new 48 inch osage stave.

[Chris Grimbowyer]

Hey all I have another osage stave that is dry and was cut in 06. Do you guys think I should recurve it or it is just too short to recurve. I was just going to use dry heat and bend it by hand but only a minor recurve not a severe one. How much will a small recurve help in such a short bow and should I even recurve it?

[Pat B]

With very good tiller you will probably be able to get a 24" draw and I would let it bend through the handle. Kicking up the tips will improve the full draw string angle and is worth the effort with such a short bow. A couple of layers of sinew on the back will improve this short bow and make it more durable.

[George Tsoukalas]

You may consider backing with rawhide or sinew. If you do  a 22 in draw seems reasonable. You do need to recurve/semi recurve to improve the string angle. Jawge

[John Scifres]

You are probably stuck with about 47" NTN bow withthat stave unless you glue on something on the ends.  That's pretty short for a full-draw bow.  

I have made a couple 48" NTN bend-in-the-handle bows that drew 26".  Recurving the last 4" or so was a necessity to keep string angle managable.  They still stack like crazy and are harsh to shoot.  

Now a 22" draw bow that you pull to the chest is a fun design to try.  You don't have to recurve that short of a draw.  Light arrows fly like mad out of this style bow.

[Chris Grimbowyer]

Thanks guys I just started on it today.

[hova]

lets see some pics

[Chris Grimbowyer]

sorry all my shortbow is actually 53 inches i measured it a while ago and forgot and thought it was only 48 but thnx for your advice and im working on loading some pics of the bow before recurving and final tillering.

[Chris Grimbowyer]

I messed up on the tips so I ended up making the whole thing way too thin. I then recurved it about 5 inches down with steam, its pretty severe recurve and just glued some rawhide onto it waiting for it to dry in the morning, while putting on the rawhide I noticed one recurve is down a little further than the other.... How should I fix this? I also would like to know the easiest way to make a bow pull about 15 pounds more after even a rawhide backing.