Roughing staves out with a bandsaw???

[perry f.]

I have only built one self bow from a stave. Having only hand tools at the time I remember it being a lot of work. I acquired a bandsaw since then and I have 2 staves ready, just begging to be made into bows. I need some pointers on how to rough it out. What steps do you all take? Thanks!

[Don Armstrong]

If it is at least a 14" you can rough out staves but you have to plan your cuts well. I sometimes let the stave twist and my blade is not very happy   . Just don't try to do to much or you will get a dip that is hard to remove(don't ask how I know that). Don

[John Scifres]

I'd recommend doing a few more with hand tools.  Here's how I rough 'em out:    Roughout  

Don't blame me if you ruin a few staves or break your blades.  This is for informational purposes only.

[NYArrow]

I roughed one out with a 12" saw a few weeks ago. The result was not great. I luckily laid the bow out about 1/4" thicker by all dimensions so the wavy/poor band saw cuts did not hurt me too much. It has made the tillering a bit tougher though. (if you start with an unsquare surface/dimension its just that much tougher to straighten out)