A classic bow experiment

[RidgeRunner]

So... It did break.
I had to hit the road brfore the last 32" test.

David

[osage outlaw]

The bely side looks like it has a bit more latewood to it. With sinew and the pithy part acting like a foam core it seems reasonable that a fast shooter could have been possible.

Don't forget the horn belly and glue a giant siyah on each tip.  Of course the limbs will be 2" thick.  I'm sure that will be a reasonable fast shooter

[Josh B]

After reading through this thread I find myself mildly amused.  Some of you seem to be under the foolish belief that Clint doesn't know Osage.  Furthermore I can almost feel some of you giving Clint the stink eye through your screens for the audacity to suggest that there is such a thing as bad Osage and worse...being brazen enough to demonstrate said woods poor qualities.   Sorry....that particular piece of Osage was absolutely junk.  But that was not the point of the experiment.  The point was to see if he could get away with purposely violating multiple rings with thin ringed Osage without it lifting a splinter.  That was it....the whole point.   It did not lift a splinter.  Aside from the ring violations this bow was tillered as normal and not abused for the experiment.  It took 3"+ of set on the tillering tree.  The only way you would get a good bow out of this junk is glue on a 3/4" thick backing strip of good wood and then scrape all this stuff off the belly of the backing strip.  I suspect that the thing only failed in tension after the belly collapsed and hinged focusing all the bend in the one spot.  Aside from dry rot, that's about the only way you're gonna get a straight across back break with Osage.  Ya'll keep on throwing out how you would of made a good bow of that stave though.  It's quite entertaining.  Josh

[PatM]

 Nobody suggested anything but an alternate plan for the wood if it had to be used   

  That's how an Eskimo makes a good bow from Douglas Fir or Spruce.

[bradsmith2010]

I didn't think of that, that would have been pretty good wood for an Eskimo bow,,

[Danzn Bar]

What Josh said........
I got a chance to put my hands and eyes on that piece of sage and I agree it was junk......
DBar

[Dvshunter]

Pretty cool experiment  clint. Im gladni got to see it bend and wish i coukd have seen it break, but seeing the aftermath was enough.   Im glad you got my good side in the pic too. Lol

[osage outlaw]

If you guys want to get a junk piece of 80% early growth and try to make a decent shooting bow out of it go right ahead.  You can bring it to the Classic next year and we can test it out.  Like Josh said, I just wanted to test the growth rings being violated.  I got my answer so the test was successful as far as I'm concerned.  The bow wasn't worth finishing or trying to save so I thought it would be fun to blow it up.  Everyone there seemed to enjoy it.  I'd like to do it again next year.  We try so hard to not blow up a bow, it's a lot of fun to do it on purpose.  I'm thinking maybe a red oak board bow with bad grain.  Or maybe a Ryoon inspired poplar bow. 

Here is the video of the bow breaking.  It's not in slow motion.

 

[lebhuntfish]

Any red oak bow would work in my opinion Clint. Especially if I am the one that made it.

Patrick

[JacksonCash]

The bow wasn't worth finishing or trying to save so I thought it would be fun to blow it up.  Everyone there seemed to enjoy it.  I'd like to do it again next year.

My dad & mom put on a car show each summer, and one feature they had on and off was an engine blow up contest. Drain all the fluid out of a junker's engine and let it run until it stops. Bet on a time, if you win you get the pot. You could make this a feature at any shoot or bowyers gathering, only using draw length, or number of shots for the test.

[Aaron H]

I thought it was a great experiment, and totally agree that it was junk wood and not worth anything more.  Clint knows his Osage and has plenty to work with.  I saw it drawn back to 28" and was surprised at how light in physical weight it was.  Too bad I missed the explosion, but thanks for the video.

[missilemaster]

I loved seeing that thing blow! suprising that it just broke across the back instead of at a violation. Next experiment would be to violate good growth ringed osage

[paulsemp]

Well done Clint. The way that thing broke goes to show you what it was worth. Good Osage does not shatter like that. 

[JW_Halverson]

I loved seeing that thing blow! suprising that it just broke across the back instead of at a violation. Next experiment would be to violate good growth ringed osage

It could answer a whole bucket full of questions, couldn't it?  Especially if it was a solid piece of wood, designed properly and executed correctly. Ultimately, I think there would be a lot of various ways to violate growthrings that would not be automatic death sentences, and others that would all but spontaneously blow!

[bradsmith2010]

it would be interesting to know what the cast was on the bow say at 30 inches of draw,,even though the wood was of poor quality, the cast may have been exceptable ,,or equaled the cast of any wood bow with same string follow,,,, I was impressed it drew as far as it did,, and I learned from the experiment myself,, if the bow had been weighed ,,, it would have been informative to know where it would fall as far as mass weight to draw weight,, and if the bows mass and draw weight were in the ball park ,, compared to other osage staves,, etc etc etc,, thank you for posting