Hand tools & Osage bows

[red hill]

Bernie, this is a great site/thread.  I have always been interested in traditional archery but didn't realize I could make my own stuff. Everything was so expensive if you bought custom equipment. Add in that I'm lefthanded and I didn't have much of a chance down here. (Now I know there once was a guy in Gurdon, AR that was well known for making a bow called the "Arkansas Stick".) So much wasted time. I grew up in the sticks, knew most of the trees around here, too. Just didn't know how/where to get started.  
This site has taken care of that. I share this site with as many people as I can.  
So keep it comin', Joe.  My science students loved your thread from a few years back in which you made all of your tackle to take a buck. That was a masterpiece.
Thanks,
Stan  

[Osagetree]

Sorry Gang,,, just been busy....      

I chase from either end and if one end doesn't work for me, I may give the other end a try. I was thinking about what you described happening to me,,, it was on greener staves rather than a well seasoned one? Not real sure if it is not just coincidence?            

This subject would make a good poll thread here on the "Bowyers Bench"! I'd be very intersted in the results!

Everyone else,,,, wonderful support here, THANK YOU!

[Balding Kansan]

Yes sir...well seasoned and a fairly sharp knife. A guy couldn't shave with it but good enough i'd say. The stave is somewhat snakey if that had anything to do with it.

[George Tsoukalas]

Looking good, Osage Tree.  I'm not bored. I always like watching other people build'em.    Jawge

[Tony Chinn]

Joe is a great teacher, I think I slow him down alittle asking all the questions but he is good answering them and others to. Thanks alot Joe see ya Sat

Tony

[joshuasdad826]

Not bored but very thankful! My first bow attempt from American Beech didn't go very well and now I have a better idea why; I did it ALL wrong. Now on my second bow attempt (from oak board) which I have learned much from leaves me eager to get some wood and try again; if only I wasn't surrounded by pine. ; )

[Lee Slikkers]

Certainly not boring...love it so far.  Looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks

[Osagetree]

Well, so sorry it has been 4 or 5 months since I worked on any of these 4 staves. Life, work, surgery, camping, etc. You know there are other things a man must do besides play in the shop... And, I did give fair warning on the timeline here!

I've taken the 64" stave or stave #1 and marked the center with a pencil across the back of the stave at 32".
   


In this picture you can see the check or crack in the backing of this stave that I found earlier and marked it with  pencil so I wouldn't miss it when laying out the bow. next I took my little measure scribe and a pincil and marked a line the length of the stave. Everything left of the line needs to come off.
   

Here's a shot of the scribe tool I use. It has a surface platform that rides along the edge of the stave and a sharp scribe that scores a line that follows the egde of the stave perfectly. I then use a pencil to mark the line.
   

Turning the stave on its side, I use the drawknife bevel side down to remove everything down to the line. Bevel side down allows more control and makes sure you dont go below the line drawn. You can see where I marked the check just below the blade of the knife in this picture.
   

Always starting at the handle and work out to the tips.
   

Flip the stave over and remove down to the line on the other limb. Again, working from the handle out to the tips with the bevel side of the blade down.
You can remove allot of wood this way ina short period of time. From the begining I have followed the verticle grain by using the drawknife so the line drawn to follow the edge in an attempt to remove the check (crack) also follows the grain of the wood. With the bevel side of the blade down it makes it much harder to cut through the vertical grain so it is fairly easy to get close to the line usng only the drawknife.
   
   

Here is the stave taken down to the line. Note the pie shaped end of the stave. As I removed wood to the line, I tried to maintain the pie shape of the stave as it was when it was originally split in to quarters. There is a reason for this trying to maintain the pie shape of the stave.
   

[SportHunter]

Great thread! Looking forward to the rest.

[Osagetree]

Before I explain why I like to have the stave in a pie shape,,, I need to lay out the bow on the backing ring.
There are many methods to laying out a bow but here are the basics I use.
Draw a line the length of the stave in the center end to end and while following the vertical grain. Then make hash marks 2" above and below the center line marked at 32". That is the handle. now, above and below the handle two more hash marks at 1.5" are the fades.
   

Here I've drawn on the fade profile. 1" at the handle and 1.5" at the limb.
   

The width of the fades and limbs are 1.5" wide out to mid limb, then it tappers to 3/8" at the tips.
   

The center of the handle is left almost as wide as the stave until later.
   

The lay out completed.
   

Using the drawknife again, I remove wood from the sides of the limbs down to the lay out lines. Notice again that i am maintaining that pie shape.
   

In this picture, I have turned the stave over in the vise to work or remove wood from the other side of the limb. Again keeping the pie shape to that side as well.
   

Closer to the lay out lines you can see here the check (crack) that I am trying to rid the stave of. You can see here how close I got to the line with the drawknife and where I made dots right beside the check. The dots will be along the layout line and will removed the check as I follow along the layout line bevel side down!
   

[Tony Chinn]

Hey Joe

Hopefully the weekend after fater's day I can git up that way, haven't forgot about the leather punch either 6.5
later pal

[Osagetree]

Sounds good Tony, hope you have nice Fathers Day!!

