What's wrong with this picture?

[bigscoop]

Made this bow last month in prep for my November hunting trip up north (I leave the 1st). Everything seemed fine, it was shooting ok and I was feeling pretty good about my November primitive hunt. And then today, while target shooting....well....a picture says a thousand words. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

[Frankn]

Maybe you went overboard on that taper at the ends, or possible you started the taper to late. In either case you centered most of the strain at the point of breakage.I have only made one bow in my life, and as I remember it , it was a bit thicker. I think I laminated hickory and willow to make it. It was great until I bought the recurve. Would you believe I now have a crossbow. Frank

[bigscoop]

Maybe you went overboard on that taper at the ends, or possible you started the taper to late. In either case you centered most of the strain at the point of breakage.I have only made one bow in my life, and as I remember it , it was a bit thicker. I think I laminated hickory and willow to make it. It was great until I bought the recurve. Would you believe I now have a crossbow. Frank

Yep, I took a chance on the limbs, but I wanted less recoil in the riser, which I accomplished, but I also developed a hinge in the limb that broke. Strange thing is that the hinge didn't show up for quite a while after I had been shooting the bow? Oh well, live and learn.

[Frankn]

It's like the weak link in the chain. You don't know until it breaks. Good luck on the next. Frank

[bigscoop]

Dang!!! which way was the grain running.....any chance it changed along the bow in that area?

Nope, grain was good, I just really pushed things to the limit. Made the bow too short and tried to store more energy then the draw length and limb design allowed. I thought I got away with it but obviously not.

[bigscoop]

So sad looked like a great design....can you shorten it into a short bow without loosing all your work? I don't know if any of these videos would help? Short bow was used by Native Americans for many, many years.


http://video.search.yahoo.com/search...can+bow+making

Nope, it's firewood, but that's ok. Not really all the surprised that it broke. Like I said, I was pushing the limits pretty good. But.....I'm already on the drawing board working up a new design.

[Jeep]

Look at the bright side, at least you weren't drawing down on a 1,500lb bison when it happened