Sunday 1 January 2012

Mystery Knot

I discovered where one of the big knots on the belly of the bow disappears to!
There was a dark red blush of colour on the side of the stave, and as I worked down the width it started to expose the end of the knot where presumably it had been cut or broken off and had then grown over.
I dug it out back to clean sound wood but it left a deep squareish hole. How to fill it without leaving hidden cavities or air pockets in the wood? I decided it was too big and uneven to drill and plug in one shot so I've embarked on a two part fix.
First I shall fill it with epoxy and Yew dust mix, once this is dry I shall drill it cleanly for two or maybe even 4 clean round plugs of Yew. (The coulour difference between the two pics is due to daylight, vs flash)
Filling it first will fill the small uneven cavities at the bottom of the hole and enable me to drill clean holes without the drill rattling about and wandering off.
Here's a few pics, we'll see how it progresses tomorrow, hopefully a fair bit of the cavity will be removed as the bow is worked down to it's final dimensions.
My experience from last year taught me not to trust knots and to wonder about their extent.
If I hadn't exposed the rotten wood beneath the surface I daresay the bow would have been an accident waiting to happen, which could be nasty at 90 pounds draw weight.
I got a dust extractor for Christmas which fits onto my bandsaw, this proved very handy for collecting Yew dust, I simply emptied it and the sawed some offcuts of Yew to create sawdust.

Had an enjoyable New Years Day shoot at the club this morning, and my new wellies kept my feet dry, bliss.
Happy new year to you all.

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