Osage #4 Photo-essay

[Scrub_buck]

Have been working (slowly) on my 4th osage attempt.  I'm still pretty new at the game and have been learning some as I go along.  The following pics are my progress... please feel free to chime with your thoughts.

Started off with a fairly knotty piece of Osage I cut from a friend's place last Feb.  Quatered the log when I got it home and let it naturally dry in my garage all summer.  Looking for a simple flatbow design I laid it off and went to work taking off the excess material in November.

[Scrub_buck]

This knot particualrly worried me being so big and nearly mid limb.

[Scrub_buck]

Couldn't stand it in late Dec .. and went ahead and floor tillered it and put her up on the rack to see how she looked with a long string on her.  I guess I was thinking that big knot was going to blow, and the sooner it did it the less heartache I'd experience.

The stave really was probably not quite as dry as you'd want it to be, and it took a little set, but not as much as you'd think just for garage drying for 9 months.

[Scrub_buck]

In an attempt to correct the prop twist and try to fix the string alignment, I went ahead and decided to steam the whole bow and clamp her to my simple form. 

The limbs easily took the backset, and some of the prop twist was eliminated, however, I didn't get the limbs straightened as much as I'd like.  The string falls on the left edge of the handle and althought that is probably not a terrible thing since I shoot right handed, it still needs to slide back into the center some.  I guess I'll try to fix that with dry heat a little later.

[Scrub_buck]

After steaming, I put her in my hotbox for a week.  I got her out this morning before Church and re-acquainted her with a bow-string.  Man she was stiff and it felt like she gained 30 pounds!  The top limb with the big knot has always acted stiff, so after a little exercising, I went to work scraping and re-floor tillering it to get it back to a point where it felt good.  I worked the lower limb some too in an effort to try to reduce a little weight. 

After an hour of exercise and working I got her back to about a 5 inch brace.  The tiller is not finished, however, I like where its at considering all the adjustments.  The top limb is still acting a little stiff, so I know there is going to be more work in that area. 

When I took the string off, I was pleasantly surprised to find the bow kept nearly a straight profile ... maybe with a little back-set still in the top limb and maybe 1/2 inch of set in the bottom limb with hardly any noticeable S. follow.

Hopefully she will hold together.  I need to take just a little more weight off, try and finish the tiller the best I can (given all the knots), and get the handle shaped down to fit my hand.  Still a little work left to go, but she's headed in the right direction.

[Scrub_buck]

By the way, she is 65" NTN .. .and I'm guessing the weight will be in the high 50's @ my draw.  I haven't drawn her back that far, but I've got her to about 25-26 inches .. and feels a little heavy there.

Going to borrow a scale this week to see where she's at.

[gstoneberg]

The brace picture looks good to me, but be careful not to make it bend too much right off the handle fades.  I'd like to see another partial draw picture now that you have it strung.   You want the bow to feel pretty stiff at the point you're at as it'll lose a little weight as you final tiller and then do your finish sanding.  I don't see any reason this won't turn out to be a nice bow.

George