tension failure

[sleek]

I just had my 3rd ever tension failure on a bow. This one happened because the bow had a hinge that I had heat treated stiff and it didnt take enough hinge out. After many shots the bows high crown back cried out enough! This was a bow thrown togeather from scraps of 3 different bows made in the past. I'm not the least bit upset about this, it was never pretty or anything. It had a duct tape camo pattern backing and drew 30@ 24.

I gadda say, duct tape back saved this bow from outright carnage. It only lifted a splinter 1/2 wide and 2 inches long. and the tape on the back allowed it to not come completely unglued. Speaking of gluing, how do I fix this? I have done superglue and a wrap, I have done rawhide, I have done jute backing. (Jute backing being far superior to the rest by a large margine. ) So looking to learn or try a few other repair types, if nothing else I will show hoe to do a jute fiber repair ( its basically laid out just like sinew ) to repair tesnion failures.

Break pics up soon ( probably around sunday ).

[Del the cat]

So you are just not going to let this poor old bow rest in peace?
maybe we sould have a whip round and send it off to a Swiss clinic
Del

[sleek]

Let it rest in peace? I am this bows master, it will be a bow untill I tell it to rest in pieces!

[soy]

Ya! Show that broken piece of wood who is boss....let it heel brake it again  and tell it that it is a sorry example of bow wood and repeat the cycle over and over and over and over........      

[George Tsoukalas]

You should take up gardening. Plant some tomatoes. Jawge

[crooketarrow]

  I've never fixed a bow. Just built arother and don't make that mistake again. Slow down on your tillering. Hinges only happen through tillering. Takeing to much wood off the hinged area. I color in the back of the bow each time with a pencil. I use a fine rasp and file off the pincel markings. This way you file the same amount off the whole limb each time. You can see the stiff spots only pencil in those areas file, color,file untill it's gone.

[Weylin]

Sorry bout the break, bud. I was just chiming in to say that I started doing what Crooketarrow just recommended with the penciling. I think it works great, thanks for the tip, crooketarrow. I've never felt so confident that I am taking wood off evenly. Though my wife is getting a bit grumpy that I'm using up all the lead in our mechanical pencils. 

[Rick Wallace]

You should take up gardening. Plant some tomatoes. Jawge

  tomato stakes!!!         thats funny  Jawge!

[Pat B]

Sounds more like stave abuse to me. The poor stave that would do anything you asked and this is how you treat it. It never had a chance. I'm calling the SPCS (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Staves) on you!   

[sleek]

Your killing me guys. This bow was a just to see if I can bow. Created from the off cuts of 3 other bows, honeylocust ( all sap wood ) and osage handle. No big loss, and it was a quick and dirty chop job on the tiller. Bow is almost a year old though, it lasted a looong time like that.

[crooketarrow]

  Sleed don't get me wrong,do what one likes. You know the old saying ANY PEICE OF WOOD WILL MAKE A BOW IF SOMEONE WANTS TO LET IT OUT. Rather than playing with peices the exsperance would just be better put to a real bow.
   WEYLEN I've did this ever since I ran into and old guy when I was draging a buck. His name was CROOKETARROW (IROQIOUS) he built self bows for over 50 years. He looked at my self bow I his. We became instance friends EVEN THOUGH HE WAS IN HIS 60'S. I'm sure his wife hated to see me so much. But never said a word. Although I'd been building bows for 2 years. He showed me this 19 years ago.
  It's slow going to slow for most. I can hit my target weight at the draw lenth I want with in a pound. Hav'nt had a hindge since. My tiller's good everytime. But like I said it's slow going alowing to never to miss a stiff spot if you do your part. The thick is not to give in and start just takeing off wood. I keep a 1/8 bevel on each side of the limbs untill I reach 5 pounds short of my draw weight. Then I round off the sides of the limbs. With the bevel you don't get a  a rasping splinter down the side of you limb. These are uselly small but can make a dent in the side of the limb that if it go's to deep (big) it can't be roundeded out. By the time I've sanded with 80 grit to remove the rasp makes down to 150 on to 220. I'm within a pound. If I'm still heavy I sand evenly (PENCIL AGAIN) untill I get my weight. Ofcorce it you went over a pound or so or so theres no butting the wood back on. The weight either has to stay or you shorten the bow.

[toomanyknots]

I would vote for a fiber patch/backing, if you got some jute fiber and some tb3 laying around. Tim baker said that flax fiber makes a better patch than sinew. Some jute would probably work. Fiber plus tb3 makes a pretty heavy backing though, or it did for me when I tried it. If you do, I would try to water the glue down a bit.

[mullet]

I just stuck a hickory backed osage next to the tomato plant I planted yesterday. Pretty impressive BOOM. `````````````````````````````````````````