Firewood? Maybe,,,, maybe not! (NOT! See Finished Pics)

[Osagetree]

   

I had the best of intentions this weekend to partially fulfill a couple promises to trade with some others a couple of osage self bows.
 
So, Saturday morning I picked through my stash of staves and found a stave the length for one of the bows I needed to get started on making. I figured I needed to get started on one of the bows promised.

 The stave was 4" wide with the bark on and was 61 1/2" long. I needed a 60" bow. It was Just right! Even had good rings!!!

   

   

The stave had a big black limb knot on the belly side about mid limb but other than that the stave was long enough, plenty wide enough, it had great rings but did have a bit of prop twist to it,,, no problem right!!

As my luck goes lately, something was bound to go wrong.

As I studied the stave I did notice some vetical splits along the side on the outsides of the stave.

The splits along the sides of the stave looked pretty deep but I figured I had a 4" width to work with,,, no problem,,, right? That is what I thought, so I went ahead and stripped off all the bark and whitewood.

It has been about 6 months since I've done that much yanking on the drawknife. My hands were a bit sore and I felt a blister starting to pop up on the side of one finger. Besides that it was getting really hot in the shed.

   

I then decided to take a little break and I got in a little payback on that osage whitewood that had worked me a little too hard.

   

Not only were there some checking and splitting along the sides of this stave but also a bit of checking caused by drying on the end of the stave.

No problem,,, I'll just go a bit below the checks to find a good solid ring,,, no problem at all, right?

   

This ring looked good to me and from here the splits on the sides of the stave didn't seem like they would be any problem at all.

   

[Pat B]

Looks like some good wood if those side cracks don't get in the way.

[Osagetree]

Once I got started on the chosen ring I found that it still showed signs of checking. At this time I hi-lited the upper ring and the check with a #2 pencil so ya'll could see it better.

I would have to go down another ring to get the best one possible. No problem,,, right!

 

While chasing the next ring down, things were going pretty quickly until... I had to move the stave in the vice and when I cranked down I heard,,, CRACK!!!!

The stave had split about 8" about an inch in from the side and in the lower 1/3rd of the stave.

Well,,, I thought! No problem, I still have 3" to the right of the crack to work with.

Again, I hi-lited the crack with a pencil. But I needed to be able to see where it was too. This was so that I could later lay out the bow and avoid that crack in the layout or profile lines.

 

This crack occurred due to one of the side splits in that portion of the stave. Here are some pics of the side splits before and after I chased the backing ring. You can see how the vice used these splits to create pressure on the backing and caused it to crack as it did. I really didn't think that the splits in the side if this stave were so deep. But thats my luck!

 
 
 

Moving on and chasing the same ring, the stave was moved again and again to get the light where I could easily see the ring I needed to stay on.

Again when moving and tightening down the vice I hear,,, CRACK!!!

This time it was on the other side of the stave, about 14" long and about two inches into the middle of the stave.

 

I thought I had some fire wood on my hands and thought about tossing the stave in the firewood pile. But, I hate not giving it 100% so I thought it will either be firewood or maybe not!

I thought I would just yank around on it and see what I would have left if I cut along the sides of the stave with my drawknife following the vertical grain until I remove the cracks in the backing.

I knew it wouldn't leave much width for a bow but, I would see what I could do with it.

It was getting pretty thin but, I was persistant.

Finally, I was rid of the longest crack in the backing of this stave.

 
 
Then a few minute later I was rid of the smaller crack in the backing.

The stave was now a bit thicker than it was wide across the back. In fact only less than 1" was left across the backing &  1 1/2" thick back to belly.

 

[Pat B]

1" of osage is plenty enough to make a hunting weight bow. The checks wouldn't worry me but the side cracks do. Hope you got them all out.  Can't wait to see how this plays out.

[Osagetree]

Some would say I could have maybe gone to a deeper ring but the large knot on the bottom of the stave was already leaving this stave a little too thin on one end of the stave, I felt that that was not an option here. With the side splits and back giving way in the vice,,, I felt the only thing to do was see if I could follow the natural vertical grain in the stave to avoid everything and still have something to make a bow.

I also thought about mass, thick mass, wide mass, lenght in mass, etc... Isn't mass in thickness front to back (back to belly) the same as thickness side to side?

I mean a wide bow can be thin back to belly and thick side to side and perform well. Shouldn't a bow that is thin side to side but thick back to belly perform just as well, providing there is equal mass in each???

I went on attacking the stave and shaped in a handle!
Here what is left on its side profile.

   

Before long I had the scraper out and was working on it bending just a little bit in the vise.
Belly side of stave.

   

   

And a roughed out view from the backing.

   

So far I had only burnt what I aint going to use. That's always good!

Took the slightly floor tillered stave and heat bent it to the caul. I found that crisco spray works pretty well for heating purposes.

   

A little more handle shapping a check of the string allignment and a picture of the profile before tillering.

   
   

STATS: 61 1/2" long - Just over 3/4" wide at the fades down to 3/16" wide at the tips - Just over 3/4" thick at the fades to around 1/2" thick (back to belly) at the tips....

It is getting too late now late so I plan on tillering her a bit in the morning.

What do you think,,, Firewood or Not????

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Well I think not! I know you got a bow in there somewhere Joe.

[JEFF B]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm Interesting very Interesting    or  

[red hill]

Not! Keep goin'! I learn something on every one of your posts, Joe!
Stan

[Osagetree]

The stave before and after. Who says you need a bandsaw? Using the drawknife is good excersise! Besides, I could have never followed the vertical grain in this stave with a bandsaw. Using the drawknife carefully allows you to follow the grain that runs lengthwise through the stave.
So far the only electrical tool used on this stave was the heat gun!

   

Thanks for the votes of confidence guy's!

