mystery wood bow /Osage sapwood bow

[riverrat]

oh its bending Tony

[tlewis]

Yellow Poplar

[tlewis]

never mind. missed the answer on the last page 

[PlanB]

Dingaling PlanB? 

So Tony, really interesting. is the back made of the wood directly under the bark, like it would be on a whitewood stave, or did you chase a ring even though it's a sapwood back?

[Pat B]

I sent that stave to Tony a week or so ago. I cut it back in 1993 or '94 if I remember correctly. It was a very tall(10'+) growing up through a large shrub in a yard. The only heartwood was about 1/2" in diameter. I had scraped the bark off but left some of the cambium on it. I made one bow about a year or 2 after cutting it and the other half has been in my basement shop since. If you look at the pics of the nocks I think you can still see some of the cambium on one of them.

[riverrat]

just scraped off that cambium layer and theres the back . like a white wood bow. there was a little heartwood at the core but as i tillered it went gone. just a all sapwood bow now. Tony

[riverrat]

thinking on toasting the belly. ive made a yellow locust bow mostly sapwood. and a all sapwood bl. bow before. but never a all sapwood osage bow. dont know what to expect. whats capable. im gonna toast the belly since im making it like any white wood bow.besides, from what ive read on here, i remember something about native Americans heated the bow to help it bend. maybe that meant to straighten out a twist or something, or maybe to just plain help it to bend. also read they did it to make the bow stronger. hmmm, sounds like toasting to me so gonna give it a try.ive also read that greasing the bow and heating it helps it bend. o.k. sold myself on that whole concept.lol  Tony

[bowanna]

Looks like black locust to me.

[Danzn Bar]

thinking on toasting the belly. ive made a yellow locust bow mostly sapwood. and a all sapwood bl. bow before. but never a all sapwood osage bow. dont know what to expect. whats capable. im gonna toast the belly since im making it like any white wood bow.besides, from what ive read on here, i remember something about native Americans heated the bow to help it bend. maybe that meant to straighten out a twist or something, or maybe to just plain help it to bend. also read they did it to make the bow stronger. hmmm, sounds like toasting to me so gonna give it a try.ive also read that greasing the bow and heating it helps it bend. o.k. sold myself on that whole concept.lol  Tony

You guys sure have suck me in to this post...
Sure would like to see some more pic's of your progress??
DBar

[riverrat]

will do in the morning. tonight i wanted to see how close to brace i was {i want a 4 3/4 -5 inch brace higth}. i dont want to over stress it. well at 3 1/2 inches its a tad over 40 pounds acording to my 5 dollar walmart fish scale.so some more belly scraping in the morning and then try again.Tony

[riverrat]

its not black locust. its osage sapwood. black locust sapwood has a hard/heavier feel to it. id know black locust blind folded. its my favorite bow wood.even the sapwood.lol Tony

[PlanB]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this one, too. 

[riverrat]

o.k. on the tiller board today. its bending very evenly almost to brace. still have about 1/2-1 in. to go. on the tiller stick if you run a string from nock to nock so you have a straight line its 4 in. from belly to that string. so i need 1/2 to 1 in. yet. if you use that scale in the pic. it says 48 lbs. at that distance. no set when you take it off the tiller stick.Tony

[riverrat]

bow is tilted slightly and camerra angle is funny to fit it in. if you stand dead center in front or behind bow both limbs look equal.Tony

[riverrat]

for its small size, and the limb thickness im sure some of you all are going to think its a kids bow lol. oh but itll be a 45 - 50 pound meat provider. Tony