Building an osage recurve

[Chris Grimbowyer]

Hello I have a Osage stave thats pretty nice and has only 1 knot in it. I was going to make a recurve bow with it. What is the best way to bend the wood. I have the Bowyers bible volumes 1 and 2 and I dont know which option in there I should try for bending it. If you dont think I should use osage for a recurve tell me what is a better type of wood for a recurve. Thanx   :confused:    :confused:  My first bow was a white elm flatbow.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

Chris were are you in ..Ohio?

[Mark Smeltzer]

Osage is a great wood for a recurve. There are also a few other things to consider though. Like Bow length vs draw length and how much working limb vs a rigid handle and static tip. On Osage I have had good results with both dry heat and steam but if you think the wood may not be fully dry use steam. Be patient and go slow.
My most favorite bow. 62" 55lbs@26"
 
 
 

[Chris Grimbowyer]

Yea im from ohio. Martins Ferry to be exact. close to wheeling west virginia

[Diamondback59]

osage is very easey to bend with dry heat i agree make sure it s dry if not steam brock

[Chris Grimbowyer]

It is dry. It was cut in 06 and been airdried since then. So dryheat then?

[Mark Smeltzer]

One thing I have done on the last two recurves I'va made, one Yew and one Osage is to to thin the thickness of the last 8-9" of the tips to 1/2 of what you think you need. then I steam bend them on a jig. I steam bend a seperate underlay, a different type of wood just for contrast then glue the back together on the jig. Basicly gluing in the recurve, it holds better and dresses up the bow a little. Sorry I don't have any pics right now.

Mark

[ChristopherO]

Mark, that is a beautiful recurve you've made.
The osage recurve I put together was from a dry stave and steam wouldn't touch it so I used dry heat and it was the ticket.  
Here are a few pictures to give you an option of a different type of recurved bow to choose from:
 

Full Draw:
 

Mark's recurve resembles, to my eye, a working recurve design, though with his lamination technique it may very well be static.  The design I used was directly influenced from the Traditional Bower's Bible 2 with a 60 degree static tip, as shown below:
 
This does not have the swooping bend at the tip, like Mark's sweet shooter, but a much more dramatic crook.  It is best to keep the tip, IMHO, thick when bending to allow any splinters (use a steel band to help prevent them) to be filed away in the finishing/tillering process.
After sinewing and finishing I gave this bow to my son, who loves it more than my fiberglass bows.  I am partial to it, too.
Hope all goes well with your build.

[Osagetree]

Mark or Chris.

Let's see a profile of one of them bad boy's unbraced!!!

[ChristopherO]

Joe,
I can't find the finishe pictures at the moment but here it is without sinew or handle wrap:

 

[Mark Smeltzer]

Thanks for the nice comments.
Here are a few more pics of that bow including unstrung. It has a little snake to it too. In my opinion the you stand a better chance of getting a working recurve from gluing in curve method. The glue helps it bend and return to the original shape. The other way is more static.
 
 

[Mark Smeltzer]

If I get a minute I'll put up a few of the Lam method. For me it hold the curve better.

Mark

[Mark Smeltzer]

I tried to upload some different pic to photo bucket but cant. I tried resizing, any suggestions?

Mark

[Osagetree]

Thanks Chris amd Mark, real purty bows. Awsome work!!!

Mark, email me your glue up method if you can't find how to post here!!!!

[4est trekker]

I do as Mark says as well.  I bend the curve using dry heat (again, if the wood is dry), then I use belt sander (and be VERY CAREFUL) to plane and flatten the belly side of the curve and about 1" beyond.  Then I use a very thin lam (1/16" to start with), and glue it on.  It doesn't need to be really thick because a laminated section of wood x" thick will be stronger than a solid piece of wood x" thick.  When the glue cures (I use Titebond III), I use had tools to taper it into the existing belly, round the edges, etc.  

This particular bow has brush nocks, which are a snap to install once you've got the first lamination down.  Plus, they're darn effective at keeping stuff from getting tangled between the string and the limb.  (I happened to bend this particular one with both steam and a kerf and spline.  That latter is the thin lam of wenge within the osage.)

 

 

 

 

[Mark Smeltzer]

Finally figured out photo Bucket again! Here is how I did the last couple.  This one is sinew backed out to the recurve and is Osage with Yew under lays. I steam bend everything then glue together, then shape and tiller.  This was built for someone with a longer draw than mine so it is 60" long 60lbs at 29".  Sorry I don't have a full draw pic.
I'm doing one now that is Sinew backed Yew with Red Elm underlays.  
 
 
 
 

[Asafan]

Fine work! I never sufficed on such careful processing of a bow from a stick. I hope, the bow will fall into in good hands!

[Pat B]

This is an osage static recurve selfbow I built a few years ago. It bends through the handle. I can feel it give right at full draw... 55#@26", 60"t/t. The backing is choke cherry bark.
 
 
 
 
 

[John Scifres]

For sweeping curves that aren't too drastic, dry heat works best for me.  It's quicker and easier.

For statics that bend more like an angle, I prefer boiling.  Kerfing is a very simple and effective way of making either a little safer.  Plus they look cool.  The laminating technique is very interesting.  Haven't tried that one...yet.

[Pat B]

The recurves on my bow above was one with dry heat and oil.