Vertical Stess Cracks and Advice for Newbie?

[grassman34]

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At age 34 and After 14 years of shooting Hoyt Compounds and taking some nice animals I decided I need a new archery challenge so I just purchased my first recurve off of ebay. It is Bear Kodiak Hunter 45# with 60" amo and after receiving it I noticed that on the upper limb just above the sight window there is a stress crack that is about 3" long running up the limb on the outside and a small one about an inch long on the inside(they don't line up from front to back they are about 1/2" apart). Other than that this bow is in excellent condition. The seller has offered to let me return the bow since I didn't see these cracks in the pictures they had on there add. I bought the bow for $150.00 and have $14.00 in shipping. So heres my dilemma, one will these cracks hurt the performance of this bow or are these cracks common and I should not worry since I don't even know if I am going to enjoy instinctive shooting or send it back and second is this a good bow for a beginning traditional shooter? If there are any pointers as far as arrow size, tuning or pointer in learning instinctive shooting, Please Help?

[SPIKER]

Stress cracks on the limb..

I'm not an expert by far..there are others here who might know better...but...I'd say send that bow back quick before you eat that upper limb at full draw, or worse...JMHO..

[smj]

Without seeing the bow it is a bit hard to judge. However, given that it is to be a new start for you and you don't have a lot of experience with trad bows, I'd send it right back. I have seen limbs blow, it is not a fun time! If it is a stress fracture, then the bow is doomed. A stress fracture is different from a finish crack, or checking. I have seen small stress cracks in the finish from age, these I'd not worry about so much so long as the weather has not gotten to the wood below and discolored it. Stress cracks that run long, to the wood below, or a seam/joint - I would not mess around with. People can be hurt when a bow blows up, it is not worth it. There are a lot of bows out there for sale that are clean, no cracks or checks. A chip or ding in the finish can be dealt with easy, so can a finish crack, or grain crack in a bamboo backing. Again, first concern is that the wood below has not suffered water damage, but a bit of epoxy will take care of the chip/ding. A true stress crack - not much you can do about it. The bow may shoot for years, it may come apart the next arrow out of it. There is no good way to know. In a way you are lucky, most bows don't crack first at all, they just blow! All that energy coming undone right next to your head... Think about that a bit... I suppose you could string the bow and check the tiller. This could tell you a lot about the strength of the limb. Then draw the bow on a tiller tree and check the limbs again at half draw and full draw. But, even if the limb seems sound, the stress when shot is a lot different than just holding at some draw. If you had a bow just like this one to compare to, you could compare the two and make some judgment of sorts - hand shock, draw weight at a given length, and so on. But even then, there is no way to know the true status of the limb.

My guess is that since the bow is a 60 inch bow, someone was shooting it with a longer draw length at some time in its life - maybe pushing it in to a stacking condition. (Mind you, just a guess...) The longer draw would put extra stress on the limbs and riser, hence the crack over time. If you shoot the bow with a shorter draw, maybe it will last a bit longer? Then again, it could be that the bow is just failing and nothing you do will help it. I suppose it could also happen if very light weight arrows were shot out of it to try to increase arrow speed, bad idea! I would call it a big gamble to keep it for $150. Sounds like a $5 or $10 garage sale bow to me. I would advise you send it back and try another bow! For $150 you should get one that is sound - no twisted limbs and no limb cracks. Make the sender pay the shipping back, too.

If you elect to keep the bow, you can try going to a woodworking shop and picking up some super-glue. They sell several types, you would be looking for the thinnest glue they offer. Guitar makers use it to stop cracks in guitar tops, I use it to stop grain cracks in bamboo backings and fill any other flaw I find. It is good stuff, it does penetrate the best of anything I've found. The stuff I have is by Balsa: USA Gold CA Glue. It is a cyanoacrylate adhesive, thin penetrating formula. I can not guarantee that this would help any at all, or that it would fix any real failure issue with the limb. It is not a strong as the original glue joint, which if failing, this won't stop it. Good luck!

