Thanks for the input, guys. Won't be as disappointing if this bow fails.
High elevation bow making in a low humidity environment has been a trip indeed. So far all staves of osage and hickory develop checks on me during the bow making process. I can mitigate this by applying shellac every time I set the stave down for more than 5 mins. I kid you not, if my wood is above 3% MC then it's quite a surprise.
I've sat down next to a stave, in the shade, to take a break for 10 mins and heard a sharp "tink" sound. Examine the stave and sure enough, a 12 inch long crack just appeared on a limb.
Doesn't seem to matter if it's a well seasoned premium stave from Osage Outlaw or something relatively fresh from the auction site.
Looking at the picture that Eric posted, if I don't have my limbs thinned down enough and apply enough reflex by backward stringing the bow after the hide glue gels, they all split down the side like that to a greater or lesser degree. There is no maybe, it happens 100%. It's taken alot of firewood production to figure this out the hardway, and it's getting more and more difficult to stay persistent in this journey.
Well, it looks like the CA is doing its job for now. The crack hasn't split any further over night. It was about 1/32" deep when I probed it last night. After the oil finish cures I'll rough it up at the fades and do some sinew wraps to see if there's any effect to arrest the spreading. At this point it's all trial and error to see what works so I might as well shoot it till either catastrophic failure or I'm confident it will hold together.
