I have been wanting to make a selfbow for a long time. About 5 or 6 years ago i cut split and dried a bunch of sassafras and black locust. Last feb i started on a sassafras stave. My goal was 70 in 45lbs. It ended up at 40 lbs. I shot it every day for about a month and a half then it raised a splinter. I was proud of the bow, it was not pretty, and tough to shoot but i had some success on the first try. I was thinking of putting sinew on the back to try and save it. While im at it im going to reshape the rest grip and sight window. My questions are; how many layers of sinew , should i glue the splinter down first and has anyone made a selfbow from sassafrass?? If so any advise would be welcome. Im hoping to get back to work on it in March. Have not had much time since last year to do it.

I would just make another one from black locust. Jawge

Sassafras isn't good bow wood. Locust is. Try that next and I think you will be happy.

So, should he glue the splinter down and use how many layers of sinew in order to save his first bow. He could build the Locust next because he's now hooked anyway. He'll gain a lot of experience, in new things, doing the repair and could just save his first bow he ever made. Ya know he's gonna make more bows and he might need to repair something in the future. To my way of thinking, experience is always valuable. JMO ;~)

I always like to play around with failures to see what I can learn abut repairing them be it good or bad. I have given several bows new life that most people wouldn't have attempted, as well as consigned some bows to the burn pile that turned out to be a lost cause.

A sinew wrap would be a better splinter fix than sinewing the back of the bow.

Here is a bow that was damaged in a house fire when a timber fell on it and broke it almost in two, it is bamboo backed. The visible lines are where the bow was broken and put back together with Urac. The sinew wrap keeps the broken ends in place.This bow was still shooting last time I talked to the owner.

Fix your bow to see if you can and start a new bow while you are at it.

can you wrap it? It probably needs a backing as a bow wood.

smells GREAT when sanding huh! I make box calls out of it.

I don't suggest repairing anything until I know why it broke to begin with. I don't repair bows because I personally think wraps and band aids are ugly. That's only my opinion.

And mine as well. If I had to wrap a bow, I'd burn it first.

For what he's doing though, he could glue it down with thin viscosity superglue, sand it, lay down a sinew patch on the splinter area on the back, and then sinew the whole thing, and you'd never know it was patched. However, a sinew job is a lot of damned work, of little other benefit to a 70" bow and personally, I wouldn't do it for a sassafras bow. I did it for a snakey osage bow many years ago that raised a small splinter by a pin knot, you can't tell by looking at it, and it's still one of my favorites. It shoots well for me.

Why did it raise a splinter?

Well, I don't like bandages either, but if a bow shoots well, it's worth an attempt to save it.

It was standard practice from primitive peoples right up to the end of the wooden bow era to wrap a lifted splinter. I have two bows with "bandages" that shoot fine and have shown no more trouble.

But I would have to be bored to distraction before I would make a bow out of sassafras.

I made a sassafrass bow that turned out lighter than expected but worked very well. I think it's worth saving. Glue the splinter down and wrap or patch or back the whole bow with a light fabric, like linen.

A full sinew back will be too heavy for a 70" bow, but you could cut it down, back with sinew, and retiller as a short bow. That might or might not work -- I don't know if sassafras is strong enough in compression to handle a sinew back. It seems like a lot of work for a bow that could be saved with a simple patch.

I started a sassafras selfbow over 10 years ago, began tillering it, and quit. Still got it. I'm still waiting for that time when I get bored enough to finish it ;^)

I love sassafras in a glass bow though.

Im not going to tell a guy to burn his first selfbow.

Im not going to tell a guy to burn his first selfbow.

Me neither. I didn't tell anyone to burn anything. Others should do as they please.

Wow thanks for all the insight. Very helpful. I think i will try the patch. I used sassafras because i have a ton of it and figured it would be good to experiment on. When i get better i will use the locust. Also, i read somewhere that the Thompson brothers used sassafras. I just could not find much info on it. I think it raised a splinter because i tried to leave a thin layer of sapwood on but i sanded through it a couple places that i was not aware of until i stained it. I wanted to leave sapwood on because the growths rings are paper thin. Shortly after making this bow i had so much fun, i started another one taking sapwood off. I have it partially tillered going very well so far. I did not want to finish tillering until i glued on some rawhide. This all took place last winter and i have not had time to get back to itsince then.im hoping to fix the one bow and finish the other soon.

Is it prone to overdrying? Did you check it with a moisture meter?

You can wrap it with a thread set in epoxy. Serving thread, artificial sinew, etc will work. You can wrap the correspnding part of the other limb. It will look like a decoration. :) Jawge

I do not have a moisture meter. The first one is sealed. They are both under my bed.they could be too dry but i dont think so. But im not sure. All part of the learning curve.

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