Well this sucks... 57" Osage

[razorsharptokill]

Shooting this bow this evening and heard a loud TICK. The handle is a glue on. At 1st I thought it was that. Nope.... The wood in the sight window gave. It doesn't look deep but I quit shooting it.

Thoughts?

[Hamish]

How wide is it at the arrow pass?

If you like cut in arrow passes, you can leave more meat on the opposite side at the fade to increase strength. It doesn't look as elegant, but its less likely to crack.

[DC]

Can you post a picture looking from the back. It looks to me as if your fades are too short. If that makes any sense to you.

[Jim Davis]

+1 to DC

Never run  that risk because I don't  do shelves or sight windows.

[PatM]

You can't make sight windows on a selfbow like that.

[bownarra]

Some people do it but I wouldn't cut into any selfbow like that.
The fades are already under a lot of stress on a 'normal' design cutting a shelf in just makes it worse.
57" is pretty darn short also upping the stress at the fades.
The straw that broke the camels back!
On your next bow simply add some leather soaked in superglue to the side you want a shelf and shape the shelf from the leather.

[sleek]

What's your draw length and weight on that? Also, that's a very strange looking crack. Did it originate from the back and spread into the fade, or vise versa?

[bjrogg]

That is a strange looking crack. Did you by any chance have a dry fire?
Bjrogg

[Eric Krewson]

Never seen one crack across the grain that much.

[HH~]

That kind humerous. I build SB for years with shelves allthe time. Need to keep abour 1” of wood and fades a little longer. Does look likea short fade.

Can’t is not in my selfbow vocab.

Nice looking bow.

HH~

[SLIMBOB]

I dont think anyone is saying it cant be done, only that it cant be done like that.  You need more meat in the window and fades or it will inevitably break under stress.

[sleek]

Without knowing more details on this bow I cant say anything about it for certain.  I can however say, I'm the luckiest bowyer alive cause I make the 54 inches long, and with short fades, and with cut in shelfs almost every time and never had a problem. I'd almost swear it can be done.

[sleek]

That is a strange looking crack. Did you by any chance have a dry fire?
Bjrogg

Certainly one of my initial thoughts as well.

[bushboy]

My guess would be a tourqing issue judging from the crack
.I would guess the top limb was tourqing to the right when being shot.just my .02.

[razorsharptokill]

No dry fire but I did have the handle pop loose at the upper fade. I glued it back and it is holding. In hindsight I should have not cut a shelf into this bow with being so short, a bulbous handle would have been fine. I'm wondering a about adding a thin lamination over the crack to add strength. Nothing to lose at this point. I learn something on every bow I make. I still consider my self a novice and while this is heartbreaking, this bow has taught me several lessons.

My draw is 27" the bow is 52lbs @ 26" I have been shooting it in to make sure it was going to survive. It also had a slight concavity ion the back of the upper limb which lifted some splinters. i patched it with sinew and applied rawhide to the entire bow. The arrow pass is about 1/2" deep. This bow is definitely pushing the limits of its design.