water until I can get a thick enough strip off to try and patch that area, but then it will be ugly unless I cover the whole back with something. I know I have some unprimed linen canvas at home that might work better than the rawhide. The big hesitation for me on this one is I live and hope to be hunting in Oklahoma and it rains in an obscure frequency here, so I don't like the idea of being out and not being able to shoot because of weather.
• The last option I am weighing because I haven't made one before, but it would be nice to have, is a take down bow. I will need to figure out how to make a sleeve and socket if thats the case though.
  

Anyway any tips would be much appreciated.


It straightened out nice.


This shows where one splinter and a major crack are showing up, I can see the splinter running off on the side which scares me.


The crack goes @ 1/16th into the ring and the ring is about 1/8 inch thick, so it's not all the way through the ring yet.

[Michael C.]

 Ok I think I have plenty of wiggle room, the widest portion after the handle has me right at 1 7/8 inches and the portion with the crack is 1 1/4 inches the nocks are right at 3/4".

[Justin Snyder]

If you have that much wood, I would take it out.

[PeteC]

Michael ,I'd reduce the width of that stave to remove the damage.Plus,you don't mention the lenght,but it looks pretty long in the picture.Osage is great narrow,in fact,IMO,it's better narrow.Those cracks do happen,but, make sure you have your wood plenty hot,(without scorching),and go easy on it.After you've done a few,you'll get a feel as to how much a stave will take.God Bless

[Michael C.]

Wow I just measured the length and it's 69" t2t, if I stay with the length it would be 68" n2n, so I think what I am going to do is take it down to 67" t2t so I get a 66" n2n. I have a lot more room for error than I thought so I am a lot less worried now. Thanks for chiming in that makes me feel more confident about narrowing it. I'm heading out to the garage in a few minutes to get cracking.

[Michael C.]

So I thinned out that area enough to get the crack out but I don't know if it's to thin now. It's thinner than any other bows I've made but Osage is pretty resilient stuff. I still need to taper out the limbs towards the tips because after the snakes on both limbs I can see in the photos that they look wider. It may just be a camera trick but I'm definitely going to check those areas out later. I took some more photos so if you guys see anything off key or anything you see that could be improved, please feel free to chime in. I am trying to get about 50# flat bow out of this one (yeah I know the belly is d shaped right now, but I plan to flatten it out if I can without causing problems in that trouble area). The cracked spot had to be thinned down to 1" and I don't know if that is to narrow because the limbs are about 34.5" from mid limb to tip and the snake thats 1" is about 17" from the tip. I know it's plenty strong to hold the weight I want to get, but I think it's probably going to want to twist on me, so I have considered trying to flatten and straighten it some more but I don't want it to crack again. I don't really want/need to try to straighten it so I guess I can cross that bridge if I come to it. I know, I know I just need to build it and see what the wood tells me to do but I thought I would put it up here to see if anyone has anything that they see that I don't.


This is from back to belly about 5/8" thick.


This is the back right where the snake and crack were it looks like its right at 1" wide 



It's about 17" from the tip, so it is a working area.



This is the limb from handle to tip.


and this is the other limb with no problems at all.

[PeteC]

What draw and weight were you shootin' for Michael?

[Michael C.]

What draw and weight were you shootin' for Michael?

Hey Pete,

I am trying to get around 45-55# @ 28" 40 is hunting weight in Oklahoma, but I would like to have a bit heavier than 40. Right now the stave is at 69" t2t, so I have some length to lose if I want to make it a bit heavier. 69" is to long for hunting I think anyway, I plan to be on the ground and it's pretty thick in some of the spots I will be in, so I could even take it down to about 64" ntn and still feel fine about it. It's not floor tillered yet (as in not bending at all) and I have an art show I need to have 20 paintings done for by the 23rd, so I only get to work on it a few hours at a time. I'm not in any hurry as I want to go hunt this year, but I would rather learn something from this and take my time than to rush it and not have a bow.

Thanks for the reply by the way, I was feeling a bit lonely