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new to bowmaking, question on osage, locust, ash

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nugget:
The second bow i ever made was locust.Loved it. Osage is still my favorite. Slows me down. Makes me pay more attention to it.I have had bad luck with Hickory so far. I am sure it is my fault though.I do not have aproblem with working on multiple bows at a time. Keeps me busy.
Good luck
            T.J. aka nugget

Stickhead:
Osage made a great first wood for me.  And if it's crazy to work on more than one at a time, then lock me up.

richpierce:
Here are the staves I am working on.  The ash stave is 3 years old, been in the house a long time.  The hickory stave is a year old.  The locust was rescued from trees trimmed at a powerline and I assume they were cut in the spring because th bark slipped off easily.  The osage piece was a down, dead, seasoned log with bark rotted off.  It is very sound.  I don't know why I am working on 4 staves at a time except I like working with different types of wood.

I started working the locust log last night.  I split it in half, discovered one half has checks, so I chopped and shaved all the sapwood off the good stave.  I'll let that one rest a bit before doing more with it.

Here are the whitewood staves, top is the locust one, just in the half-round with sapwood removed.  Second is the hickory, which took a natural bend after splitting out.  Bottom is the ash stave with one limb roughed in. 



The locust piece has a check started at one end that has me worried and a couple borer holes and a knot or two.

Here is the osage piece halved with a few rings removed from the backside.  It also has a couple borer holes.





They are all going to be challenging and maybe imperfect but if I get shooting bows out of them I'll be happy.  I have highest hope for the hickory stave.

GregB:
I've never seen a perfect stave, so dive on in! ;)

If possible, I'd try to either avoid the borer holes, or get them in a non-bending section of the bow...or at least try and put them in the center of the limb width. You might want to first get the stave you decide to work with slightly bending at floor tiller, and then do any tweaking to remove propellor or ensure the string is centered on the handle using dry heat and maybe use a form if you have one. Can add reflex at the same time if you wish. ;)

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