Very thinn rings on Osage stave. Finished Bow!! Sinew Backing, retillered!

[Eric Krewson]

I usually make a bamboo backed bow out of osage like that.

[bradsmith2010]

what Badger said, there is a bow in there,, its not bad at all,, just looks bad    

[mikekeswick]

Agree with Badger - I've only made a couple of osage bows with thin rings but they both took basically no set and are both fast bows. No need to back it and think of thin rings like this....a perfectly chased ring of any thickness would be basically untouched anyway and therefore it doesn't matter what thickness it is My tactic is to chase the earlywood ring above the latewood ring that you actually want for the back and then use a super sharp scraper and 120 grit to remove the thin earlywood.

[Badger]

Mike, thats the same way I do it, I have rounded the edges on my scraper at different radiuses and use it just for chasing rings and getting into the little grooves.

[George Tsoukalas]

Looks like some good rings 1/3 of the way down and towards the bottom.

If the concern is poor early latewood ratio, then leave the stave wider say 1.5 inches.

For the upper wood, chase your ring but if you keep missing back with rawhide.

I remember on one stave I went up and down  several times before I succeeded.

Check my site.

http://traditionalarchery101.com/

Jawge

[bradsmith2010]

same  here Jawge,  I have had to go a few rings down until I get the light touch to make one ring, but worth the effort,,

[akila]

Hello guys, and first of all thank you all for your help. Today i could not stay away from the Osage stave, so i had to work on it to see what i can get from it..i have to say, she is quite stuborn ))...i will put some pictures so that you can see what i did today. UNfortunatly, the stave was not wide enugh at the bottom, so that i can use those thick rings there..i'v folowed that 1mm ring that i was talking aboute yestarday, and i have manage to have it clean..the entire work, debarking, reduce the stave to bow dimension, folowing the ring, took like 5 hours or so..so here are the pictures.


A new surprise was to descover this two long kracks on the back..they war very deep, and somehow realy stupid positioned. With a little bit of luck, i have managed to cut them out, and i have like 4cm width on that limb.a little bit more then 1,5'' wide.

The stave is quite reflexed as you can see in the picture.

A new surprise, was this big node. I was not expecting to be so big.

Here are some pin knots...they look like small staines and this is how they look on the belly side..

And this one..a little bit snakey..with a little twist at one end..

 Puuuhhh, so quite alot of work on this one, and i have no ideea if in the end a bow will comme out of it. We will see . I dont know, what should i do with that big knot there if i decide to back it with rawhide..should i make it flatt, or somehow trying to glue the rawhide on top of that stuff?

[John Scifres]

You can flatten the punky limb wood and thin rawhide should be able to form to the contour.  Wet it beforehand.  Keep at it.

[lebhuntfish]

Check out my post here about applying rawhide. If you do it right you could even cut out the hole in the knot after the rawhide dries.

Patrick

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,55778.2325.html

[akila]

Hi, yes i know how the rawhide should be glued and everithing..i did this a fiew times, and i was alo working with sinew..im not a begginer, its just that sometimes you encounter situations where you never been before, and its better if you just ask . So i'v never aplyied rawhide on top of such a bulky knot . I'm still thinking if i should even bak the entire thing..that knot is near the fade of the top limb, so there will not be to much bending going on on that area, but i will see how the wood looks on the belly side whenn i start tillering the bow. Thank you for your advice..

[mikekeswick]

No need to back it. Don't worry about the knot. Sealing the freshly exposed back with shellac is a good idea too. Even on 'dry' osage.
Good luck!

[John Scifres]

I would back it.  You never know where you might have nicked it with the scraper and a backing can save it.  It's no guarantee as I have had many hours in a thin-ringed osage, backed it with rawhide, and still had it blow.

[lebhuntfish]

Sorry about that,  sometimes we give advice to so many people that I get lost in the conversation and don't realize that I'm talking to someone that knows what's going on. 

Patrick

[bradsmith2010]

no don't make the knot flat,, the rawhide will shrink around it,, might need do tie to down a bit more in that area,,

[akila]

Thank you all for your help...next week i will work on the stave again...i have ordered some rawhide, and i will probably try to back it..after so much work with chasing the ring and everithing, i also somehow dont feel like risking with this one..also with rawhide its a risk, so..that knot is realy weird..beautifull somehow in his way, but reall weird..it commes out quite alot and the angle is very sharp...it looks all most like a fishing hook..