Advice needed for 43" Osage orange flatbow

[Tiabnogard]

I have an Osage orange stave that was given me by a friend. It's length is 43" and the width is about 1.5" at it's widest, with the nocks about 1/2" wide. Thickness varies, as it's already been worked a little. It's not floor tillered yet. My question is what I should shoot for with my finished dimensions? I've figured it's about 2/3 the traditional length desired for a flatbow. I intend to perhaps reflex the tips, or even fully recurve it. Additionally I plan on making the draw 22" max.  Aiming for 40# draw weight. Maybe 45# if I can work it right.

I've worked on three previous bows two of them shootable, and only one that made it past 100 shots. Thus you can see my relative inexperience. I've read quite a bit, but I know this one will probably be a challenge. Oh, the stave isn't 'straight' either exactly. One side curves out more than the other side. I've decided the side that curves in a little more is going to be my arrow side, as the string will align better that way. There are knots, and wiggles throughout. I'll see about some pictures later.

Anyhow, any tidbits of info regarding shortbows is appreciated.

[DVSHUNTER]

First, I'd get a heat gun. They are cheap and will help you straighten those less than great staves.  As far as the length... that's pretty short, especially for that width.  Not undoable, just short. I'd leave it as wide as possible and make a bend in the handle bow to give you as much working limb as can be. if all those knots are in it, I wouldn't hold my breath. Short bows are best, imo, made with clean wood. Bad wood makes cool bows and better bowyers. Good wood makes good bows and great wood makes great bows.  I also wouldn't flip the tips or anything either. Just shoot for PERFECT tiller.  Thats just me though. Lotsa guys will give lotsa different answers.

[Don Drake]

I just finished an Osage bow for my nine year old grandson.

The dimensions are:

46" tip to tip, about 45" nock to nock
Limbs are 1.25" at the widest point and .75" at the nocks.

The non-bending handle is about 3" long and 1.75" thick.  The fades are each about 2.5"

I bought the stave off of E-bay about 2 months ago and it has a sister that I will use for my granddaughter's bday in November.

The stave was recently cut when I bought it, so it was not properly cured and thus has about 3" of set.

It weighs about 30# at 20".  I have drawn it back to at least 24" with no problem and have shot about 75 arrows with it trying to keep the draw at 20"  Here is a picture of the bow at full draw.

 

I have retillered since this picture was taken and it looks a little better now.  

I hope this helps with your short bow.

Don

[Tiabnogard]

Beautiful bow. Thanks both of you. I'll leave it wide, and go from there. Now with a bend in the handle, how thick should I make the handle area? It has to be at least 2 1/2" presently. Also, I believe I'll need to leave the handle area a bit wider than usual. How wide should the handle area be? Thanks for the continued help.

[Adam Keiper]

If it's 43" overall, you'll be able to make it 42" (at most) nock to nock.  For short working handle bows, I don't like to make the draw length more than half the bow length.  If you only want 40-45# @ 21", I'd make it 1.125 to 1.25" wide throughout.  

To get the more weight out of it, I'd run with those 1.5" wide limbs, and neck the grip area down to 1.25" for shootability, but keeping it working.  That should do well at 55-60# @ 21".

I also second the heat gun motion.