Osage Pyramid Bow Build-Along-FINISHED!

[4est Trekker]

Here's a bow I'm working on for a trade on another site.  It's a pyramid bow, 68" tip to tip with 2" of reflex heated into it.  Here's a few pictures of the process so far.

I harvested a big osage about 2 1/2 years ago that so far has yielded 8 bows.  Here's a few of the staves:




This is the one I chose for this particular bow:




Here it is roughed out:






After a bit of heating on the caul, it yielded this.  I've since heated it two more times to tweak the alignment.






It's now on the short string (4" brace height) and tillered to 20"






It's holding 1 3/4" of reflex when relaxed and 7/8" just unstrung.  My camera curves the image, so the bow actually looks flat in the next picture, which was take immediately after unstringing. However, there's really 7/8" of reflex in the limbs.

[4est Trekker]

Here's three sister bows built from the same tree for a little teaser:

[gstoneberg]

Looks really nice.  That was a good tree and all those bows look great.

George

[toomanyknots]

That static recurve still gets me, such a nice looking bow.

[profsaffel]

On the tips, you look to have about 7 layers of thin strips of various woods? What are those woods and how thick were the strips used?

[Lee Slikkers]

I was wondering the same thing about those "lams" or "colored strips" n the tips through the brush nocks.  Sexy looking too, but I am curious about the build process on that bows tips 

[Timo]

Really nice work. The brush nocks look nicely done, And your recurve Kerf lines are clean. Well done.

[Del the cat]

ooooh, she's very pretty, I think I'm in lurve .
Del

[RyanY]

WOW! I remember seeing the one with the brush nocks around when I first started. You sure make the most out of every log. Can't wait to see this one finished.

[4est Trekker]

Thanks for the kind words, all.  Regarding the brush knocks:  I use strips ranging between 1/16" and 3/32".  I apply the lams one at a time, which allows them to form to the curve of the bow (which really isn't much there).  Once they're all applied, I shape the knocks using a Dremel sanding drum and hand files.  Here's a few more pictures of those particular nocks:

[Lee Slikkers]

Thanks for the extra pics 4est, so is the whole bow made from osage lams then?  I am still trying to envision how you get that long darker lam that runs in the middle of the limb/tip.  I can see how the other layers are all added but that one single line stumps me (not hard to do on some days  )

Thanks~

[4est Trekker]

That's a kerfed recurve.  I resaw the last 7-8" of the limb on the band saw, in effect creating two lams that can now be bent into a curve by hand.  By inserting a thin piece of wood (the darker one), I fill the gap left by the kerf of the saw.  I apply glue to all surfaces and then clamp it in a recurve caul.  In effect, I've got a selfbow on the inner 2/3 of the bow, and a laminated bow on the outer 1/3.  I hope that makes sense. 

[bubby]

great looking bows 4est, been wanting to try that kerfed recurve, glad you reposted it, Bub

[Lee Slikkers]

Thanks 4est, that makes perfect sense and is what I assumed you had done but from the pics I still couldn't make out where it was a kerf or not (which is a sign of a good kerf imho)  Thanks again for sharing your techniques and pics...very, very nice workmanship.

[Carle1953]

I have to ask.  You show the one picture of a bow with syahs.  Did you sinew back that bow?  What is the length of the bow?  How far does it draw?  I have always thought that osage would take the bend required for this style of bow.  Congratulations on your bow building skills!!!!