Home Grown Hunting Equipment for 2006/07 (UPDATE - Nov. 5th, 2006)

[TimBow2]

great build a long  

[Longbow_Jim]

cool build a long b'y i got to go make something

[Shaun]

O Tree, you gotta go to MOJAM next year. I took a half dozen osage staves and some sawn yeller wood for backed bows and traded much of it for yew, backing and knapping supplies. Folks from all over with the build it yourself attitude.

 Those radical recurves you saw were by a friend of mine, Brad Merkel (Little Tree Bows) of Wisconsin. He boils the wood to get it to bend that far.

Love your quiver and the whole idea of building a full set from idea to harvest. Keep it coming.

[Drifter]

"Okay I got to finish up a strap so I can carry this thing, but I am almost done."

So what did you use for a strap and how did you attach it? Great thread by the way!

[Osagetree]

Thanks Gang,,, you guy's are great!

 

Drifter,

Well see, I never really finished the quiver or the rivercane arrows,,, not yet anyway.

When the set is more complete, I will return to apply the finishing touches. That way, it keep's you wondering.  

[Osagetree]

Oops,,, forgot to mention that I am planning on MOJAM next year!

Thanks for the invite Shuan!

[4runr]

O'tree. You're a man after my own heart. Great job so far. I'm doin alot of the same things, but I'm not organized enough to take pics as I went along. I enjoy readin and gettin ideas from guys and gals on here. Lookin forward to the next installment!

[Osagetree]

It was only 90 degrees in the building this evening after work so I decided to cut the staves to length. Eyeballing the stave I selected the straightest section and cut off the rest. The locust required two cuts and the osage just one. The locust is now 60 1/2" and the osage is 62 1/2".

 

With the first victim being osage, the bark is stripped off by using a vise to hold the stave and my draw knife welded upside down. Using the beveled edge down on the draw knife helps prevent me from taking to big of a bite and allows me more control. I do most of the wood removal in this way.

 

Then I remove the white wood from the stave. If you don't know what white wood is, it is the wood just under the bark.

 

[Osagetree]

Now I remove the white wood and when I see yellow heart wood I'll try not to go any deeper into the wood.

 

When all the white wood is gone I'll start chasing a ring for the back of the bow. The rings in this stave are paper thin. I did not realize that when I picked this stave from the wood pile for this project. I had sealed the ends with a white paint sealer/primer and could not see the rings, so I grabbed it because it was the straightest one I have seasoned out.

It took me one hour to saw the osage stave to lenght, de-bark the stave, remove the white wood and chase a single ring end to end with the draw knife. The osage stave has a nice barg prop shape to it, only about 5/8" thick on the limb tips and about 2 1/2" wide. Not muchwood left! But I'll try and make do....

 

I'm ready to see what's in this locust stave next!

 

Look,,, free kindling  

[Bodie]

Osage,
   This is the most informative thread I have ever seen,keep it coming         :notworth
y:
                                       Eric

[Osagetree]

Bodie,

Check out the build along section on tradgangs main page,,, this aint noth'n compared to the other guy's stuff!

There's a lot better builds than mine on here!

My stuff is amature seat of the pants in comparison to some!

                       

[Osagetree]

Here I am comparing the rings of the unstripped locust stave to the stripped and ring chased osage stave. The rings in a locust are larger as you may be able to see. It is a faster growing tree.

 

You can see as I remove the white wood as seen at the top of this stave end that the first ring can be used as the back. But, I went one ring below the first ring. The first ring seems harder to chase than the second. I can just feel the rings better through the draw knife and the harder wood of the first ring.

 

So I strip off the white wood and get under the first ring and trail it to the other end of the stave,,, of course this side will be the back of the bow.

 

After I had a single ring for the back I turned the stave on its side to remove some areas that were to thin, front to back to be able to work. I used the rasp to make quick work of it.

 

So,,, here we are with two narly staves that might make better firewood than a bow or two.
But, this is what I gathered and this is what I'll have to use!

 

I'll study these stave's for a while and come up with a style or pattern that best fits them.

See ya soon!

[Billy]

this is way cool ... this cheap-skate/rookie; is awed for sure. thanks for the class O'tree.

[hs6181]

OT your to modest, this is reading like a best seller to me. Thank You for taking the time to write it all down for us to enjoy.

