# Cracked fork



## Tortoise (Aug 28, 2013)

I cut some natural mesquite forks and I microwave-dried one of them yesterday, but during the third blast for 45 seconds I got a few splits, some nasty ones at the base of the handle. Luckily there's a few inches of "slack" per end that I will cut off, so the splits may not have traveled too far.

Would it be a good idea to use this fork and make it into a slingshot? There's only a tiny split in one of the forks, the rest of the damage is in the handle area.


----------



## S.S. sLinGeR (Oct 17, 2013)

Not sure? Is it worth the gamble of having a piece of fork in your face?


----------



## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

I believe it will be just fine. Naturals are inherently strong. The fork split is with the grain therefore will not compromise strength. Fill it with Tight Bond through syringe needle.


----------



## PorkChopSling (Jan 17, 2013)

Yeah what treefork said ^


----------



## Greavous (Sep 29, 2013)

ive built any number of pieces of furniture (and slingshots) from our local mesquite and cracks/checks are the name of the game with that wood even when allowed to dry naturally. One of the tricks of the trade is to mix up a batch of epoxy and add some graphite or even black testors model paint into the epoxy once mixed and then use the blackened epoxy to fill the blemishes. once its cured it can be sanded and shaped and the repair areas actually look pretty darn good.


----------



## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

I've filled a lot of mesquite fork cracks and holes with saw dust and epoxy. Never had a problem.

Like we say " It adds character!"


----------



## Tortoise (Aug 28, 2013)

That sounds like a great idea, I'll definitely do that.


----------



## Jeff Lazerface (May 7, 2013)

i ignore cracks, i only fill them with epoxy if it will make it look better.


----------



## myusername (Oct 5, 2013)

attach paracord instead of bands to make sure it will stand up to your draw weight.


----------

