red oak problem

[colt]

i recently had the displeasure of one of my bows breaking... in front of the little guy intended to give it to. i had an extraordinarily good piece of red oak 53" long. unsuitable for my 28 inch draw, i made a bow for my little cousin. it ended up better than i could have hoped for. unbacked, i was able to pull off 40# at 24 inches with a 52 inch n2n red oak board bow. i was really amazed and quite proud. my family and i made the trip to the birthday party. i accidentally left both this bow and my ipe longbow in the car. thinking it wouldn't be a problem, i strung it, drew it a couple times and it snapped at around half draw half draw. to say the least i was embarrassed. i knew the bow could be drawn much farther. i think it broke because of the heat. it was about 104 that day so i guess it must have been 140 in the car. what do you think?
ps. no pics of the break. i'll post pics of the bow when it worked though.

[Pat B]

I could easily have been the heat. Never string a bow or pull it when it is hot or been stored in a hot area or direct sunlight. Even if it feels cool to the touch the internal temp could be too high.
  Did the bow break on a grain line?

[colt]

the break line ran diagonally across the growth ring lines. i suspect it broke with some influence from a slight torque i didn't get out.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Sounds like red oak to me.....its a gamble every time in my opinion. It can and will make a great bow, or it can and will make a great bow that breaks when everything was done right on your part.

[colt]

i really don't think the break was the fault of the wood at all. the bow worked perfectly with zero signs of stress untill it broke at half draw. perhaps red oak doesn't respond well to heat.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I have used dry heat to flip tips before with no problems. The wood may have been marginal and held strong until you challenged it with a touch of heat? Who knows.

[JW_Halverson]

Could have been a case of being worse than half-baked.  Many woods fail when they have all the moisture baked out of them.  Yew is most famous for it, but many other woods need a touch of moisure in the cells.  Hickory has never given me that problem, though.  It suffers sluggishness from too much moisture.

Sorry to hear about the loss, having it fail in front of the kid is an extra bummer.  Just tell him that you are glad HE didn't break it and that you are going to make the next one better. 

[Rick Wallace]

I had two red oaks break on the same day,,same as you,I left them in the car for a couple hours then tried to shoot,,one said snap,the other said pop!  lesson learned,,,,,,,,,

[George Tsoukalas]

It was still short for a 24 in. draw. I like to double the draw and add at least 20% for a handle bow. Jawge