Osage Bow (that hopefully doesn't take 10 months)

[Pat B]

I'd start with at least 1" thick at the handle, especially if you plan to narrow it at the handle. You can always take wood off later if necessary but it's harder to put it back on.

[Marin]

So i can't  narrow the handle of a bendy handle bow without thickening it substantially?

[Marin]

I measure bow thickness from the crown of the wood to the belly right? I was just hinkkkj about this and realized I didn't know the answer 

[Eric Krewson]

You can go with a 1" thick handle (back to belly measured at the crown on the back) and glue more wood on the belly in the handle section to fill it out.

If you decide to split off a belly split start your split in a growth ring by tapping a big screwdriver around the ring to start the split.



I like to use small wood wedges for this type of split, at least to get things started. My wedges are left over pieces from cutting splices.



The problem with belly splits is they don't always run down the stave like you would hope they would, often they angle up or down to ruin the belly split stave potential or perhaps the whole stave itself.

 

[Marin]

Oh, I didn't realize that. Should I just stick with reducing the belly with a draw knife, bevel,side up?

[Pat B]

Until you are more familiar with the process maybe you should. It will give you more experience with your draw knife.

[Marin]

You use the bevel side up to remove more wood right?

[Eric Krewson]

I have been making bows for 20 years and have never used my drawknife bevel side up, ever. I prefer the control and lack of gouging using mine bevel side down.

[Pat B]

For heavy wood removal like removing sapwood I use it with the bevel up but like Eric I use a draw knife mostly with the bevel down for control.

[Marin]

I just have to remove a lot of wood on the belly so using bevel down might take a while.
Ill remove most with bevel side up since it is a lot of wood

[Marin]

I just was reading the "osage flatbow" section of TBB I and te utah or said to leave extra layers of wood on the knots if it's your first bow. I didn't do that. Do the knots on the back of my stave look fine?

[Pat B]

I leave an "island" of wood around knots on the back until I get an otherwise clean back then go back and gingerly work the island from around the knot, working from inside to out all around it. Usually I just use a scraper(goose neck or small knife blade) to do this.

[Eric Krewson]

This was advice from Jim Hamm if I remember correctly, bad advice as you are creating a grain violation that could pop up taking the lower grains with it.

It has been a long time ago, 20 years or so but I believe I followed this advice early on and popped a splinter over a pin cluster.

Pat has it right if you are extra cautious. I clean up the back completely before I get serious about tillering.

[Marin]

Like pat said, I was extra careful with the knots by leaving and island of wood which I removed with very light rasping and a scraper. I just didn't leave more than one ring on it, but as you guys suggested that's good.
From the pictures I posted of the back, do the knots look fine?

[Marin]

Okay so I started thinning out the belly today and that posed some problems.
My first problem was clamping the thing down. I've been clamping the wood to a work table and then sitting on the stave (kind of like a shaving horse). This worked when working on the back but trying to clamp it down to work on he belly was nearly impossible. The back, being round, does not allow the stave to stay still when clamped and more often the clamp just falls off after I am working the stave a little with the draw knife. I've attached a pic of the setup. Is there anyway to get around this? I have been thinking about getting a carpenters hatchet to work down most of the belly as the only hatchet I have is a camping hatchet which is thick. I know that a carpenters hatchet is flatter and made for finer cuts but I have been making do with the camping hatchet, it just does very rough work.
Should I get a carpenters hatchet for future bow projects?
My next problem has been using my draw knife bevel side up. It just does not seem to be taking off much wood and now that e belly is becoming flatter, it's not catching and taking off wood. Maybe there is some technique that I do not know of but how do you guys use a draw knife bevel side up to work on a belly? I attached a pic of the draw knife and a sample cut it has made. I don't think the sharpness is a problem as I heard that using a dull draw knife is good for seasoned wood.