And, do you all know why I take the time to do these picture posts? Well, I put a lot of work into this stuff and you all are the only one's who really give a crap!     , I'll check in on the Adkmountainken's frogging thread on Pow Wow and then I'll see if I can get this thing tillered out, at least most of the way today.

Looks like another hot day, tillering is tough when its real hot. The sweat dripping adds to the frustrations of the job!   :mad:

[ChristopherO]

Can't wait to see it as a keeper when you finish up.
BTW, I'm just getting over a painful bout of tendenitus in my left elbow the a bandsaw DIDN'T cause.  Yes, it was from using the draw knife this past winter on scraping off the bark on a hickory stave and an osage stave.  
I agree drawknives are handy but they have side effects at times.  Wouldn't have been so bad but the hickory stave had a dry knot in the middle of a limb section and died when first bending.  All that pain for NOTHING!

[Osagetree]

Originally posted by ChristopherO:
All that pain for NOTHING!

That statement is exactly why I haven't given up on this stave.

Chris thanks, and I agree with the point drawknives are kinda hard on your body. Not caused from the drawknife; I have a fused right wrist and a compression facture in my T8 vert. At times my tenonidous acts up as well,,, not to mention the 5 small blisters this stave provided me!
I have nothing against using bandsaws. I have one and use from time to time. I would like to encourage that it can be done with hand tools if that is all you have.

[Pat B]

For many of us all we had were hand tools when we started. Draw knife, wood rasp, sureform, scrapers, etc. Most of my early bow were made from stave to bow(some never made it) using only a draw knife and rasp. My draw knife was also my scraper. In those days it would take me up to 40 hours to complete a bow, many of which were not successful. Lots of sore hands, wrists, elbows, lower backs and disposition but I was determined to be successful and eventually I was.
  Since then I have purchased a good bandsaw(14" Grizzly) and a table top belt/disc sander(also a Grizzly). The bandsaw alone cut my bow making time in half and extended the use of my muscles and joints expedentually. All my joints and body parts still hurt but the pleasure of making successful bows helps to elieviate that.
  I never think of it "as all that pain for nothing!" If you want someting bad enough you go for it, no matter what. After 25 years of building wood bows I can honestly say it was all worth the pain and frustration...or I wouldn't keep doing it!
  Joe, this is a good lesson for the newbies out there. I believe there is a bow in every stick if we can only coax it out and patience, hard work and tenacity is what makes bows.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Well said Pat.

 I think the biggest thing I've learned here on the bench is to have the #1 tool, Patience. I just need to learn how to see the bow in the stave, but I am getting better LOL. Matter of fact I'm doing what Joe is doing today, working in a hot shop. Rasping, scraping, swetting and even a little bleeding (those rasp will eat a guy).


 I got bandsaws and other power tools but there is just something about the romance of building one with all hand tools.
 
 Breaks over back to the shop!

 Stiks

[Pat B]

With hand tools you learn the wood, how it reacts to what you do to it and what you need to do to achieve what you want. With most of the selfbows I build I let the wood tell me what it wants to be...not what I want it to be. I think by going this route I have become more successful and learned more about the wood and wood bow building than I would otherwise.
  Stiks, patience is the #1 tool in my tool box. Without it all the hand tools, power tools, wood amd time will be for naught!
  It took me from the beginning of this bow trade build until almost the due date to complete the bow I made for Osagetree. Lots of that time was waiting for results of the processes but it was patience that got me through it all.

[Osagetree]

The arrow and game hunted cares not what method the bow was crafted from,,, why should we?

      Either way it's a lot of fun    

Here it is again on the long string. It has been pulled to about a 6" brace and I think it's ready for a shorter string.

 

I'm gonna have to run around some with the wife but hope to get back on it soon.

I hate to do it at this point but I am also going to have to work a bit on the string allignment again.

I still need some building up on the tips (due to them being so thin) so I can cut in some string nocks. At this point a traditional type nock is not going to work!

Got any ideas I can use?   :confused:

[Pat B]

If the tips are too narrow to cut in string grooves add an overlay and just put the string groove across that. Make them deep enough so you can cut the string groove in deep enough so the string won't come out. I think I have a bow done like this so if I can find it I will post pics.

[JEFF B]

what about pin nocks would that work bro i think thats what ya call em. any how that is looking good bro no need to put that in the fire. its cool    with all that hard work put in to it it would be a shame.

[George Tsoukalas]

Good save! So far so good. Yes, do an overlay. Jwge

[Osagetree]

Okay, a simple overlay is about the only option here.

I took an antler burr from my box of scrap antler peices and used the band saw to split it down the middle. See I can use a power tool now and then! I guess I thought the burr end would look good but now i wonder!

This is the back tip of the bow.

 

Then I used the belt sander to flatten a 2" section of the tip and to flatten the antler for a nice glueing surface. This is the tip from the side of the bow. You can see the flat spot I made for the antler overlay. The backing ring was so thick that I accomplished the flat spots on the tips without compromising the backing ring.

 

Some TBII glue and a spring clamp holds it on to dry. I leave the antler pieces whole for glue up as it provides less room for error. Just file it down to the wood after the glue is dry.

 

[Osagetree]

The bulk of the antler was ground down close to the wood with the belt sander. I used the file to blend it in as best as I could and to shape the tips a bit more.

Not the best looking overlays I've done but I feel they are fitting to the bow. I still need to cut in the string nocks and am thinking of how best to do that.

Here are a bunch of pics of the tips at different angles. What do you think?

Belly side of tip
 
 

Belly side of other tip
 
 

Overlay
 

I reheated  one of the limbs again to get the string in a better position. It really lines up well now. I'll let it set a day or so before re-checking the tiller to 6". If it is still okay then I'll try and get a string on it.