Lateral stability issues with branch bows?

[organic_archer]

Hello all. Been a while since I've logged on but it's good to see all your amazing bows again!

I came across a handful of clean, straight osage branches last year and started working them over the past few weeks. So far one has become a 68" Holmegaard and another a 59" eastern woodlands hunting bow.

I'm having some stubborn lateral bend issues. There's nothing unusual about the builds. I've built dozens of each style over the years from both hedge and whitewoods. The branches were gathered from two separate farms, different trees, and range in diameter from 1.5 to 3 inches. The bows rough out perfectly straight, but after a good shoot-in develop lateral bend issues that throw the string off to one side.

They require multiple dry heat treatments with overcorrections, and eventually creep back a little. It's been a long time since I've worked osage branches like these and just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? Edit : can the hollow pith channel near the handle cause this?

[organic_archer]

They make cool bows! Just won't stay straight. Mostly sapwood. String alignment issue looks minor when unstrung but gets worse when strung...

[Hamish]

 Were the staves green when tillered or were they seasoned?

Doesn't look bad from the photos, but it is noticable. No doubt frustrating though.

Bows look really cool. I like the stain/finish too.

[willie]

Branches contain reactionwood. In hardwoods, tensionwood grows along the tops of the branches and if the bows back was not aligned with the top of the branch, then the wood in the bows limb may differ from side to side, possibly making corrections ineffective.

[Eric Krewson]

Rather than try to correct the bend in the limb I would bend the handle to get the string back on track with the arrow pass. This may make the bows more shootable.

I have a hickory bow blank that I have straightened a dozen times and it always goes back over a several month period, always the same limb right out of the fade. This about the only stave that I couldn't tame out of the hundreds that I have worked on.

[organic_archer]

Hamish - seasoned about a year with the bellies opened to the pith along the working limbs. It looks mild at rest but they go farther over when strung up.

Willie - I had forgotten about reaction wood and aligning the bow to it! How can this be applied to branches that grow straight up? These were all from osage trunks that grew sideways and close to the ground, and were shooting straight up. Broomstick straight.

Erik - I don't mind a little tracking toward the arrow pass but they'll bend sideways to the point they're trying to twist out of the hand when shooting. I've tamed them to near center shot after repeat attempts, but it's been frustrating.

[willie]

and were shooting straight up. Broomstick straight.

perhaps the only way is to see if you can detect reaction wood by inspection.
eccentric growth rings?
discoloration?
some hardwoods, when you sand them, show more cellulose fibers on the tension side

[jameswoodmot]

I’ve got an elm bow that’s done this. Shot it in fine, left it in the house for a couple of months and it bent sideways and deflexed in the handle. Left it in the shed for a few days and it straightened back up, gained a couple of grams of moisture. 57” eastern woodlands style bow with wide tips but it had 1/4” daylight in the middle when held against a flat surface. From the side that is.

I’m very used to having to keep my elm bows dry and only working them dry but it must have picked up enough moisture in the two days it was in my workshop when I was making. Not surprised it picked up moisture but for that little % increase to cause that much deflection was pretty mind blowing.

No idea if that in anyway relates to your Osage bows there but if they’re otherwise no good for sale I’d be weighing them and messing with the moisture to see if anything changes