need advice...is this crack irreparable?

[bradsmith2010]

just wash the cooking oil off with hot water and soap

[Pat B]

That's what I do, Brad. I use Dawn dish soap and warm water to wash and rinse with boiling water. That's how I prep for sinew backing too.

[richardzane]

next one I'll definitely give that dish soap a try!

[Eric Krewson]

This stave showed some checking on the side before i started a bow. The picture shows what happened when I applied sinew, the bow pulled apart as the sinew dried, weak wood for sure.

 

[Weylin]

I have to say I would not be able to trust that bow, even if I got it shooting. Happy to have you prove me wrong. 

[richardzane]

now its kind of a challenge. 
I dripped super glue down the crack and scraped that edge till there's barely a detectable crack line at all showing.
for osage it needed thinning down anyway... been so used to making flatter wider fade bows,
but i've set it aside to cure for awhile and dry through...i'll let y'all know when(or if) i get her flinging arrows

[Marc St Louis]

If that crack developed while using dry heat then it is a moisture issue.  I have had that happen to me several times when shaping blanks that were too thick for making Warbows, primarily when using HHB.  I believe what happens is that moisture inside the wood gets pushed ahead of the heat-gun making the wood swell to the point of it splitting on the sides.  I've never had a bow fail from this.  Unless you are making a Warbow then you should thin the wood before using dry heat.  If you are making a Warbow then the only solution I have found is to do the heat-treating/shaping in short sections letting the wood rest for a day or more in between

[richardzane]

Thanks Marc
I'm thinkn that's exactly what it was...moisture deep inside the stave being heat-forced out , finding the weakest ring available to exit.

[bradsmith2010]

if Marc has not had a failure,,,, then I would be encouraged to proceed and see if I could get the bow to shoot,,if you are worried then maybe make the bow a little lighter,,, but I definitely think it is worth a try,, 

[Springbuck]

   I know I'm late here, but the only times I had cracks that looked like that were when I got too aggressive trying to take twists or lateral wobbles out of staves and left them too thick.   So, torsion.  I mentioned because I see a raised knot in the pic just left of the crack, and near the clamp.

  I had this really cool BL stave like that once with side to side wobbles, like banked hairpin curves on a motorcycle track.  Well one went right through the handle, so the faces of the limbs right off the fades were about 10-15 degrees off of parallel.   I cranked them around a lot on a form and tried to cook them in place with the heatgun, but immediately a crack like that opened on the top fade on one side, and the bottom fade on the other.  Ruined it.

[richardzane]

yeah, I've had mixed luck with Black Locust for that very reason
and some of the dark grain rings just seem to open up but my experience with BL is little.
...we'll see how this one holds up after i let it cure a while !