Typical thickness of an osage bow

[Tiredtim]

What would many of you consider the typical thickness of an osage bow?  I'm trying my first osage and I have some thin spots that scare me.  The hickory bow didn't work out like I wanted so I'm moving on!

[Badger]

  You don't need to concern yourself with how thick or how thin, thats what got you in trouble before. You are only concerned with the bend.  Get it bending evenly across both limbs, if you are too thin in those spots your bow will just have to be lighter than you hoped but get it bending evenly first thing, even if it is way too heavy. Forget about thickness, you have no need to measure thickness on a self bow unless you are just curious.

[Tiredtim]

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense.

[Badger]

  Don't pull it too far while you are getting them evened up. Just pull it far enough to show you the stiff spots, fix those spots before you go any further. You can try using a gizmo, great tool especially when starting out.

[Tiredtim]

What's a gizmo and where do I find one? 

[TimBo]

Go to the Bows main page and type "gizmo" into the search bar.  It is basically a chunk of wood used as a straight edge, with a pencil protruding; you run it over the belly side to find the spots that are bending less.  You can eyeball the same thing with a straight edge, but the pencil marks are very clear indicators of where to remove wood.  I like the gizmo the best for straight staves.