Mulberry staves first self bows project....

[highpoint forge]

Two mulberry staves I harvested last winter and aged indoors are beginning to bow outwards towards the belly of the staves!  I guess it's natural reflex now?  These staves are each 2.8" thick at the handle and are about 70-80" tall. I left bark on and sealed ends. No apparent checking. Can I get started on these or is the bowing of the stave an indicator of a problem? Will take pics ASAP! I marked each at 66" and plan to lay the bows out avoiding knots etc. as this is my first attempt at a self bow.

Hell I don't even have a draw knife yet! May just have at it with a heavy file.

[John Scifres]

yes, you can begin on them right away.  Remove the bark and sapwood, rough the bow out and reduce to 5/8" thick along and across the entire working limb.  Shellac the back and then let them sit in a cool spot, preferably non-heated, for a couple weeks.  then start bending them.  If they don't immediately recover from bending, they are too wet.  Let them dry another month or so.  You can bring them inside a heated space at this point.

[highpoint forge]

John how wide a limb and how big a handle should I shoot for? How wide at tips?

[John Scifres]

I leave them maybe 1/16" wider than my final width.  I also leave them full width for the entire length until I start tillering.  That lets you adjust layout for any movement that occurs during drying.

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Today I removed the bark to see if any bugs were present or any longitudinal checking had occurred. Neither. Without a draw knife I did not go further but there are some rows of pin knots as well as one larger one where a branch perhaps came through and it's about .5" across, which left a "crater" at about 62"....it's at the edge of the stave so maybe it will be/can be trimmed off during the tips layout and not require shortening the bow. As the sapwood is still on the stave I wonder if all the little knots go completely through this stave down into the heartwood?

[John Scifres]

Make sure and get some shellac on the back or it will likely check.  It's not a good idea to remove the bark without removing the sapwood at the same time on osage and mulberry.

The pins almost surely go into the heartwood.

[highpoint forge]

Ok I'll grab a drawknife and get the sapwood off. Seems prices vary widely. If I can't swing the drawknife $ I'll shellac it ASAP. I buy good tools once and keep them forever. Hate cheap stuff. Looks like Snow & Neally makes them. Any other quality brands out there?

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Main stave and it's knots....

   

   

   

   

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2d stave.

 

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Not sure what think on the second stave but I'll chop that toothpick top off it. On the right you can see the rings I have, and might it be easier to bandsaw that stave?

[Eric Krewson]

It doesn't take much wood to make a bow. I would definitely get the sapwood off those staves and seal the backs really well with shellac. I band saw most of the sapwood off and clean up the backs with a draw knife.

You could lay out your bows, cut them a little wide and heat correct any deflex, twist and dogleg.

If it was me, after I got my mulberry bow blanks made I would put them aside for more curing and get that huge osage taken care of before the bugs carry it away. If it has powder post beetles in it you don't have long to take care of it before they ruin all the wood.

I went to a friend's in-laws farm once to look at all the osage they had pushed over, at least 100 trees, I thought it was going to be my lucky day. The trees had been on the ground for a year or so and every one had powder post beetle holes going in the top of the trunks and out the bottom, all was lost.

Getting the tree cut up, split, bark and sapwood off and backs and ends sealed will prevent the above tragedy. There are a lot of staves in your tree but you will be surprised at how much waste you will have as well. Every piece of osage has a surprise under the bark, some good but most often bad.