[Osagetree]

Well, time to lay out the locust since I've got it in the vise. I get a center line by using an old chaulk line. Straightest line with as much wood on each side as I can get.

 

When I have the line where I want it, I mark the limb tips 3/8" wide. and marked the center where the handle will be with a red pencil.

 

Starting at the center of the handle, I measure 3 1/2" out on each side. Then from the center mark on the handle, I measure out 2" on each side and mark that as well. This leaves 2" at each side of the handles center for a 4" handle. From the end of the handle there is another 1 1/2" out to the next mark for the fades.

 

Following the string with the red pencil, I mark a permenent center line from end to end of the stave and remove the string.

 

Then I mark each limb at mid-limb from the end of the fade mark to the end of the stave with the pencil and measue 1 1/2" wide even across the center line mark.

 

At the marks for the handle and fades I started out at the center of the handle being 1 1/4" wide, the ends of the handle being 1 1/8" wide and the ends of the fades being 1 3/8" wide. The I just conected the marks to outline the handle area.

 

Then I connect the dots from the handle to mid-limb then out to the 3/8" tips using a flexible straight edge or ruler. This gives me the outline of the finished bow to follow when I am removing wood on the sides of the stave.

 

I got to clean up the shop a bit before I continue!

[Osagetree]

The osage being the worst of the two staves, I am going to have to go at this one with a different method. This is the type of stave that tells me what kind of bow it will be.

My luck a wall decoration!  

Using the the same procedure as above for the handle, I mark the stave all the way around at the center end of handle and end of fades.

 

Using the string again, I line up the ends for a straight center line and mark the tip at center. I won't use a center line from end to end on this one, and the limbs will curve a bit to avoid the areas on the back of the stave where there is not enough wood left to work. As you can see,,, It's a little thin for a stave and twisted like a barg prop.

 

When I had the string on the stave to mark the center of the tips, I also marked the center of the handle.

 

Turning the stave on its side and to the side with the best thickness (most), I use the rasp to get a good edge out to mid-limb. This will be the edge of the finished limb.

 

The widest this limb will let me go is 1 1/4". So, I mark this limb at the handle and at mid-limb from the side of the stave I have just worked with the rasp to 1 1/4" wide. I then mark the limb tips at 3/8" wide and connect the dots.

 

Then I do the same thing on the other limb of the stave.

 

Using the center line I marked in the handle aera when I stright lined it with the string, I marked the center of the hande at 1 1/4", end of handle 1 1/8" end of fade at 1 1/4".

 

Then I connect the dots at the handle.
Close enough for rural work!

 

[Osagetree]

Using the draw knife upside down, I remove a little wood at a time until I get within a 1/4" or less of the outline of the back of the bow.  

   

Then I use the rasp to take the wood down to the pencil line. I try and keep in mind to keep the sides of the stave square to the back of the bow stave.

   

This part of the osage stave is a concern. The wood is thin from front to back and the wood was ripped off the back of the stave in this area making the edge very concerning.

As I layed out the pattern on the bow I tried to avoid this area being in the bow.

   

So, in doing  that,,, when I square this side off with the rasp I get a thicker portion of the stave in that area.

   

Flip the stave around in the vise and do the other limb in the same manner.

   

Got to admit,,, I dont hold much confidence in this osage stave at the moment. For a big game bow that is, but we'll see!

The curve in the limb before the vise is intentional. This was to avoid the area where the wood was ripped from the back of the stave when the log was initially split.

   

[Osagetree]

There are also some areas of concern for the locust stave as well.

(1) The limbs aren't as wide as I would like.

(2) The wood on this stave is real thin on one side of the back of the stave.

(3) It is a little twisted and wavy, to say the least.

(4) There is a knot in the tip, of one end of the stave.

Oh well, I'm obligated now.

So,,,,,,,,,,,,,


Here is a knot that I hope I avoided in the pattern.

 

Here is the thin spot, that will be almost impossible to avoid and the reason why I went so thin on limb width.

 

This is a shot of the profiles of both bow staves after they are reduced to the pattern lines.

 

And a shot of them with the flat of the handle facing the camera.

 

Well I aint discouraged enough yet to quit on these staves.

[charlie brown]

Looking good don't stop to eat just have a beer and lets go.

Charlie Brown.

[Bible5]

This is soo COOL  I am following this  carefully!