A bad day of bowyering

[PeteC]

Check this out.I broke 2 staves in less than 15 minutes yesterday.I had been shooting both of them,attempting to finish them up most of the summer,but due to our very high humidity,kept having to put it off,due to moisture incurred set,and ever-changing tiller.Our RH dropped down to 55% yesterday,and I hoped to finish them up.I braced the American elm stave first,took a look at it on the tiller board,then drew it 26" and boom,both limbs broke.I then went to the cherry stave,did the same thing,and POW,top limb failure.I don't have many staves break on me,and this is my first double for sure.The failures were a combination of a couple of factors.First,I'm not much on this specie of elm,(it split too easy),preferring the more dense species,like slippery or winged elm,but it was what I had to work with at the time.Secondly,I had gotten a little liberal with heat treating this wood,trying to get all I could get out of it.The bad part of the deal is that earlier this summer,while too wet to tiller, I laid out 9 staves and put them on the forms.I am hesitant to try any of this wood ,after this failure.What do ya'll think? God Bless

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[hammertime]

Did the elm have grub damage?Anyways  I'm no expert but try skipping the heat on the next one and see what you can get out of it,the elms I broke either had grub damage or an overstessed,bad tiller job.Just a thought-Hammertime

[Josh]

dang Pete really hate to see that.  If I ever break one it usually knocks the wind out of my sails for building for at least a couple of days I couldn't imagine what it feels like to break 2 in a row less than 15 minutes apart.  Oh well sweep those 2 under the rug and start on another one in a few days.  It had to be the wood's fault because every bow I have seen of yours the tiller looked great on.  Good luck on your next project.   

[sailordad]

sorry to see that
can we some close up shos of the breaks?

[adb]

Get back up on that horse...

[Thwackaddict]

Pete it sucks to break one let alone two but i say if you got 9 more i'd dig in and surely you can tweak here and there and get some shooters!!JMO But i say go for It!break em til ya make one

[Del the cat]

Condolences, breakin 'em is no fun at all.
Dunno how humid it is where I am in the UK (maybe I'll check it out if it stops raining )
I don't worry too much about checking the moisture content of the timber, I just give it a year and let it aclimatise to the local conditions.
Now I know some woods (Hickory, but we don't get that in the UK) have a terrible reputation for sucking up the moisture, but maybe it's worth living with a bit of string follow rather than constantly re-drying the wood?
Just a suggestion, (I reserve the right to be talking out of my nether regions).
Del

[Pappy]

That is tough,I did that once,broke 3 in a day.I was begining to wonder if I had the right hobby.
   Pappy

[adb]

If you ain't breakin' nuthin'... you ain't makin' nuthin'...

[Parnell]

Broke one yesterday that had been a shooter, piked a few inches off to try to pick up #'s and Blamo!  First time in awhile, so I was due.  That would annoy the heck out of me, though, two that quickly!  Well, maybe you're just shaking off your dues and you'll be clear for a good long while now. 

[Badger]

How long and wide were the bows where they broke. Might have just been bending too much in a small area. One of the most important things I have heard on here was from DCM, he said never pull a bow any further than what it takes to see where it needs correction. Good advice. Steve

[n2everythg]

the worst day bow building is still better than the best day workin.

you aint breaking you aint making

keep ur head up.
later
n2

[Cacatch]

First of all, a BIG 'AMEN' to what N2 just said and secondly, are you 100% positive that that is American Elm? If so, was it a dead tree?  I ask because I have never seen an elm of any kind do that without first taking a jaw-dropping ammount of set, and I don't see any set really on the limb that did not break in your pic. I guess there is the possibility that you had it too dry, but even then, I can't imagine good elm breaking so clean like that. I don't even see any little splinter fibers that should have popped up before she let go. One way or another, it wasn't your fault. Sometimes you just get ahold of some crappy wood. Just forget all about it, look for some better wood and jump right back in! Whatever that wood was, I wouldn't use any more of it, like you said.

CP

[George Tsoukalas]

They is no sucha thing! Jawge

[Jesse]

Bummer  if your worried about the rest of the staves you could back them to be safe.