Got Osage and Hickory, what next?

[SteveL]

I was going to build a pyramid bow per the instructions posted by 4est trekker, but can't find a suitable piece of red oak. So I bought an osage board and a piece of hickory backing.

The osage is 9/16" x2" x 72" and the hickory is 3/16 inches thick.

This will be my first wood bow so I want to build something kind of simple yet functional enough to hunt with.

I was thinking that given the qualities of osage I could still follow 4est's pyramid bow directions but still use the 2" width. Do you guys think this OK?

Or are there better styles I should consider since I'm a rank beginner - an excited beginner!

Any insights and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

[Stiks-n-Strings]

If I could get my hands on a good osage board I would build a boo backed osage. I would think that 2" wide would give you a pretty stout bow.

 you can probably go 1.5" wide pyramid style I guess. But 2" is to much in my opinion. Osage is alot better bow wood than oak. and the specs in 4est's build along are for oak and these specs keep it in a safe range for a working bow.

[John Cooper]

Here's what I'd suggest:  Get yourself some Resorcinol glue.  It's kinda expensive at $30, but if you plan on making more of these laminated bows, it's more than worth it.  I'd cut it down to 66" or 68" and stay with the 1.5" pyramid design.  The hickory might be a little thick, but the beauty of using hickory for the backing is that you can thin it after gluing it on if you see your osage getting too thin during the tillering process.  For a simple design, first glue and clamp on an 8" handle block using acetone to de-grease the osage and course sandpaper to rough up both surfaces.  

After that's hardened, spread glue on both the osage and hickory slats and clamp it together (my favorite way is wrapping the bow in old bike innertubes cut into strips).  A simple reflex will be the easiest to make and to tiller.  Just put the tips up on 4" blocks and clamp the middle down so it touches the workbench.  It'll look like this, but without the two mid-limb clamps.  The reflex-deflex profile is a pain to tiller!    

Good luck and keep us posted!

[John Cooper]

Oh, I thought I'd suggest something else.  If you want to get into laminated bows, Dean Torges' "Hunting the bamboo backed osage bow" is a GREAT DVD.

[Pat B]

Hickory backed osage is one of my favorite combos. I would go 1 3/8" at the fades and out 4" to 6" then a straight taper to 1/2" tips(for now). Make the bow 60" to 66". I like 60" for my 26" draw and I can easily get 55#@26" with this set up. I also like a slightly rounder belly when I use osage.