Marc's post reminded me of this bow that blew up on me in Dec.
It was a sinew backed bow that had been set on the shelf a few different times. I had laminated some ipe onto the belly. Actually, this was the second time I had laminated an ipe strip on; the first I sanded completely off because I had a little concern over the glue up. The second glue up looked perfect. Stringing the bow was a workout and a half. I was just finishing up unwrapping myself from stringing the bow when I heard a tic. I held the bow out in front of me back down to check the brace tiller; BOOM. Bow blew up. It lasted less than 4 seconds after being braced. The one tip snapped right off, shearing the sinew clean through, and bounced off a couple walls. The ipe didn't completely delaminate; I pulled the rest off after. Final verdict was bad glue. Glue lines were perfect and the mating was good, but looking at the pieces after you could see there was hardly any good bonding. When I pulled the rest of the ipe laminate off, it peeled off like masking tape.
I would have like to have been able to shoot this bow. The string tension was great, at least for 3 seconds, so it could have been a pretty good performer. But in the end, I'm just glad I still wasn't step through stringing it when it let go...
