Ash from wheelbarrow handle. (it blew up)

[ionicmuffin]

well, heres where it gets nasty. Just one more explosion. My fault entirely, i have a feeling that it was still at a high draw weight and would have been at around 40 lbs at brace, took it past brace while bracing it and it blew. should have kept it on the long string and just tillered it out further.
Time to start over.

[randman]

Ouch Muffin! That's really disappointing!    Unfortunately, I can tell by the way it broke, that piece had severe runout. Those breaks (both of them) happened along the natural split line of the grain. That demonstrates the reality of boards sawn from the log and not split. That's especially important when wood is quartersawn. They may look straight but the grain actually runs through the piece at a diagonal if you look at the side. That should have been visible on the side of the board. If you still have the other half of that wheel barrow handle, the grain would be the same and if you tried to make a bow from it, the result would be the same. On that board I would have left it full width at the handle also (although I don't think that would even have helped).

Time to make another........Get back on that horse

[ionicmuffin]

so, on the side what exactly am i looking for? id rather take away a large amount from this than to walk away thinking it was a freak of nature.

[ionicmuffin]

Seems like if i just keep breaking enough bows ill be a bow makin masta in no time 

[randman]

I found a couple of illustrations to show how a board is cut from a log. The first shows the quartersawn board running straight down the log. The second show the quartersawn board cut at a slant through the log. That's where the runout comes. The third is a pic you put up on a previous post (although it is a little different because I can tell by the lines on top of the board and the face we are looking at, the board is rift sawn - annual rings diagonal on the END of the board -  so we can see annual growth rings on the top and the side) What is important in your picture is the "RAYS". they are running diagonal. The rays will follow the pink line in the second pic. That is the line the board is going to follow if it is split (like in your pic) The rays on Oak are very visible (on the quarter face on oak they are also the "tiger" stripe looking marks but they look like little flecs on the edge pic). Ash is much tougher to see because the rays are tiny but they should be there. I'm thinking on your board, they are running on a diagonal and that's how your bow split/broke. IF NOT and they are running straight (parallel with the edges of the board) then it was a freak of nature.  I'll try to take some good pics of the ash wheel barrow handle I have to show the rays on the side and post them because on mine. They are running straight and parallel with the edges of the board. And I'm hoping I don't have the same problem with mine that you had with yours.

[ionicmuffin]

ok i think i get the picture, i need strait ring orientation and also strait grain on ALL sides right?

[ionicmuffin]

i should also say, as far as i can tell they were strait rays, which leads me to believe i just hadnt fixed tiller before bracing. and i did it the step through method. Either way i will be careful next time.

[simson]

Too bad that one blew ....
I know that feeling

Randman: great input about quartersawn! Thank you!

[bubby]

man I never use the step thru, push pull for me, if I cant push pull I don't need to shoot it

[PEARL DRUMS]

Try to push/pull oevery single bow you brace. The step through puts crazy force on the center of the bow, hence your explosion. I dont think your grain is pitiful at all. Make it longer, wider and straight and you will get better results from ash.

[ionicmuffin]

i wont be able to make it longer than 60 inches, but i can make it quite a bit wider and what do you mean by straiter?

[ionicmuffin]

k, so i just bought some more explosion wood lol, i think its better in ring orientation, and about same in terms of grain. well see where this goes lol.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Straight as in leave the heat out. No flipping or shaping. Let 56" of the 60" work. Notice how both limbs blew in almost the same spot? Thats a clue as to what happened. The fades where working to hard, mostly because you used up a bunch of limb by flipping them.

[bow101]

Randman the bottom photo showing too plane against the grain, I was laways taught to go with the Grain, less chance of tear out, either by hand or using the jointer.

[lostarrow]

Sounds like good advice from Pearly. Go back to the basics . You are trying some advanced techniques before you get the basics of grain figured out. Remember when I said quarter sawn can make it  even harder to see the grain? What the illustration that randman doesn't show ,is that logs aren't parallel. They are tapered,and usually crooked. The first thing a saw mill does is makes it straight and parallel by cutting of the slabs .  There goes your uncomprimised grain in almost all cases. Very few boards will be what you are looking for. Get yourself some scraps and split them. That's just about the best visual you could get. Scraps of various woods  obvious grain lines might be best. A couple feet long should work. The other pic with the piece split off, showing which way to plane is a good example of how Oak can trick you if you don't know your grain.