Board bow making

[Ryan9273]

Ok, I'm fairly new to bowmaking and about 1 week into it, board bows are about the only way at the moment for me to craft bows. I've made 2 bows so far from red oak, the first bow broke during tillering. The second bow I'm still currently working on and im a lot more confident in this one than the last. Its 30# at 28" draw 68" ntn, handle bow. Backed with 3 layers of the hashed drywall tape and lots of glue. I got home from work today and stuck it on on my tiller stand and drew it slowly to 28" and stepped back to examine and all of a sudden a very faint popping/crack sound emitted for just a split second.  I removed it from the stand and examined carefully. No visual cracks or splintering and it seems fine. Just to see what would happen I drew the bow to my draw length-  28" and even an inch more about 10 times in a row Still seemed fine, and now I'm writing my first post here. What should I do? Continue tillering or roast some hot dogs over it?.

[sleek]

Cant say without pics.... but, regardless,  the answer is, you should definitely make another bow!

[bubby]

You probably need to brace it and check for slivers lifting and other defects, pics are nie to help but that tape i used a few times when i started, it don't really help

[bubby]

I've built a ton of board bows here's a build a long i did, now in this i used a tablesaw if you don't have one you can still use the demensions http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.0.html

[Ryan9273]

Ok well I stuck it on the tree at 28" draw and before I could snap a pic it snapped. Time to go to home depot

[le0n]

Time to go to home depot

^^ that's the spirit.

did it snap at the fade or the working limb?

[Ryan9273]

Ok bubby I'll follow your build a long this time. I had been using Sam hunts build along for red oak. I'm thinkin to try a different board, would you have a better idea as to what wood to use? Perhaps something stronger/more forgiving to a bowyer in training?

[sleek]

Yeah... red oak!

[Ryan9273]

About 5 inches past the fade on the top limb, the culprit which seems to be a small cavity about pencil lead thick of dark brown flaky wood.

[bubby]

If you can get a maple or a hickory board either will work great make sure its hard maple it will have a little heft to it

[bubby]

Jawge has a great site and good info on board selection. http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[le0n]

About 5 inches past the fade on the top limb, the culprit which seems to be a small cavity about pencil lead thick of dark brown flaky wood.

did the first bow crack at about the same distance from the fade?

focus on slow material removal along the length of the working limb in attempts to not create hinges.

for me, once i see a hinge, in my mind i've already stressed that section of the limb.

[bowandarrow473]

When making red oak board bows you must choose boards witha high percentage of late growth. this will ensure maximum wood density and elastisity, back when i used to make red oak board bows alot I looked for boards with les than 9 rings on a 3/4in thick, 1.5in wide section. just my .02 cents though.

[Ryan9273]

Thank you everybody for your help and .02 is always appreciated. At Lowe's now time to find a good board hickory or maple. Maybe both ;P

[Knoll]

Tool I've found very useful is Eric Krewson's Tillering Gizmo.  If ya know about it, good.  If not, recommend to check it out.
Good luck!