Knotty Osage

[gstoneberg]

I am fighting my way through the knottiest osage bow I've ever tried.  I'm not sure it will make a bow or not.  It's also the greenest osage I've ever tried to make a bow from.  The tree was cut in late September and the billets were split the second week of Oct.



Been taking it slow, but here is the bow so far (you can see I have some heat bending to do):



Never have I had so many knots in a limb.



Even the good limb is knotty.



This bow has knots in the center, knots on the limb edge and I have no idea if it'll hold together as I start to tiller it. 



I sure hope so, should find out tomorrow, unless my "honey-do" list is longer than I think it'll be.

George

[Pat B]

There is definately a bow in that stave!    You may consider a rawhide backing for security. I think I'd try to tiller it without heat straightening it. Looks like the string should pass over the handle and that will work.     
   Take your time with this bow. Don't rush, don't push it and when you begin to feel agrivated put it down and work on something else. I gaurentee it will teach you a lot about wood bows in general and osage too if you let it.

[gstoneberg]

Thanks.  Since I've never backed a bow with rawhide but would like to...I have questions.  How will rawhide work over all those knots?  And, do you pull the rawhide down around the sides of the bow or cut it off clean with the back?  I have been putting this one down a lot as you suggest and also to let it continue drying after each time I remove wood.

It just occurred to me, I traded a tanned deerskin for some partially tanned pigskin a few years back.  I think I still have it.  It is very stiff, but it is blue so I don't know where it is in the tanning process.  I wish I'd gotten more of that stuff.  I had a friend who worked in the Hormel factory who could get rejects.  I think they tanned their own hides there but I'm not sure on that.  Anyway, I wonder if that pigskin would work for a backing?  The bow back would look like a blue football.    I've killed lots of hogs since moving to Texas, I guess I should have saved a couple skins. 

George

[Pat B]

George, when the rawhide is soaked it softens considerably and will conform to the irregularities around the knots. Once you apply it you will have to wrap it and that will hold it down until it begins to cure. I use 2" strips of old bed sheets to wrap but some folks use ace bandages.  After about an hour or so I remove the wrap to be sure the rawhide is adhearing well with no air bubbles or glue pockets. . If there are they can be worked out by hand or a small slice(lengthwise) with a sharp razor will allow the air or excess glue to be worked out. After you are sure everything is good allow it to cure out for a few days before stressing the bow.
  You can let the rawhide hang over the limb sides or trim it flush with the sides of the bow. If you have knots on the edge overhanging the rawhide might be your best option to protect around the knots on the edge.
  Deer rawhide is the best IMO but goat rawhide is also an option. Both are thin but strong. IMO, leather is not a good choice for backing when protection is needed. I don't like leather backings at all for bows. If the pig skin is rawhide and thin enough it should work fine as a backing.

[gstoneberg]

Thanks for the info Pat.  I think I'll see if anybody wants to trade some deer rawhide for an osage stave.  I've thinned the limbs some since I took the pictures and am starting to get some bend.  I feel better about the bow, it is bending like every other bow I've made.  I also checked how the string would lay and it's a little over an inch outside the handle on the left side as you're holding it.  The pigskin was partway through the tanning process, but it doesn't feel like leather yet.  It wasn't particularly thin though.

George

[JW_Halverson]

PM sent.  Dude, I gotta see this bow fnished!

[gstoneberg]

This is a pretty old thread.  One of my big failings as a bowyer is when I get frustrated I put the bow aside.  On this one when I shortened it I cut off some of the bend and the string no longer runs through the handle.  It's clear that my intent was to back this bow with rawhide.  You can get that from the old posts.  After our talk about thin osage rings over on sleek's post I decided to go ahead and bring this post back to life and finish the bow out unbacked to see what happens.  Here's what the rings looked like when I started (and the other end was not quite as bad):



Here's the current state of the bow.



You can see the string is just barely outside the handle.  My plan is to finish it out as it is and see if the tight rings can take it.  I hope I actually stayed on a growth ring, that's what I remember, but sometimes when I'm planning to back I disregard the growth rings entirely.  My intent was to do a bow quickly with green wood, but it was waaaaay to challenging for that.

George

[k-hat]

Wow George, that's lookin awesome!!  I hope it makes it!  Guess it'll be kind of a centershot bow if you leave the string where it is

[lesken2011]

That is gonna be one awesome lookin bow when you get finished, George!!

[gstoneberg]

Right now it's on the long string.  The knottiest limb is actually very nice to work and has gentle reflex from handle to tip, maybe a couple inches.  It's starting to bend nicely.  The other limb, which is much clearer, has a little deflex in the center with reflex coming off the riser and again at the tip.  Made it look like the limb had set before I started.  As soon as I get to a low brace I'm gonna heat that spot and even it up with the other limb.  Anyway, I've left the limbs wider than I'm used to so they're going to be thinner than I prefer, but I hesitate to remove width with such a suspect back.  The reflex makes the bow want to flip on the tillering pulley.  I need to come up with a new design for that.  Once I can get it bending without doing the flip/flop I'll take some new pictures.

George

[soy]

I lopk forward to seeing what you're able to do with that... if you do decide you need rawhide let me know I'll send you some

[Pappy]

 WOW,And I thought I liked challenging stave's,man that one has some character,should make a beautiful bow. :)Good luck with it.love to see that one shooting. 
   Pappy

[SLIMBOB]

  Anxious to see what comes out of this George.  Looks like fun.

[BowEd]

Wheeuuuu.That's quite a wiggle you got in that bow.All nice and smooth though.I'd call it the S bow for short......LOL.I'd send ya some deer rawhide just to see it shoot if I had some to spare.

[gstoneberg]

JW sent me some antelope rawhide just for this bow and I think I still have a full length piece.  I know some of it is on Stringman's trade bow.  If there's none left, I've got some kangaroo from Gus that'd work.  My point for posting it was to see if I could take that tool marked, knot infested, thin ringed back all the way to full draw without popping splinters.  Now y'all are trying to get me to make it a shooter.  

George