The check is gone,,, it lifted off just at the layout line for the limb. The check only went down through the backing the depth of one ring and would have been fine left in. There was just no sure way to tell that without going down another ring. Since I wanted this ring to be the back, I chose to remove it.
 

Here the picture shows the drawknife removing wood to the layout lines. You'll see the bevel side of the blade is down and the knife is at the correct angle to remove wood without going past the pencil marks. If the blade starts going too deep simply pull the end of the handles upwards. The leverage from the bevel on the blade bring it back up and oput from the layout lines.
The key is go slowly removing 1/4" strips instead of trying to take off 1/2' at a time.
Also, when reducing staves with a drawknife, split up the width of the surface you are working on in to sections. Take off and edge, then the ridge or new edge you just created. Dont try to work wood off with a width of 2 or 3 inches, just take off an inch or so at a time. Note how in the picture I am working the sharp edge toward the layout line, that will leave another edge to work next as I work the DK around and towards the point of the pie shape. The length of strip you remove can be very long. I average over 20" long strips until I get close to the layout lines. Then my depth of cut and length of cut (strip) get smaller because smaller and less is more accurate while removing wood with a DK.
 

[Osagetree]

Here are two pics of a black hole in the staves. One pic from just after splitting and the other pic is what was left ater removing wood down to the layout lines...
The wood at the black hole popped right off with the woods natural vertical grain as the drawknife passed along my layout line. This leaves a little dip or character in the edge of the bows limb.
 
 

Here is another pic of the black hole on the limb. (The piont of the pie shape or belly of the limb is facing you in the pic).
 

And, here is the stave down to the layout lines of each limb.
 

[Osagetree]

Now that we are down to the limb profile lines on to removing some belly wood and shaping the fades. Up to this point everything has been done with the drawknife. Now on to the next items in the hand tool arsenal. The rasp, the file and the scraper...

When it comes to the rasps; one thing to keep in mnd is that they only remove wood in the forward direction or when pushing the rasp. Trying to remove wood in both directions (pulling & pushing) only wastes energy and helps dull the rasp over time.

With the stave clamped in the vise belly side up (point of pie shape up) use the draw knife bevel side down, to remove the peak or point of the pie shape. Keep in mind that you want the rough limb thickness of 5/8" to 3/4" for a final limb thickness. Work with the DK from the handle out, down into the fade and out to the limb tips.
 

The next series of pics shows what to look for when removing belly wood at this point. Look at the growth rings and insure in your wood removal that the rings stair step out to the limb tips to maintain some level of tappering of the limb from fade to tip.
Keep in mind the backing when removing belly wood. you need to remain the same thicknes. If the limb twists,,, so must your work in wood removal.
 
 

To help shape the fade at a smoother and steeper angle I'll use a flat rasp or a half round rasp. You can see I also mark the fade lines around the belly for keeping my tool work in check.
 

Note that in this picture the drawknife was used as a scraper on the right side of the fade to let me see the step of the growth rings. Once you have used the rasp the visibility of the growth rings are non-existant, visualy. The left side of the fade was rasped and then filed. Scraping with the DK shows the growth rings to me again.
 

Once I see the rings again, I re-mark the fade lines to see that all steps are within the fade area. "H" is for handle & "F" is for fade.
This is a good place for the fade rings to be in for here in a bit we will begin to start floor tillering or heat bending.
 

[Osagetree]

This is how I use the rasp, file & scraper in sequence to provide an almost finished result to my work.

In front of the rasp you'll see its tool marks by looking for the dull 3" section in front of the half round rasp in the pic. This is how I remove wood to rough shape the bow, fades, round over limbs and rid the stave of sharp edges.
 

On the other side of the half round tool is the file. Rasp,,,, then file. Same pic with file tool marks.
 

Now,,, unlike the rasps, the file and scrapers I do work in both directions. Here is the same pic after working the scraper. It provides an almost finished look to the wood.
 

Another example pic of the tool marks
 

[Osagetree]

Rough tip work with rasp
 

Tip work with file
 

Tip work with scrapper
 

Here's what I have after shaping with the rasps and finishing with the files and scrapers. We are about ready to floor tiller or heat bend to a better profile. As you can see we have plenty of twist and bend in stave #1.
 
 
 
 
 

[Osagetree]

The only thing left is to make sure both limbs are close to the same thickness at the fades and that each limb tappers or the rings stair step out to the tips. I use a simple tool like this to measure thickness.
 

My Grandson liked it when he stopped by to see POP POP's!
 

[Lee Slikkers]

That last pic of the little one is one for the wall...what a cool shot!  Thanks for taking the time to put this together, love the steps and process as done with hand tools.

Regards~

[Pat B]

Glad to see you are able to get back to some bow work, Joe. How's the hand?  
 Great build along!!!

[Osagetree]

Thanks Lee & Pat.

Well by the looks of the twist and dips I am going to have to throw in a power tool. My heat gun.
 

Here is the stave on my caul.
 
 

First I heat at one fade and get it clamped down.
 

Then the other fade.
 

Then heat and bend each limb one by one from the fade out to the tips.
 
 

Then the other limb and let it sit and cool for the day.