30 hours working on a hickory bow -then crack -UPDATE

Frank Pellow

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Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Yesterday afternoon, I was in the final stages of completing a hickory bow. The stage that I was at is called tillering. Tillering is an iterative activity where stretches the bow using a tiller board, then removes the bow and removes a bit of material off the front surface with a cabinet scraper, then stretches the bow again, then removes some more material, etc. etc.Here is a photo of my bow being tillered:hickory bow being bent using a tiller board.JPGHere it is being scraped:Hickory bow being scraped.JPGAbout 15 minutes after that photo was taken and a couple of iterations later, as I was pulling the string down into another notch on the tiller board, there was a dreaded CRACK sound then silence. A spot on the back surface of the bow had come apart:Hickory bow with cracked surface area.JPGThe cracked material is on the surface and not all the way through but that has destroyed the integrity of the growth rings that dictate the shape of the bow and the bow is useless. It cannot be repaired. I am unhappy and my grandson Ethan, who helped me work on the bow in some of the earlier stages, is going to be even more unhappy when I tell him after I pick him up at school this afternoon.
 
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Larry, here in Canada, hickory seems to be the favoured wood. I was told by the fellow who taught me how to make a bow that hickory is good but that both yew and osage are better. In his opinion, hickory is better than maple and is the best local wood for the job.

Yew and asage do not grow in Canada, hickory does and my stave came from an Ontario farmer's bush lot. Other staves from the same tree have worked well for other people.

I am attaching a photo of another hickory stave that I have in my shed and will use some day (after I recover).

Making a bow 01 -An almost finished hickory bow beside a hickory stave -small.jpg

 
That's really too bad, it always hurts to lose all that time and effort. Maybe a silver lining can be a lesson of determination and resolve to not quit? It's a bummer though...
 
i know that the tillering is where it happens the most and usually right at the end where you need just alittle more.. you make more than one to get one almost always..
 
Endeavor to persevere Frank. :) Bummer on the setback. Good practice for the next one . . . that was an attempt at a "silver lining" sort of thing.
 
Frank, There is a CA type glue loctite makes that will cure that crack. It is funky stuff. It is kept refrigerated until used. When you apply it to the crack the wood will smoke and make little crackling noises but it has saved many a bow my friend has made. I will ask him the type tomorrow when he is awake.
 
Paul, that would be wonderful :) if it really works. :huh: I am sure that the integrity of the bow has been compomised, but it it would be possible to complete the bow giving it a low draw weight, that would make Ethan and I very happy.

I have taken a couple of close up pictures of the area with the cracks:

Cracks on back surface of bow -1.JPG Cracks on back surface of bow -2.JPG

There are several cracks. They extend for about 15 centimetres along the bow and across for about 4 centimetres (of its 6 centimetre width). They are not very deep, only going into the bow a couple of milimetres.

If you could show these photos to your friend and get advise as to whether this bow can be saved, I would really appreciate it. Alos any tips about how to carry out the repair would help. The low draw weight that I am thinking of is 20 pounds and I would like advise on that too.
 
Have you considered backing the bow with rawhide? That certainly is a common practice.

Bruce, I have thought about it but I am not quite sure how to do it and, more importantly, I not at all sure that it would compensate for the fragmented growth rings on the back surface of the bow. I might just spend a lot of time and still be left with a non-functioning bow.
 
I might just spend a lot of time and still be left with a non-functioning bow.

True, but if the CA doesn't work that's what you have now. It's worth a shot.

I haven't made a self bow, but I've made enough laminated bows (among other things) that started out as one thing and ended somewhat different.:D

The way I see it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, including the experience.
 
Frank, The loctite product is 420. I talked to my friend and he recommends wrapping the area with sinew after gluing it. He mentioned that the tillering process needs to done patiently and slowly. He will do lots of eye-balling and measuring and finishes tillering with sandpaper taking off minute amounts of wood to bring the bow limbs into balance. You also might want to wrap the same area of the other limb so the bow looks balanced. You will want to seal the sinew after it has dried to keep moisture out.

Also if you don't have any sinew he told me he has lots of it. Any sinew will work. If you know a local butcher you might be able to glean some there. Typically we strip sinew from the lower legs of deer when we butcher them. You can pound the thicker tendons flat (paper thin). Sinew will bond to itself quite well and when it dries it shrinks to form a tight bond.
 
Thanks Paul, I will try to find the Loctite product somewhere in Toronto.

I am investigating your offer of sinew because I don't have a local butcher and I am not at all sure how to get ahold of any. I expect that this is something that officials might frown about sending across the border, but I can give you an address of friends I will be visiting in the USA in April. I will, of course, pay for mailing it. Is there a cost for the sinew itself?
 
No charge Frank. The sinew would be dried and I wouldn't expect there to be any problem shipping it. To use it you just soak it in water for a bit until it softens and then use it. Let me know what you think, I can get the stuff just about any day.
 
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