Crack across a BL belly

[huisme]

I was dry heating some Black Locust against my usual judgement (I prefer steaming) to remove a touch of deflex from an almost-ready-to-floor-tiller stave when a crack shot across the belly. I can't tell how deep it is, but it goes across the whole 1^1/4 inch of the belly in that spot.

I've filled it with the finest BL sawdust I could make mixed with TB3 and will leave the area alone mostly while tillering, but I need to know what more I can do to maximize this stave's chances.

[artcher1]

Sawdust and glue won't cure that problem. You're going to have to repair the crack. You can use a round file to groove out the crack and super glue in the proper size dowel. Or use a patch.........Art

[huisme]

Do you think I should make a patch out of BL to replace the belly wood?

[artcher1]

Sure, you can use a BL patch. I've learned the hard way that nothing bets an Osage patch though. From mid-limb to tip you can use about any material. By the way, where's the crack located? Being a crack and not a bunch of frets, I'd take a chain saw file, groove it, and super glue in a dowel. Works from fades to tips!    Art

[huisme]

I don't have any Osage left after two bows. Washington is like that 

The crack is almost exactly two-thirds of the way from fade to tip, just before a little character deflex I guess I won't be removing.

I've got two foot chunks from the densest BL I've ever cut down that I can slice up and replace the cracked wood with. Still kind of disappointing though, this stave had naturally reflexed tips and slight snaking in both limbs with perfect string alignment, and I'm having to cut and glue it up because of a bad heat bending job.

[artcher1]

Here's that dowel fix. Had a crack appear when trying to reflex a deflexed area from steaming. Go figure!  Art

[huisme]

That looks about like what I'm thinking I'll do, only more square. Should I cross the grain, or cut so the grain of the added wood runs the same way as the stave?

Or does that even matter?

[artcher1]

Square is never good for repairs such as this in my opinion. I general like my material laid in flat or edge grained running the same way as the stave. Small repairs, I doubt it matters..............Art

[mikekeswick]

Sure, you can use a BL patch. I've learned the hard way that nothing bets an Osage patch though. From mid-limb to tip you can use about any material. By the way, where's the crack located? Being a crack and not a bunch of frets, I'd take a chain saw file, groove it, and super glue in a dowel. Works from fades to tips!    Art

I agree on an osage bow!
But my advice is to always use the same wood as the stave you are working on. Putting wood with different properties into the mix isn't a great idea.
Don't use anything square the edges need to feather out.

[huisme]

Not completely square; I was thinking rounded edges. To minimize the wood I'll need to remove I'm going to file a rectangle mostly through the cracked area, round file the edges where appropriate, and make a patch to match. I'm going to steam them together before gluing, unless you guys tell me it's not like gluing a splice for some reason I can't think of 

[artcher1]

Go for it! Let us know how it turns out. Good luck.............Art

[Tom Leemans]

Something more oval/rounded would be better. You don't want a situation where you're trying to bend a limb around a block of wood that doesn't want to give at all.