How to remove whole horn after delamination?
As the title suggests i decided to try bending my first Turkish bow and....disaster! The horn on one limb has delaminated, from the kasan eye through the sal and upto the grip. It started just next to the kasan eye and with a little 'help' the rest came apart leaving the grip area and about half of the kasanstill FIRMLY stuck ( from what I can tell).
I am struggling to come to a decision about what to do next. My first plan was to take the horn off completely and re-do the sizing and gluing operation then do the sinewing around onto the belly. The problem with that is the horn seems to be very well stuck where the delamination has stopped. I tried dripping hot water into the gap between horn and core and flexing the limb but with no sucess. The other plan was to try and size the exposed horn and core then and re-glue. The problem with this is the horn just doesn't seem to mate up properly with the core on one side of the limb but the other side looks perfect. I cannot explain the gap that is left on one side? I can't see any bits of 'debris' inside the joint or anything obvious that would expain it.
My conclusion is that I need to take the whole horn strip off but am wondering the best way to do this whilst doing as little damage as possible to the rest of the bow.
Please help!
I am struggling to come to a decision about what to do next. My first plan was to take the horn off completely and re-do the sizing and gluing operation then do the sinewing around onto the belly. The problem with that is the horn seems to be very well stuck where the delamination has stopped. I tried dripping hot water into the gap between horn and core and flexing the limb but with no sucess. The other plan was to try and size the exposed horn and core then and re-glue. The problem with this is the horn just doesn't seem to mate up properly with the core on one side of the limb but the other side looks perfect. I cannot explain the gap that is left on one side? I can't see any bits of 'debris' inside the joint or anything obvious that would expain it.
My conclusion is that I need to take the whole horn strip off but am wondering the best way to do this whilst doing as little damage as possible to the rest of the bow.
Please help!
I had success removing horn by heat alone. First making sure the bow is equilibrated at not less than 55-60% RH, then wrapping the stuck horn and limb with a heat pad for 1 hour or more (temperature inside the pad around 50-60deg). This is easier to do when the bow has not been yet seasoned. If that fails, I'd keep the bow in a humid place for a few days and repeat.
Adam
Adam
Thank you, I will try that right away, it's pretty humid here at the moment.
A heat gun makes it. Have done that many times.
Yes, I can confirm that heat gun is a solution!
Unfortunately, two times I had to remove horn strips from the cores with it.
Unfortunately, two times I had to remove horn strips from the cores with it.
Thanks for the information.
Unfortunately this bow is now a disaster. The core has suffered damage in the process of removing the horn. Some of the grooves stayed stuck to the horn - I think it wasn't hot enough or some areas were glued better than the areas that 'let go' easily? Also the the grooves at the end (tip end) of the horn stayed stuck to the core so I think the horn is ruined as well....
Well i've certainly learned a lot in the process of making this 1st attempt. I knew it wasn't going to be easy after reading Adam's book but I think my next attempt will be much better. I have sucessfully bent a new pair of cores out of cherry so am on my way. I used wych elm for the core of this bow and from what i've gathered it isn't the best choice so I suppose it's best for this one to fail now rather than the core fail whilst shooting.
I did decide to test out the 'good' limb once I realized this was never going to be a bow, I clamped the handle in my vice and exercised the limb. It seemed to track perfectly (as much as you can tell by feel) and also bent perfectly. It held together with no delamination or noises whilst bending so I have some hope that my next bow will hold together and become a shooter.
Unfortunately this bow is now a disaster. The core has suffered damage in the process of removing the horn. Some of the grooves stayed stuck to the horn - I think it wasn't hot enough or some areas were glued better than the areas that 'let go' easily? Also the the grooves at the end (tip end) of the horn stayed stuck to the core so I think the horn is ruined as well....
Well i've certainly learned a lot in the process of making this 1st attempt. I knew it wasn't going to be easy after reading Adam's book but I think my next attempt will be much better. I have sucessfully bent a new pair of cores out of cherry so am on my way. I used wych elm for the core of this bow and from what i've gathered it isn't the best choice so I suppose it's best for this one to fail now rather than the core fail whilst shooting.
I did decide to test out the 'good' limb once I realized this was never going to be a bow, I clamped the handle in my vice and exercised the limb. It seemed to track perfectly (as much as you can tell by feel) and also bent perfectly. It held together with no delamination or noises whilst bending so I have some hope that my next bow will hold together and become a shooter.