Sapwood Osage

[Mike Yancey]

Yes you can make a sapwood osage bow and yes you can use Fast Flight string material and it is all great!



Ready to thin the tips up a bunch and grease finish!





60@26 and shoots like a rocket launcher with 750 grain hunting weight arrows!! Still holding reflex!

[Fox]

haha we both just posted osage sapwood bows at the same time


(although I'm thinking yours might be superior) 

looks good... how bout an unbraced side profile pic?

[HH~]

Osage sapwood limb bows are tough and quick. Have a few

HH~

[Yooper Bowyer]

Is that a holmegard style bow? 

What is the trick to keeping Osage sapwood from blowing?  Most of the material in the TTB said it shouldn't be done, but there was one account of an Osage bow so small in diameter the sap wood was left on.  It was really fast until it blew. 

It would be nice to know how to do that it safely, that way you could get more bow out of your logs, not have to chase a ring, etc.

I wonder how limb wood compares to trunk wood.

[rps3]

No trick for any of the sapwood osage I have made. Just treated it the same as heartwood. Although every bow I have made sapwood backed, had a heartwood belly.
Will look for finished pictures. Nice bow.

[Fox]

I just think that part of TBB was a bit full of crap

Because I’ve seen many great sapwood back Osage bows... now they may be no good in compression that I don’t know about...

[Parnell]

Interesting post, Mike.  I really like the design.

[Jim Davis]

Have one started.

[bentstick54]

Mike, nice looking bow.
 Roughly what is the ratio of sapwood to heartwood on your bow.I just split some staves that have very thin rings but the ratio is about 50/50 in thickness. I am in the process of debarking down to the sapwood and sealing with shellac. I would like to make some with sapwood backs, but don’t know if I would need to thin the sapwood or not. Thanks for any insight you can share.

[HH~]

Gonna do a sapwood billet here soon. back it with a grip of osage.

Good lookin bow Mike.

Shawn~

[Selfbowman]

Yes more off the outer limbs will bring it into a better tiller also. Probably loose some weight though. Arvin