Author Topic: Reflex crinkles?  (Read 1023 times)

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Offline Jon_W

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Reflex crinkles?
« on: July 05, 2021, 07:33:11 pm »
I just reflexed bow after getting it floor tillered and one of the tips which has quite a bit of character has some compression crinkles on the back or something. Are these a major issue?
"So long as the new moon returns in heaven a bent, beautiful bow, so long will the fascination of archery keep hold in the hearts of men"   ~ Maurice Thompson

Offline Hamish

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Re: Reflex crinkles?
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2021, 07:54:56 pm »
Are you talking about the back of the bow in bowyer's terms ie back vs belly. Or non bowyer talk ie front vs back(rear)?

The top picture looks like its showing the inner split of the stave, not what is commonly used for a bow's back.

If this is correct, those wrinkles were in the wood before steaming, because that side would be under tension, not compression during the recurving process. You can sometimes get   wrinkles during steam bending but that happens on the inside surface, with an unsuitable timber species, or very tight radius bend. Your tips are more flipped than tightly recurved so I doubt this this is an issue with your stave.

So if the wrinkles were in the stave originally, then they shouldn't pose much if any problem. That being said any bit of character or figure in bowwood is not going to be as strong as clear, straight wood. The tips even if you intend them to bend when drawn should still be relatively stiffer than than the rest of the limb, and therefore not under extreme compressive force.

Offline Jon_W

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Re: Reflex crinkles?
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2021, 08:18:44 pm »
This is the back (bowyers term) of the bow, I haven't completely removed the cambium yet from the wood. It is hop hornbeam. I guess when I bend it I will find out what happens there!
"So long as the new moon returns in heaven a bent, beautiful bow, so long will the fascination of archery keep hold in the hearts of men"   ~ Maurice Thompson

Offline Hamish

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Re: Reflex crinkles?
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2021, 09:09:43 pm »
 In that case, I have my fingers crossed for luck, hoping you won't have any troubles.

Offline Morgan

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Re: Reflex crinkles?
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2021, 03:30:37 am »
Those wrinkles may just be the cambium bunching up.

bownarra

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Re: Reflex crinkles?
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2021, 04:20:11 am »
I had that happen on my first ever osage recurve. One tip bent perfectly the other got the weird ripples on the back. They have never been a problem.