Primitive Archer

Today I filled the cracks with superglue and made some more progress chasing the ring. I almost finished, except for working around the knots and cleaning up some of the early wood.

I wasn't exactly sure how to tackle the knots in the best way. I was reading about it and I watched Clay Hayes's video where he left some wood over the knots and returned to remove it later. I have been doing that here.

TimBo: the side is about 2 inches thick where that crack is.

These are tough ones, and I believe you have done an excellent job tackling a tricky problem stave. Some people try to tiller them so the look like a conventional bow at full draw. They look "proper" but one limb ends up doing most of the work, and don't usually have good cast.A stave like this needs to look "wrong" in most people's eyes to get the best out of it.

Curious to know your reasoning for not cranking it even with heat? Did you just want a massive challenge, to see if you could do it justice?

I have made a few bows like that, earlier in my bowyering life, (before I knew anything about heat bending) and confess it is a much more difficult way to make a bow.
I didn't have a digital camera in the mid 90's, so I used to make detailed drawings and notes, so I kept a record of what the stave looked like before working on it. Then I'd make a drawing of what I thought should be the unique shape for that particular stave, to try and get the limbs to work evenly. If I hadn't done that, I probably would have stuffed them up, due to confusion, especially if I had a break and need to come back to it a few weeks later.

How thick is the side there?  It looks like it might have a pie shaped top back to belly profile still, in which case you will need to flatten the sides a bit, so you may end up getting closer to the crack.

I agree with Bjrogg about #2. I chased a ring on a 62” Osage stave today that is thin ringed and I find it easiest to chase a ring with a draw knife for 4” to 6” then remove any residual early wood with a scraper, then do another 4”to 6”.

I would use a cabinet scraper and remove the residual wood. If you don’t have a cabinet scraper, a pocket knife or something similar will work.
As far as the crack is concerned, as long as it runs with the grain, and does not get to close to the edge, it will be fine. I’ve made multiple bows with similar cracks and have had no issues.  I fill them with thin super glue until they won’t absorb anymore, and then tiller from there.
If you can get a good back chased there’s no need on Osage to back with rawhide. You gain nothing in performance and are just adding needless weight to the back of the bow, which robs cast. I would only use rawhide as a preventative in the case of a questionable back.