[BT]

Make that the crack is in the limb and not the finish.
I have seen alot of bows with what looks like cracks but in fact they are simply in the finish.
Rung a finger nail over it and see if it catches.
If it does...send it back.
If you are not very sure....send it back.
Bows do not last forever and can blow rather easily if they are old and dried out or simply old.

Bear bows are not expensive and can be had for around $400. new

I think your gonna like the recurve

[grassman34]

Thanks guy took it to a local traditional shooter and he said he thought it was just in the finish. I figure I will mark the crack and shoot it for a while and see if it gets any worse and see if I am going to enjoy shooting traditional before buying a more expensive bow. Now I just have to figure out what arrow mat'l and size to shoot.

[BT]

grassman34 said:

Now I just have to figure out what arrow mat'l and size to shoot.

With the traditional equipment I have found that I get few fliers out of any material regardless of the spec for that shaft.
As long as the Carbon rating falls within the rating of the bow , you'll be fine from 26-30".
Aluminum ..... after going to the Easton chart , I would look at whatever falls on the lower end of the chart for your bow.
I have found that Eastons charts tend to run a bit stiff for most people's wants/needs.

[smj]

I am a fan of carbon arrows. I like Goldtip and tend to buy blems off of Ebay, the Traditional shaft or the XT shaft... I don't see any blems being offered right now, but a dozen shafts 3555 XT are going for $49, plus $8 for shipping.

I still say go to the local pro shop, buy 3 arrows that fly well for you. If you buy a dozen arrows and then can't make'em fly right, you could be stuck with a dozen arrows that simply don't fly right. I will also point out once again that an arrow that will fly right for one person might not fly right for another. There will be some form issues to work through (mostly anchor and release), some bow tune to take care off, then tip weight and arrow length. I would try to build an arrow that will weigh in at no less than 360 to 400 grains. That's about 8 to 9 grains per pound draw weight. You won't be shooting really long shots to start with anyway, I'd stay on the 9 grain side of it, keep the stess down on your bow. You have finish cracks - I'd seal them with the thin cyanoacrylate adhesive - to worry about and going with a really light weight arrow will be more stressful to your bow. Also, don't over-draw the bow. Some folks draw a bow back to the ear and then slip forward until they find their anchor point... Again, extra stress to avoid. Learn to simply draw back to your anchor point, and no further. If, when you draw, you feel the bow start to stack, do not draw it further than the point of stacking.

Might all sound picky, sorry! Good luck with the bow!!!

[BT]

Picky is a good thing

[smj]

grassman34 said:

Thanks guy took it to a local traditional shooter and he said he thought it was just in the finish. I figure I will mark the crack and shoot it for a while and see if it gets any worse and see if I am going to enjoy shooting traditional before buying a more expensive bow. Now I just have to figure out what arrow mat'l and size to shoot.

One last thought here, you might drop the seller an email and tell them that you'd like to mark the cracks and shoot a couple hundred rounds through the bow to make sure that the bow is stable. Make sure the seller agrees to that, which they most likely will, and go have some fun! But if you can check in with the seller first, you are covered no matter which way things turn out...

[grassman34]

I found some 2117 legacy arrows laying around buddys garage. They weight 524 grains total with 125 feild points installed. They seem to shot pretty good. I shot about 200+ arrows through this bow last weekend and the cracks didn't move and I was amazed at how well I started picking up shotting bare bow instinctivly. After a couple hour of shotting I could hit a small paper plate 8 out of ten times from 20 yards with out aiming at all. To test my instinctivity to make sure I was not aiming I went out after dark and shot 10 arrows with a flashlight pointing at the target only and hit the plate 7 of ten times. I picked my compound up after shottingv my recurve and could not believe how heavy my Hoyt Trykon felt after shotting that light recurve for a couple hours. This has been the most fun I have had shotting a bow since I began with a compound 16 years ago.