Would you trust this?

[DC]

I made this splice and now I'm doubting the wisdom of it. The grain goes across the points. I marked where the grain runs with a pencil. I'm thinking of flattening the back and gluing on another piece of sapwood. What would be an acceptable weight to draw it to to test the splice. It's not floor tillered yet and I'll be shooting for 40ish pounds.

[ajooter]

If its not bending then i would think youd be fine.  You can do as you say and add a lam both on the back and front if you want a little insurance/comfort.

[Del the cat]

Yeah, I think a lam along the back would add some security, doesn't need to be thick 1/8 to 3/16 would be fine.
Better safe than sorry.
Del

[PatM]

I would want to see how your fade  transition is first.

[Eric Krewson]

I don't think you will have a problem but I always flatten the back and glue on a piece to build up the handle as well as add a bunch more glue surface to the splice.

[DC]

I would want to see how your fade  transition is first.

 I haven't done any real shaping yet. It's a real odball arrangement. Just because of the shape there will be a normal fade on one limb but the other bends very sharply into delex so it will look like the fade is on the back. I glued a bamboo lam to the back of the splice. When it's cured I'll think about putting one on the belly. it's a couple of snakey  billets I've had for a few years. Heaviest yew I've felt. I can't see the rings in the sapwood and the first 1/4" of heartwood has over 30 rings. Then they thicken up to 20 or so in the next 1/4".

[bow101]

I would use some hard wood lams for sure.

[Hamish]

I would tiller it out to no more than 50lbs just to be cautious, then lay down a bed of epoxy glue on the handle section and bind it up with a couple of courses of unwaxed twine, then run the whole area down with glue, working it into the fibres. Sets rock hard and waterproof.

[Bryce]

Looks like a proper splice to me.

[mikekeswick]

If I had to be critical then I would say the gluelines look a bit thick and the points should go to the bottom of the v's but hard to tell from here
Did you steam the pieces and clamp them together before gluing? That is the real trick to getting them perfect it you can't get there without it.
As said wrapping it serving thread or similar strong thread and soaking in epoxy is a good insurance policy.

[DC]

I started with one different billet and boiled and clamped those two together. I didn't like the way the on limb looked(had a lengthwise split that was getting to close to the edge)so I scrapped that one and cut a new splice on a new billet. The joint seemed so good I didn't bother to boil the second try. Yes the points seemed to have slipped out a bit but they go in much deeper than the picture shows. I think what you're seeing is epoxy that hasn't been sanded out yet. The tips were buried a bit because I glued a bit of reflex in. I don't like the idea of drilling and dowelling. The bamboo splint went on nice though . You can see how one fade is up and one fade is down in the picture. I know I'm putting a lot of work into the handle before I start tillering but I want to be confident it's not going to come apart.

[PatM]

Just wrap it with glass. It's not making the working part break any "rules". Metal sleeve, glass sleeve, permanent glass sleeve. What's the difference?

[DC]

That's a thought. I've got some carbon fiber tow that I could wrap it with. It would be very thin, maybe 20 thou, and a handle wrap would cover it. I don't think I'll do a splice in grain like that again. Too much thinkin'

[PatM]

That's your best bet.

[Bryce]

My first splice I ever did looked worse than that and that bow held together just fine. Nowadays I just use a simple V-splice.