I'm completely crushed! Last April I made my first self bow at the Traditional Archery Expo in Wheeling, WV.
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=045828;p=0
Last night I noticed a crack across some pin knots in the upper limb while stringing it...I usually rub may hand across the limbs before I string it to warm it up a bit...in addition to "working" it a bit with the stringer before I get it bent enough to string it.
I think that most of the folks on this site can understand how in love we can be with our bows...I was EXTREEMLY in Love and Proud of my bow! I hunted all season (bow and gun) with it and regret that I didn't shoot my first deer with it (I did kill a rabbit).
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=051266
If I told someone outside of this forum that I sleep with my bow they would probably have me committed! Actually I sleep over it...I keep it under my bed safe and sound.
Would it be possible to bring the bow back to life if I backed it with something? Does anyone have any other ideas beside hanging on my wall or building another?
Thanks for your sympathy and suggestions!
Dino
(http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s66/dlzack825/selfbow2.jpg)
(http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s66/dlzack825/selfbow3.jpg)
I feel your pain man. But this bow can definitely be saved...Sinew it!
What I would do is this. Heat the area a little (heat will help the glue to penetrate), saturate it with super glue. Then wrap the area with sinew (not artificial), make the wrap overlap the pin knot area by an inch or so. You can use Titebond glue, hide glue works well tho.
I feel your pain, but I believe you can save the bow.
Nice Elmo target. I have always wanted to bag me an Elmo. Wonder if they cook up well. Hope it doesn't taste like it sounds. :)
Visual of Dano's recommendation using sinew and hide glue. I also put a little patch under the wrap. I'm staying out of the glue debate but hide glue looks better when finished in my opinion.
(Dano, would he need to lightly sand the finish off the patched area before glueing and wrapping?):
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/Sinewpatch01.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/sinewpatch02.jpg)
Here's another similar preventive wrap on a hickory knot:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/Hickory%20Bd%20Bow/HickoryBdBow005.jpg)
Thanks for the suggestions...I'll give the sinew/glue method a try!
Dino
I have a bow that I need to do the same thing to. I forgot to have my brother save the sinew from his deer though. I'll get it fixed eventually.
The cracks you see are no big deal. Your bow would probably shoot forever with a little superglue in the cracks. Wrapping with sinew will guarantee you will be shooting the bow in years to come.
This bow has probably launched 100K arrows in it's life, I hunted with it yesterday. It has two wrapped back crack areas and two more I didn't wrap. The crack was superglued and given two layers of back sinew. I used Knox for glue and followed with a lot of coats of Massey finish. I have done the same fix with TB2 and sinew and it came out great.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/limbwrap.jpg)
The super glue (the thinner the better) and wrapping will really help and could very well save her life,As mentioned above backing the bow with maybe rawhide,then possibly snake skins over the rawhide.Should end your problems...Keep us posted,bowdoc