Red Oak crack on the back

[dreamcraft_archery]

Hi !
I'd appreciate your help guys. I was working on a Red Oak stave recurve when I noticed this crack on the bow back. It's 3" long. The bow was planned to draw 50lbs at 28". The crack has appeared probably after heat treating and adding a bit of a reflex.
So... Is there any chance this bow will be working? Immediately I thought about using super glue... What do you think?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

[Eric Krewson]

Fill the crack with superglue and forget it, it is not going to cause problems. This type if crack is the most common and the least likely to cause a problem after being filled with superglue.

[George Tsoukalas]

I agree with, Eric. I would also clamp it with a screw type clamp. Jawge

[Santanasaur]

Just looks like a drying check so there shouldn’t be any violated fibers.. I wouldn’t really worry about it like the others have said. This has happened to a lot of my red oak staves, especially the ones dried with sapwood.

[PaSteve]

 Yep. Exactly what they said.

[bownarra]

If you clamp it there is a strong chance it will open again. Just fill with thin superglue.

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, don't clamp it, you will be putting stress on it to close it and it won't hold. We see these types of crack sin a bamboo back often, when you fill it the glue soaks into the fibers and hardens them considerably.

[George Tsoukalas]

I've glued and clamped quite a few bows with drying cracks. One osage bow had very severe cracks. Nothing detrimental has happened. In fact, that bow still shoots.

If you don't clamp then why even put a runny glue in the crack?


Jawge

[Eric Krewson]

The glue fills the crack and it ceases to be a crack, no clamping required.

[scp]

If you don't clamp then why even put a runny glue in the crack?

Good question. Probably to prevent the gap from getting larger and for cosmetic reasons.

How about using a gab-filling but thin epoxy for oily wood?

Personally I'm too lazy and unconcerned to bother and just use thin superglue. But I do try to close too noticeable gaps by clamping lightly. I like to hear about any failure due to clamping.

[Eric Krewson]

Superglue placed on wood causes a chemical reaction, the wood changes to be like concrete. Put a few drops on a pile of sawdust and see what happens, the sawdust gets hot and the wood  becomes plastic wood. I use superglue and sawdust as a filler for inlets on my flintlock builds if I get them off a bit and the filler won't show.

I have stopped a bunch of drying checks on green wood by hitting them up with superglue.

I have filled hundreds of cracks on bows with superglue, never had a problem with any of them.

I have had drying checks on green staves open back up if I clamped them but not if I just filled them with superglue.

[gutpile]

wood wasn't completely dry when you heat treated.. appears it is only a drying check.. as above fill with glue..should be fine.. gut

[bownarra]

I've glued and clamped quite a few bows with drying cracks. One osage bow had very severe cracks. Nothing detrimental has happened. In fact, that bow still shoots.

If you don't clamp then why even put a runny glue in the crack?


Jawge

The crack itself isn't a problem. The problem is a spot where water can get in. The superglue simply fills the crack and elliminates water ingress