Selfbow #1 in the works

[grouse11]

I started on my first selfbow today. Over the last few weeks I have cut down an osage tree, Split it, dried it, and picked out my first stave. I am sure I have made at least a dozen mistakes but at this point I seem to be on the right track.

Today I took a stave that I removed the bark from and cut to length a week and a half ago. Ivr had it drying in the furnace room and today it read 12% moisture. So I decided I would chase a ring awhile and well it didnt stop there.

First off chasing one ring was a lot easier than I anticipated. Still took some time but I was not expecting to acheive on the first ring I picked. Once I chased the ring, I laid out a center line following the grain. I marked where the grip would be and then marked my fades and limb profiles. Using a table saw, I got within 1/4" of the limb profile and then used my draw knife to get the limbs the rest of the way. Using a saw I cut along my fade marks and then using a wedge split the chunk off of the belly. At that point it was starting to look like a bow! From there I used my draw knife on the belly side of the limbs to get them to floor tiller.

The stave has a bit of twist on the one limb but the layout will put the string right on the grip so I didnt want to mess with it. I figured it will give it some character anyway. I do have one small crack in the grip so I need to get some ca glue to fill it. I plane to make a tillering stick this week and hopefully get it tillered out next weekend. Fingers crossed that I get to shoot my first selfbow AND see my eagles win the super bowl next Sunday! Photos arent the best but it give you an idea.

Oh and also the bow is 64" tip to tip so knock to nock will be 62". I am gonna add antler to the tips for a little flare. Okay no more talking I'll let the pics do the rest. Stay tuned for a hopefully working bow

Osage #1- part 1  https://imgur.com/a/XjYCK

[mwosborn]

Well you are well on your way. Good job.

How long had the stave been drying?  After chasing the ring you may want to slap a coat of shellac or poly on it to keep if from checking on you.

[yard dog]

Yeah, when I started, the thought of chasing a ring intimidated me.... until I had a couple board bows blow up..... Ring chasing is actually very enjoyable, once you get the feel for it... It may be my favorite part of bow building... Once you learn to let the wood decide what it wants to be, you are half-way there... You can then, manipulate it within reason... I found out that when I was frustrated, or questioned the direction I was taking a bow... the best thing to do is stop, put away the tools and think... sleep on it....

[Walt Francis]

Originally posted by mwosborn:
Well you are well on your way. Good job.

How long had the stave been drying?  After chasing the ring you may want to slap a coat of shellac or poly on it to keep if from checking on you.

X2, those were my exact thoughts.  Get some type of sealer on it.

[Pat B]

x3. I've had osage staves check that had been in the dry for 10 years shortly after exposing a fresh back ring. I keep a spray can of shellac on my work bench all the time.

[Roy from Pa]

Looking nice, sweet stave too.

[grouse11]

Well I took everyone's advice and sealed the back. Better to learn from other's mistakes than your own! I decided that to make tillering easier on this first one I would remove the twist and get the limbs in line. So now I need to get a heat gun. It'll be a couple days before I can work on it again but that will give me time to calm down so I dont rush it

[Eric Krewson]

OK the cold hard truth; you took off way too much belly wood when you laid out your bow. In the last picture you have a thin spot about 8" out from the fade then the limb gets thicker again. You may end up with a kiddie bow.

The way to avoid this is with proper side taper layout. I initially shape my bows belly's with an rounded shape. As I tiller, this roundness gets flatter and flatter to almost a flat belly bow, almost.

I call my bow making method "Eric's goof proof method of making a bow". It may take you a little more time but the end result will be very even and uniform side to side.

I do my side layout like this; I start with a 1/2" mark (5/8th for heavy poundage bows) and round the belly. Every 6" I drop my measurements 1/16" until I get to 1/4" and keep that measurement to the tip. I never let my tips get less than 1/2" thick so they are rounded a good bit from the 1/4" mark.

I mark every 6" then holding my thumb against the back of the bow and supporting a pencil I start my line and rotate my hand to lessen the gap from one mark to the other, it takes practice and plenty of erasers but you will follow all irregularities of your bows back.  

       

I call these lines the road map of your bow, don't violate them. They should still be there on your finished tillered bow.

I file from my side line to the center of the belly initially making the belly a pyramid shape, then file off the top of the pyramid to make a nice arc side to side. all this extra wood is a good thing because it is unlikely you will miss poundage if you go SLOW tillering and use a gizmo.

I use a contour gauge to check my belly arc and keep it even, especially in the fade and handle area. You can actually move a misaligned string by evening the arc in fades out.

 

If you come in too high on poundage drop your lines another 1/16" but keep 1/4" as you narrowest point.

My tips are usually a little less than 1/2" wide and 1/2" thick.

They look like this finished, I like overlays to dress up a bow.

       

Another thing; make a tillering gizmo.

[grouse11]

Eric I see what you are talking about. Thereas about 8-10" right around where that little shaving of wood is hanging on. I think I may need to go back and re sxribe each side to that thickness and remove a little more wood. I know that length plays a factor but for say a 50# bow what thickness would you suggest for your limbs?

I'm sure that I'm doing most of this completely backwards. I think at this point I would call it a success to get this bow to 75%. So far I have learned how to chase a ring, read the grain of the wood to layout the bow, and how to get to floor tiller. Combined with everything I've learned on here, it seems a lot less daunting already!

[Pat B]

I have to say that an osage stave that was cut a few weeks ago is not nearly dry enough to build a bow. You can get it to floor tiller stage but going farther will cause you trouble until it is well dried throughout. Your moisture meter might have read 12% but that is as deep as the pins went. In the center of the stave the wood it still wet. It takes a good year(more is better) for an osage stave to dry enough for a stable bow to be built.

[Eric Krewson]

Every piece of wood is different so thickness measurements are not a good way to predict poundage. If you have enough wood to lay out the sides like I pointed out, a 1/2" starting point at the end of the fade will give you a finished bow in the 50-60 pound range provided you have enough belly wood to round off above your marked lines.

I like to come in high, shoot the bow in and fine tune the tiller on my way to the target weight.

[grouse11]

What I get from all of this is that there is almost no way that thisbwood is dry enough. However other than possibly taking off too much wood for a 50#ish bow, I essentially can consider this a bow blank and seal it and put it away for a while to finish drying? Should I also wait to do any heat correction until after it has dried more?

The tree had one offshoot that was dead and dry that I was able to get 4 staves out of. I will start to work on one of those instead if the consensus is to halt my current project.

[Pat B]

Even a dead standing tree has a high moisture content because of it's contact to the ground and osmosis.
 You can take all your staves down to floor tiller stage for faster drying but still longer drying time makes a better bow.
 Wait until the wood is well dried and you are at low brace before making corrections. Until the bow is under tension, at low brace, you really don't know how the string will track.

[grouse11]

Want to thank everyone for all of the information and knowledge sharing.

I have plenty of wood to work with so I dont need to rush. Just wont be able to complete a bow right away. I will just start cleaning my staves and getting a handful or so down to a good blank. Let them dry as I continue to slowly remove bark and chase rings. Waiting sucks but broken and unshootable bows is worse

[grouse11]

And as for corrections, I was really just wanting to remove the twist in the limb not pull the limbs into alignment. Should I wait for that as well?