Osage ELB attempt, am I on the right track?

[Ruddy Darter]

Hello all,
 I'm having a go at a English longbow with an Osage stave I've had for 2+ years, it will be 71" ntn and I am hoping for 85+@28-30". From what I read Osage doesn't tolerate run out and is a lot less forgiving than yew. I've squared up the stave and put on the rough belly depth and now I've started marking on the profile for the sides on the back, (I've taken the sapwood down to 2 growth rings which will be reduced to one eventually). A couple of knots 3 or 4" above and below the handle area, that go straight through, have had me thinking and was wondering if my marking out to work to seems ok?
(The bow will be starting 31mm deep and 34mm wide at the handle).
I hope the pics are clear enough, thanks for any help.

 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

 A couple more pics of stave so far..

R.D.

[Pappy]

Looks like you got a good start.
 Pappy

[Pat B]

Like Pappy said, looks like a good start. I've built a couple of osage ELBs and was pleased how well they shot and how comfortably they shot. Looking forward to your progress, RD.  The hardest part for me was fitting the horn nocks. 

[Ruddy Darter]

Thank you Pappy, Pat B,
 Thanks for that, I'll get the rest marked out and work it down.
 I got a hole drill bit ground down to a  spear leaf shape for drilling horn nocks that works nice, it leaves it 12mm at the socket, I might grind another for a 10mm socket if it fits in better.

R.D.

[Del the cat]

Looking good.
Del

[Ruddy Darter]

Thanks Del,
I just finished marking out and ready to go, the outer limbs are marked out a little thicker for now, and I'm probably going to need to tweek with some heat at some point.

 R.D.

[Muskyman]

I can’t help but will be watching. I want to see how you deal with all those knots. Should be interesting. Looking good to me.

[Hamish]

It does look good so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if you end up narrowing the width down to about 31mm. At the current width with osage I wouldn't be surprised if your stave could give you well over 100lbs. See how it goes anyway, it will be a nice bow.

[Ruddy Darter]

Thanks guys, 
 I was thinking of going 31mm wide and losing the knots above and below the centre, I'll see how I get on with it as it is for now, if the wood can handle a heavier draw weight that will be a bonus.Thanks again, having fun with this Osage  , I'll post progress.
 ..I got it roughed down to the marks,
 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

I've made some progress, I have worked it down to the starting dimensions and have taken the back down to a single ring, I went through in one place a little 8" from the bottom nock end on the side, I will be rounding the back a fair bit and I'm hoping it wouldn't be a deal breaker, could this be a problem?
 ( I pencilled it out to show better).
(I managed to lose a couple of knots north and south of the handle)

The back growth ring feels tough and waxy.
I'm guessing the next stage is for me to take off the corners on the belly and back and use some heat to tweak for string alignment.

 R.D.
 

[Pat B]

Coming along good, RD. If you are concerned about the violation on the back a rawhide backing will be good insurance and blend in with the sapwood back pretty well. I would if it were mine. Osage isn't as forgiving a violated ring as yew is.

[Ruddy Darter]

Coming along good, RD. If you are concerned about the violation on the back a rawhide backing will be good insurance and blend in with the sapwood back pretty well. I would if it were mine. Osage isn't as forgiving a violated ring as yew is.

Ok, thanks Pat, that was an annoying little slip, I'll carry on for now and see how it looks before I start tillering.
R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

I marked on where I'm going to take off the back corner and I will also be rounding it off somewhat more, and it looks like I will be removing the very worst of the violation so I'm maybe going to chance it, (also i have never backed a bow). Hopefully this isn't being foolish, I have to heat for alignment after I've taken the belly corners off then I may decide, with a more cautious approach, to go down another ring on the back leaving it wider or drop side dimensions all over by a couple of mm, I'll probably end up doing this. I got a flu bug 🤧 so I got some time to ponder.

 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

Heat straightened today, I hit one place a little south of centre bow with a heat gun, I got the worst done in one hit and I will hit another two places later today, one 6" north of centre bow and the other 8" or so from bottom nock(farthest away end in pics).
When releasing the clamps when the bow was cold I spotted cracks which had appeared, I'm pretty sure they are remnants of drying checks that I had previously super glued while the stave was drying. I had a few more gray streaks throughout the bow, most were worked out towards the outer limbs, and when I ran in low viscosity superglue a black crack shows on them. I'm hoping they are not too deep they will be stable enough, I'll run in some more superglue if needed when I round the belly profile.

R.D.