cracking finish - or bow about to go?

[n2everythg]

Any of you have trouble with cracking finish when using Tru Oil on your bows?

shot the other day while it was cold out (first time in months) and heard some small little crackling sounds which worried me. then went and did some more shooting today and it was cold again. first draw heard some crackling. got real worried. Now this is cold for NC and my bow. but prob in the 40s or so. maybe high 30s.

found this today on the back of the bow..... hope you can see the pics. weird thing is it is up and down almost the entire back of the bow. not concentrated in one spot like a weak place and crysals. Only looks to be on the surface finish and not down deep into the wood.

Finish is prob 10 - 12 pretty thick coats of tru oil then 2 coats of helmans spar over the top.
Any thoughts?
I'm just gonna keep shooting it and see what happens..... shot fine today for over 100 shots looking like this. No additional set or lowering in speed or power of the bow that I can tell.





thanks for your thoughts
N2

[Pat B]

Wade, I've been using Tru-Oil for many years and never had anything like that happen. You may have put it on too thickly. I put it as thin as I can get it and still get good coverage and I usually only put down 5 or 6 layers. We get a lot colder here so I don't think it's the temp.   

[Pat B]

Was the skin dried or tanned? was there any finish under the skin?

[El Destructo]

I would almost bet that it is the Finish Only....I have had this Happen to the second Bow I did with Tru Oil....it too was Snake Skin...and I didn't want to sand it between coats to knock down the Scales....so I just kept putting Coats on...10 to be exact.....and it started to crack within about 3 weeks of being finisshed and shot a couple hundred times.....so I sanded it down to get rid of all of the Cracks in the Finish....and then I backed it with thin Goat rawhide to cover up the Messed up back....it turned out good and is still being shot be a Bloke in Australia

[n2everythg]

yea pat forgot to detail the skin and backing.

This bow is backed with silk... just cause I knew I was going to snake skin it. and cause it was so short 62" for my draw length of 29".

Skin was rawhide. both the skin and silk were put down using hide glue. regular method. size the back then more during application of silk then size the silk then more during application of skin. light coats of hide glue each time.

Yea I prob did put the tru oil down pretty thick as I was trying to cover up the scale dimples. did some very light sanding on the dimples after prob 4-5 coats.

thanks
wade

[Pat B]

Just another guess but too much backing under the too much Tru-Oil. I would also guess the cracks are through the skin and the silk but not necessarily the back of the bow.The hide glue is what suspends both backings and added to that too much Tru-Oil and the combo backing is doing more work than the wood back under it and it can't take the tension stresses. 

[Hillbilly]

One of the first bows I used Tru-oil on, I put the coats on too thick. It eventually chrysalled on the belly (just the finish, not the wood.)
I've never had any trouble with it on other bows after I strarted putting really thin coats on.

[Gordon]

I've seen that before with snakeskin. The cracks are in the finish - it's not a structural issue.

[Jesse]

I had the same thing as Hillbilly. I put on to much tru oil and I thought I had compression fractures but it was just the finish. I removed it with acetone and re sealed. Problem solved

[n2everythg]

thanks everyone for comments and thoughts.
give me a little peace of mind anyway while shooting it.

prob will try to refinish some time in the near future.

wade

[Ryano]

yep, I seen the samething before over snakeskins. The finish is to thick and it cracks. I don't care for true oil finish.

[coyote pup]

Yep, I agree with everyone else. It's just the finish.