Can this bow be saved without backing it?

[ryder]

Hi,

I have a bow that's a little bit special to me, even though it's not particularly well made or designed; it was the third bow I ever made, and the first that didn't break while tillering. It's also made from what I believe to be a very unique choice of wood for a bow - a swamp bloodwood from northern Australia; it looks beautiful in the sunlight.

I've had it for years and put hundreds of arrows though it. It was originally tillered at 69" NTN and 60lb @ 30", and was 1 3/4" wide. The finish is bacon grease. However, it had a fair bit of hand shock because I made it a bit too long and left a little too much mass on the limb tips. I also discovered that the 30" draw was a bit much and 29" was more appropriate, and it could have done with a bit more bend near the fades.

That's where I made a mistake.

I decided to drop the length to 67" NTN and retiller to 55lb @ 29" draw. I did this and it worked, shooting with significantly less hand shock, but about 50 shots later I noticed a small splinter lifting on the back, 9" below the fade on the lower limb, pictured below 

With hindsight, I think the reason it has done this is because of a weak spot caused by grain violations; this wood is so interwoven and tied into itself (see pics) IMO it's impossible to work it without violating it. It's a really interesting wood, and pretty difficult to work because you can't use planes or spoke shaves - they just try to follow disappearing fibers of the grain and take chunks out of the wood. The whole lot was done with a Shinto rasp to get around this. I suppose the obvious solution to the grain violations would be to back the bow with something, but it's such a striking color I really don't want to do that. Nor do I want to relegate it to a spot on the shelf as a sad ornament - ideally, it'd like to get it shooting again! I mean, it worked for years before I messed with it, so I feel that doing it without a backing must be viable...

So I'm interested in your thoughts and opinions on whether I can save this bow without backing it, and tweak in it a way that reduces the likelihood of this happening again in the future.

Any help appreciated!

[ryder]

Some more pics, including an extra stave I have in the shed. No FD pic unfortunately, not willing to risk it ATM!

[Eric Krewson]

Not fatal, glue it and wrap it, keep shooting.

[sleek]

Honestly, its such a pretty wood, it would benefit aesthetically  from having a bamboo back.  Id back it, you would still see all of it on the belly, so, no biggie there. But, if you want to wrap it, use sinew. That wont fix WHY it splintered there however. A backing will give you the option to get it right.

[BowEd]

I agree with Eric.
1 reason of the hand shock at that length could be because of the density of your wood if it is like bloodwood anywhere else.Most times a narrower but thicker bow is made from that then giving less mass on the limbs but still can see why you like the bow.Beautiful wood.
Here's a fix I did on an osage that lifted a slight splinter[as slight as yours]without a wrap if you don't like the looks of a wrap.It worked great and is still shooting through much 3D shooting and 2 hunting seasons.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,58761.msg814222.html#msg814222
Rawhide covering the back does cover up that beautiful wood though of course but you'd still have it on the belly like sleek said.

[ryder]

Thanks for the help 

Ended up gluing and wrapping it. I don't really have access to sinew so I used tightly wrapped bowstring and glue. Not strictly speaking a traditional repair, but then again, using dacron to make a bowstring isn't all that traditional either, so...

Put about 20 arrows through it and there's no obvious problems or scary noises, it still shoots well, so I'll test it properly on the weekend and hopefully regain my confidence in it if it doesn't explode.