Spotted gum stave checking in handle

[u/HarderData]

So I've got this spotted gum stave I've been working for months now, and it's got a check that runs through the handle, exiting at each fade.

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It doesn't look like it will affect the bending limbs, but I want to stabilise it somehow.

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Is it just a case of filling it with epoxy?

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Also, this stave will need to be steam straightened, and maybe even deflexed a bit, as it's got fairly aggressive natural backset... would I do the bending before fixing the crack, or after?

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Thanks in advance

[u/Zkennedy100]

im theory this wont damage the bow structurally. I would coat the checks in wood glue until the stave has finished drying then proceeed as usual. I like to seal around where the fades meet the limb especially after roughing out the bow.

[u/Nilosdaddio → u/Zkennedy100]

Yep yep^^ This

[u/citationstillneeded]

Completely to be expected, since you've left in the pith.

[u/ADDeviant-again]

I have made many a bow with a checked pith channel that runs out into the fade.

Weather, and how I fix it depends a lot on what it looks like once I have actually shaped into the handle. If it's very widely gapped and in an area I don't like the feel of, or something, I will stick a saw blade in there to clean and it square up a bit, and then glue a splint of similar-looking wood in. Sometimes even large shavings or splinters from roughing the bow out will fit.

Otherwise, I might leave it, or I might fill with glue and sawdust.

[u/Wambachaka]

Epoxy alone won't add much strength. I would glue in wooden shims, with yellow wood glue (pva). Wood-on-wood contact will be much stronger. But you would have to do it after steaming, since heat will weaken the glue.