Is it possible to repair a splinter?

[hrhodes]

#4115

I recently finished my second shooter. It shot great for about a hundred shots. Developed a big splinter around midlimb. I had backed it with linen canvas. Red oak board bow, 58″ ntn, pulling 50lb @ 28″, pyramid, bend in the handle style bow. I was wondering if it can be salvaged. Does anyone know a way to repair a splinter?

[Stephen Graf]

#27246

If the bow is backed with linen, then I am guessing the splinter is on the side of the limb? Or is the belly cracked?

In general, you can glue a splinter down. For added security, you can wrap the limb with thread after that to assure the splinter stays down (glue the thread down as well). Some folks add another wrap of thread on the opposite limb to even out the tiller from the stiffening effect of the thread…

If the belly is cracked in the working part of the limb, my very limited experience is that failure is immanent… except for the following possibility:

Dean Torges has a “build along” on his website showing how to grind out a belly crack and replace it with good wood. I have a bow I am going to try that one one day. It looks easy enough.

Hope this helps.

[hrhodes]

#28012

Steve Graf wrote: If the bow is backed with linen, then I am guessing the splinter is on the side of the limb? Or is the belly cracked?

In general, you can glue a splinter down. For added security, you can wrap the limb with thread after that to assure the splinter stays down (glue the thread down as well). Some folks add another wrap of thread on the opposite limb to even out the tiller from the stiffening effect of the thread…

If the belly is cracked in the working part of the limb, my very limited experience is that failure is immanent… except for the following possibility:

Dean Torges has a “build along” on his website showing how to grind out a belly crack and replace it with good wood. I have a bow I am going to try that one one day. It looks easy enough.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice Steve. The belly of the bow looks fine. The splinter is on the side and about a fourth of the way across the back. The bow is about an inch and three quarters wide where the crack showed up. I will give the repair a try. I think I will build my bows a little longer in the future. I will let you know how it turns out.

[George Tsoukalas]

#28070

You could wrap it with art. sinew, B 50, serving material or something similar. In order for a 58 in board bow to survive a 28 in draw even if backed it must be straight grained tip with no run outs and your tiller has to be picture perfect. My guess is the root cause of the splinter is poor grain with run outs. You can’t replace wood on the back of the bow. The repair that Dean wrote about was to fix the belly after it chrysalled if I remember correctly. Jawge

[hrhodes]

#28365

George Tsoukalas wrote: You could wrap it with art. sinew, B 50, serving material or something similar. In order for a 58 in board bow to survive a 28 in draw even if backed it must be straight grained tip with no run outs and your tiller has to be picture perfect. My guess is the root cause of the splinter is poor grain with run outs. You can’t replace wood on the back of the bow. The repair that Dean wrote about was to fix the belly after it chrysalled if I remember correctly. Jawge

I will give the artificial sinew a try. I plan to glue it, clamp it and wrap it and glue it again… We’ll see… It was an uncommonly perfect straight grained board, tillered slow and careful, and it turned out to be really fast. I know now that I was asking a lot of that board for a bow that length. I am living and learning. I took your advice on the sapling issue and am about to complete a long bow from a 2″ diameter pecan sapling that is coming along great. Thanks George.

[George Tsoukalas]

#28969

You are welcome, my friend. I’d mark with a pencil where you want the wrapping to start and stop. I’d put some epoxy down – belly and back. Wind the art. sinew. Tie it off. Coat with more epoxy. I use the hardware 5 min stuff. Jawge

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