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

[Marin]

Well I sanded the sides of the stave to make it easier to draw the line. I started at 5/8" thickness at the fades (with a 3/4" handle) and went down 1/16" every 6" like eric suggested, but I stopped going down at 1/2". Does the line overall look fine?
Also, when I rasp down the belly, do I leave extra wood on the knots on the belly side of the bow? The line curves at knots so that extra wood is taken off at these areas which didn't make much sense to me.

[Marin]

Could someone please answer if you know? I'm at a standstill on this project until I know for certain what to do, as I don't want to turn this bow stave into kindling.
I'm sorry if I'm being pushy but I really want to start again on this and just want to be certain on if the line is properly done for the most part and how to deal with knots on the belly side.

[penderbender]

You want the belly to follow the back. Cheers- Brendan

[Stick Bender]

The way I was taught to do it was draw a 5/8 line parallel to the back all the way down the stave rasp & clean up ,then draw another line the same way with a fat 3/8 line that way you can keep a eye on your tapper as you progress and I use calipers to drop 1/16 every 6 in or so im sure there is many ways to do it but thats one.

[Eric Krewson]

You don't need to leave extra wood at the knots on the belly side, pretend they don't exist.

With your measurements you will have about a 125# bow when you get the belly rasped down.

[Marin]

Wait, so you draw a 5/8" line on both sides and srop down by 1/16" every 6"? What o you mean by a fat 3/8" line? Where?
Yeah, I know it's going to be quite heavy but this is just a starting poimt and I dint want to take off too much wood.

[Stick Bender]

A fat 3/8 I mean just a hair thicker then 3/8 ,the line is drawn parallel to the back of the bow if the back is crowned all measurements are from the top of the crown it's basically a reference line for seeing your tapper  , before floor tiller  I like the limbs 5/8 out of the fade 1/2 at mid limb and 3/8 at the tips , the lever bow in the picture at those diementions is probably a 80 lb bow it has 1 1/2 wide limbs  but eventually will be a 47 lb bow  I'm just passing along what I was taught  it works for me and keeps weight robbing hinges to a minimum some bowyers don't pre tapper at all but I find a ruff pre tapper helps with floor tiller & getting to low brace easer ! Keep in mind those are ruff numbers for a starting point on a 50 lb bow.the shorter the bow the stronger it's going to be at those numbers  The important thing is to end up with a smooth even tapper all the way down the limb before bending the bow far !

[Marin]

Okay, so I finished the rough thinning down of the belly. It is at the thinnest a 1/2" thick which is still pretty heavy but I'm going  to start doing finer thinning and floor tillering the next couple of days. I think that getting it down to 1/4" will be best as you guys suggested.
I did however discover a problem I never noticed before. At one of the ends of the bow, an end that had been shellac and exposed when I first received it, I discovered a small hairline crack that went into the bow. I don't know how deep it is but it doesn't show up on the back. Should I try to shorten this bow or is the crack insignificant enough to ignore?

[Eric Krewson]

Soak some super glue in the crack and ignore it, your string nock should be below it.

[DC]

+1

[Marin]

Got one of the limbs to floor tillering stage and I will work on the other one tomorrow. I did have a question about using the grain as a gauge of belly thickness in areas. I tried getting a perfect centered cathedral grain going down the belly but when I tried to do this, the thickness of either sides of the belly were quite uneven. Is this not always a good way to gauge belly thickness?

[DC]

It only works on a perfect stave. There are very few of them around That said as long as you keep you head on straight you can infer a little from it but be very careful.

[Eric Krewson]

I bought into that perfectly feathered grain theory early on in my bow making journey, can't remember where I read about it. I ruined a couple of good osage staves trying to make it work and realized it was just one more of those bow making old wives tales that had no basis in fact.

[Marin]

Thanks, it might have been too late if I had continued 
The limb I worked today is still quite heavy so luckily I didn't mess anything up. For my style of bow, what limb thickness am I targeting?

[Pat B]

Have you floor tillered yet? I start that as soon as I get the least bit of bend under pressure. That way I can keep tract of the bend and draw weight(heavy or light).