Need some criticism

[venisonburger]

I was making a bow for another sites "Bow in the hat" post, I started out with a 50 inch ash short bow, reduced it down, heat bent it into reflex, sinewed it and worked on finish tiller. In the process I noticed small chrysals on the belly of each limb. I know the tiller is off, as you will see in the pics. one thing that you will notice is that it should have bent more in the handle. I should also have not tryed for 28in for this bow. Maybe 24in max. but I've made them before so I tryed again. I know whats causing the chrysals is thin spots where they are formed. So basically hinges.
Now, my question is could I have caused chrysals by "helping" the limbs back to straight after unstringing? I have another short bow identical to this one that I have done this with many times over the last year or two and I noticed the same condition on this bow. Or in your opinions is it just a design issue? It's not retaining set since after helping it back to straight it stays that way.
Secondly, with the sinew backing, will the chrysals matter that much compared to an unbacked bow where it will eventually fail. could this bow just develop them, and then continue to hold together due to the sinew, or will they continue deeper until failure?



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[venisonburger]

This is the other bow I made and the tiller on this one is better, but again some chrysals, at first I thought it was just tool marks but I'm afraid not.

[venisonburger]

Sorry heres the pic

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[Badger]

     I know you are a very experienced bowyer, you are just asking a lot out of an ash bow. I think you did remarkably well just to get it out to 28". As for the helping it back to staright. I doubt if it causes damage but I have often seen bows with no set that have a very soft string at brace, even if they don't appear to follow the string in reality they do. In converse I have seen bows with considerable string follow that had pretty tight strings at brace. hard to judge a book by the cover ( or a picture) Steve

[Pat B]

VB, Chrysals are compression fractures so bending the bow back to straight shouldn't cause then. It might open already formed chryslals making them more apparent. Sometimes chrysals will appear and not worsen but usually they are the sign of doom. You will have to watch them to be sure they don't worsen.     On such short, over drawn bows I'm not surprised. You are definately pushing them to their limits!       Pat

[venisonburger]

Thanks Steve, I don't know if I qualify as an experienced bowyer compared to some of the talent I've seen here, I've made 30-40 bows however, I think I have to agree with you on asking alot from the ash, I think future attempts may have to have recurved ends or even siyahs to reduce the string angle, and shorter draw lengths, I can always shoot short draw. the tiller definately needed help but I was losing weight and really needed to be somewhere around 50# for the "Bow in the hat" deal. I think I can probably save the bow by getting more bend in the handle and reducing thickness above and below the chrysalled areas therefore fixing the hinges. but I'll end up with a kids bow, Oh well, kids need bows too.
VB

[venisonburger]

Heres a pic of the problem, for anyone who hasn't seen chrysals yet.

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[George Tsoukalas]

VB, there are generally two situations involving chrysals. The first are caused by a  tiller problem because the limb bends too much in one spot. The chrysals are localized to one area on the limb. The second involves chrysals along the most of the length of the limb. These are indicative of a design problem. That is the design of the bow stresses the limbs inordinately. I've seen that on occasion. I'm not sure what situation you have on that bow but the tiller looks pretty good to me. I think you did well. From how short it is I'm thinking you are in situation #2. The chrysalls are caused by an improper design. The ash around here is pretty weak in compression. So weak I've stopped using it. I've made 6 from ash and 5 chrysalled. Bow #6 was made from a board. I have a friend who loves ash for bows. He makes them 2 in wide an 68 in long. They taper pyramid style right to the nock. Most of the bend happens in the outer 2/3 of the limb. He draws 25-26 in. They shoot well for him. Jawge

[DanaM]

VB I think you did an amazing job you just asked to much from that small of a bow.

[Kegan]

I'm pretty sure it's just the ash. From what I've been told, ash isn't as strong in compression as some harder woods. Hickory or Osage in that design would be fine.

Awesome bow none the less .