Hunting the Osage Bow

[Burnsie]

I’m not sure why it took me so long, but I just finished reading “Hunting the Osage Bow” by Dean Torges. I liked his writing style, and I know he was considered as one of the well known gurus of osage self bows, but I have to be honest, I don’t think I could build a bow by following the process he works through as he tells his story. I enjoyed the story, but I need specific instructions, there are a lot of blanks you have to fill in on your own.
Has anyone ever built an osage self bow using his process? - ie: going from a felled tree to a finished bow in the matter of a couple months - using his drying methods. I am pretty new to the self bow game, but up until now I’ve always assumed you cut an osage log, split it into staves, sealed the ends, and then set it aside for a year or two to “season”. Then you turned the stave into a bow using heat to make some corrections if needed.
What’s everyone’s opinion on Mr. Torges’s method of bow building.

[willie]

bow wood can certianly be dried faster than a few years

reducing your stave will help speed drying, and monitoring the drying is prudent when you consider it can be dried faster until the free water leaves the wood and may have to be dried slower as it gets drier.
you might have to change drying envrionments depending on ambient conditions.
having the piece a consistent thickness will let it dry evenly

wasnt Deans steam bending method exclusively for green wood?

[Eric Krewson]

Dean's book was a very important in my progress as a bow maker, his recommendations of proper handling of osage from the stump to the bow was the most important part of the book for me. I didn't have a clue until I read the book, I had lost a lot of osage to bugs and checking when I started out, there wasn't any available information on the subject back then like we have now.

I follow his way of laying out a bow to this day but found that his facit tillering just didn't work for me.

All in all, his book was the most instrumental resource to get me where I am today as a bow maker.

[Hamish]

Its a great book, but I can see that it might be a bit intimidating for a beginning bowyer. You need drying boxes, reflexing forms, tillering trees.

I have built many bows following his advice, but I had about  5 years experience under my belt, before I used his methods. Personally I would recommend reading the Bowyers Bibles first and getting a good handle on the basic concepts, tillering and design, to learn what makes a good bow. Then combine this knowledge with Dean's. Dean really shines with the details on what to do with all facets of the process. The book itself is a work of Art, an ode to making the osage bow. A blueprint for present and future generations to keep the skills of the bowyer alive and kept at the highest standards, both for practical and artistic goals. He was a real perfectionist. One of the greats of the wooden bow renaissance.

[hammerstone]

What Hamish said. I too had been at it quite awhile under the tutelage of the Bowyer's Bibles but after reading Dean's book I have to admit that my bows started looking more refined . I still refer back to it on occasion.
I also have about 60 awesome billets that I steamed into reflex while green back in the early 2000's. Glad I kept those. I sold all of my hedge staves a few years ago and started shooting fiberglass again. I'm back to my senses now.

[Pappy]

Glad to have you back  hammerstone, I have read his book and it has some good info, and his finish work was awesome, I think he was a high end cabinet maker ,I just prefer flat belly so really don't follow much of what he says.The only real problem I every had with Dean's writings ( rest his soul ) was he came of as if his way was the only RIGHT way and that is just so not true, lot of way to skin a cat. sorry Del.
 Pappy

[Badger]

     I think a flat belly will outperform a rounded belly. I tend to make mine flattish but slightly rounded, just because it is easier for me. Dean and I had a few minor run-ins on websites, but when we started talking on the phone, we got along much better. Dean was an excellent craftsman.

[Eric Krewson]

Dean story; when I was still pretty green as a bow maker, I tried a lot of stuff to see if it would work better than what was known at the time. One thing I did regularly was flip the top limp to the bottom limb to put the stiff limb on the bottom if I goofed up on wood removal. Apparently, Dean thought this was an abomination and said online that I was an insult to the true art of bow making.

Years down the road some troll jumped on me like they always do online and stated that I didn't know anything about bow making and I was an idiot, the usual keyboard warrior stuff.

I told the jerk that my bows had won over a dozen national championships, 40 or 50 state championships and more seconds and thirds that could be counted so I apparently knew something about bow making, that shut Mr. Jerk up.

Dean was reading the thread and stated that his bows never won anything, he never had an unkind word to say to me after that. 

I called him to order a bowyers edge tillering tool; he picked up and we had a wonderful chat for about an hour.

I sent him a tillering gizmo and included a note that he had my blessing to make them and sell them on his site if he wanted to as I considered the design "share-ware" and didn't want anything in return, he didn't respond to my gift. This may have been in the early time frame of his developing brain tumor. 

[Hamish]

Definitely more than one way to make a good bow, even of the same basic design. A lot of it comes down to what suits you, and what gels with your way of thinking.

Dean's method is definitely prescriptive. It was what he thought was best. It is usually what is logical, and efficient, though. He also explained why he believed this to be so. You can understand his reasoning why he did what he did, which I can respect even if I know it's not the only method to achieve equal results. Sometimes the benefits are only marginal, or stylistic, I can see how that might cause disagreement.

It took me a while to get my head around his method. I like the results, but it's not the only approach to making an awesome bow., so I'm happy to use whatever method or combination of methods works best for me, on each particular bow.

Its always cool to see what other people think, and what works for them, when it comes to bowmaking. Just when you think there's nothing more to learn, someone comes up with a new or different perspective. There's not hurt trying something new if you feel like it.

[Pappy]

My thoughts exactly Hamish, been doing it for 40 years but every now and then I see someone doing something and think,  Man I never thought of that and I am always careful when people want me to help them to add " this is how I do it but it is for sure not the only way to get it done " their are a few rules that really need to be followed but the rest just find what works for you.
 Pappy

[Selfbowman]

Seems like the old grouchier ones make the best bows.🤠🤠🤠🤠

[Jim Davis]

If your after performance, design, material and execution are all important. If you're after meat, the archer matters more than the bow.