Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Arrowbuster on January 15, 2026, 08:26:35 pm
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Can this be fixed?
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Back hasn't been violated. I was wondering if I could glue this back and it stay together?
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Oof, thats a rough one. Without seeing the rest, its a hard thing to guess. But Id say its possible as long as the glue goes into all the spaces and that the wood is clamped well enough, but you avoid whats called a dry joint, where too much glue squeezes out.
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Strange one there. I think it’s worth a try. Might try a good wrap of some kind to.
Is it a delamination? Or is it damage from a dry fire or something?
Bjrogg
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I thought about going ahead and trying to pull apart so I can be sure to get glue covering everywhere. It happened while bracing it, bottom loop popped off after I got it strung, I just set there for a minute saying what the hell happened. It was an awesome bow. Reason I am wanting to fix it. I actually won this bow in a charity auction for Dire Wolf. Arvin made it. Best shooting bow I have ever owned.
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Need more photos. Does the crack go right through to the other side? If it does then you can use a vacuum to help suck the glue from the other side.
I'd glue it up, then wrap the handle in epoxy soaked thread, like bjrogg suggested.
Also make another string with a smaller loop for the bottom limb.
What method of stringing are you using?
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I thought about going ahead and trying to pull apart so I can be sure to get glue covering everywhere. It happened while bracing it, bottom loop popped off after I got it strung, I just set there for a minute saying what the hell happened. It was an awesome bow. Reason I am wanting to fix it. I actually won this bow in a charity auction for Dire Wolf. Arvin made it. Best shooting bow I have ever owned.
I KNEW i recognized that handle design! Lol Arvin is on here as Selfbowman if you weren't aware. I would not pull it apart any further. How far up the handle into the limb does the damage go?
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yup. ive got one of his bows. I would do like sleek says. i would also use a good 2 part epoxy like west sytems or ea 40. I would heat up the crack area just a bit with a heat gun and also warm up the glue to get it more runny to get down into the crack deep and fill all the voids. then I would clamp it and leave it overnight. I think it would be fine so long as the crack didnt migrate into the limbs.
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I thought about going ahead and trying to pull apart so I can be sure to get glue covering everywhere. It happened while bracing it, bottom loop popped off after I got it strung, I just set there for a minute saying what the hell happened. It was an awesome bow. Reason I am wanting to fix it. I actually won this bow in a charity auction for Dire Wolf. Arvin made it. Best shooting bow I have ever owned.
I think you are right. If you can pull it apart (carefully get a thin blade in and tease it along) you can then glue the whole break. Otherwise it's almost impossible to get the glue right into the split.
I had a similar crack open up on a Yew ELB, it went diagonal from grip to 2/4 along one limb.
See this video at the 2:00 mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0DxAZGxz2M&list=PLBz2tD9476KQrsVT5EV9735gvIor1uw77 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0DxAZGxz2M&list=PLBz2tD9476KQrsVT5EV9735gvIor1uw77)
I split it apart, glued and bound it.
Its held up fine.
Del
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there's a simple trick boys!
dont pull it apart and don't use epoxy like west sytems or ea 40. those are artificially thickend with thixotropic agents.
use a casting resin suitable for wood. these normally are used for making laminations of fiber cloth and they are designed to creep.
pour it in that crack and it will quickly displaces ALL of the air and automatically creep into every crack. no heating required, room temp is just fine. use one that has a open time of at least 60 min and clamp after 30min. If the crack goes all through seal it well on one side with super adhesive tape - ducktape does not work, the epoxy creeps underneath!
cheers
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proof?
I for example have this horn-sinew-wood composite. I opened it carelessly and braced step-through-method after the sinew was dry. it hasnt been tillered.....lesson learnt.
I braced the bow again and put resin on one side. After a little while it came out the other side of the hairline crack. I unstringed the bow, and after curing I finished the bow and it serves me well now as a personal bow and test bow since summer. Yes I also added a little extra sinew to the area. Nevertheless its amazing that this works even in the most stressed part of the bow right where the powerlam ends.
I have fixed a lots of hairline cracks and checks that way and they never came back. Actually you cannot check weather there's glue in every crack finally - its a similar thing as going to church - just have to believe :OK
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You can also use compressed air to blow the glue through the break.
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there's a simple trick boys!
dont pull it apart and don't use epoxy like west sytems or ea 40. those are artificially thickend with thixotropic agents.
use a casting resin suitable for wood. these normally are used for making laminations of fiber cloth and they are designed to creep.
pour it in that crack and it will quickly displaces ALL of the air and automatically creep into every crack. no heating required, room temp is just fine. use one that has a open time of at least 60 min and clamp after 30min. If the crack goes all through seal it well on one side with super adhesive tape - ducktape does not work, the epoxy creeps underneath!
cheers
Wow! That's a brand new word to me. Thixoptropic. Had to look it up and per Wikipedia:
Thixotropy is a time-dependent shear thinning property. Certain gels or fluids that are thick or viscous under static conditions will flow (become thinner, less viscous) over time when shaken, agitated, shear-stressed, or otherwise stressed (time-dependent viscosity). They then take a fixed time to return to a more viscous state.[1] Some non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluids show a time-dependent change in viscosity; the longer the fluid undergoes shear stress, the lower its viscosity. A thixotropic fluid is a fluid which takes a finite time to attain equilibrium viscosity when introduced to a steep change in shear rate. Some thixotropic fluids return to a gel state almost instantly, such as ketchup, and are called pseudoplastic fluids. Others such as yogurt take much longer and can become nearly solid. Many gels and colloids are thixotropic materials, exhibiting a stable form at rest but becoming fluid when agitated. Thixotropy arises because particles or structured solutes require time to organize.
Thank you for the new word and concept, Simk.
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Send it to me and I’ll fix it if fixable
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Hard to tell why it broke from the pic. It could definitely be glued together but whether it will hold up may depend on why it broke in the first place. I wonder if there was a shake that opened up. I’d definitely try to glue it and see what happens. (-P
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there's a simple trick boys!
dont pull it apart and don't use epoxy like west sytems or ea 40. those are artificially thickend with thixotropic agents.
use a casting resin suitable for wood. these normally are used for making laminations of fiber cloth and they are designed to creep.
pour it in that crack and it will quickly displaces ALL of the air and automatically creep into every crack. no heating required, room temp is just fine. use one that has a open time of at least 60 min and clamp after 30min. If the crack goes all through seal it well on one side with super adhesive tape - ducktape does not work, the epoxy creeps underneath!
cheers
Well there ya go! Learn something every day. I would never have thought about resin for fiberglass fiber. It works on wood boats so why not! I have had good luck with ea-40 with heating it up slight to get it down into smaller cracks too. Another option to possibly consider may be hide glue. I’ve not tried this type of fix with hide glue yet but it would creep well and sink deep into wood good. It would also be able to be thinned down to seeped better too like a size coats. Just a thought.
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West System is one of the two best resins there are to use for boats. I use it for my bows. It thins out like water when heated with a hair dryer and it gets out into the cracks well. I dont know anything about the other epoxy Simk is using but it seems to work also, so options are a good thing to have.
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That bow was built in July of 2015 I think. Serial number should be 175715 bow number 175. I gotten better since then . I’m on 341 now.🤠🤠🤠
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My dates aren’t lining up . Can you still see the numbers on the bow?
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Lots of good intel on this site I knew you guys would have some ideas. I think I will try the resin, that never crossed my mind it should work fine. Arvin if your bows are even better you are going to have to put me on the list for another one. I have made a few trying to get close to that one but I still don't have the skill. That bow shot amazing and was pretty dang fast. I broke it a few years ago and put it on a shelf thinking I might get back to it and try to repair, now is the time, I now have confidence in trying to fix it.
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superdave, the hideglue repair I did use sucessfully for the repair of sinewbacking that lifted certain spots. for fine woodcracks i'd consider you need to thin it well. then you have very minimal glue and probably not fill the gaps after drying?
sleek, Glue are a interesting topic. I didnt say west systems is a bad choice for bowmaking - so many people using it sucessfully, cannot be bad. I havent used that one. but these glues are made to stay in place after application. you can cheat them with heat a little. then the resin is made to instantly creep and spread. you cannot make a bow unless thicken it with "thixotropic agents" - ;D thats what they sell them as. In my case I use cotton flakes to adjust viscosity. makes my cheap goto epoxy for almost 10 years now. resin l by r&g, germany. the resin must be mixed very precisely by weight. I use the expensive stuff only for the very critical parts, like tips and hornjoints.