Hand tools & Osage bows

[KellyG]

looks good Joe, wish I knew about the pie shape before I started mine. Live and learn, I will try to remember it for the next one.

good build along,

Kelly

[red hill]

Joe, I think they should call you "osage screamer" because of fast you tear through a stave.  Great work. Love each post you offer us.
Stan

[Osagetree]

Thanks red,,, but if I change my handle name it would be "Yellow Boogers".     :cool:

[Gray Buffalo]

Cool build along. Thanks

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Looks like your getting along fine there "Yellow Boogers".    

[$bowhunter$]

great build along. i have a question.

is it necisary for a stave to be sealed on ends and set out for 2 years to dry?

[Osagetree]

Many variables here on that question. Here's my two cents;
No need to seal ends if you don't plan to use the ends of the stave. If your stave is 80" and your bow is going to be 62" you can probably live without sealing the ends but, you'll have to cut off the ends that checked because they will check if not sealed!
2 years is a good start, 10 years is better if the wood is kept in a dry cool & dark place.
I have worked green wood (osage)on the advice of an old bowyer. I worked several bows out of a green osage with good results. The thing to do with green wood is to cut your tree and rough out your bow in the same day, seal it (the whole thing)with boiled linseed oil and let it stay indoors for 6 months. Then each time you remove wood to shape it or tiller it further, you must re-apply linseed oil to prevent checking each time wood is removed. Once built, you must continually treat the bow with linseed oil to keep it from checking in the future. I found that the green wood treated with linseed oil can not be manipulated with dry heat but can be with a steam bath without ill results. The set in limbs was very minimal with cautious tillering. The old guy still does use green wood but, I do not as I got far enough behind in my wood stock that I have some waiting for several years know.
Another tactic is rough out a beefy bow from wood that has been cut for 6 months, seal the back and tips upsbout 10" and let it dry out inside for another 6 months before final shaping and tillering.

[Osagetree]

Now, on to checking the tiller on the floor. This is how I do it. Not really getting much bend but trying to eliminate the flat spots and getting what is bending in a even curve. Pushing down on the handle with the tip on the floor allow the limb to bend somewhat. At this point and only by my experience can I tell if the bow is way too heavey or light. This one seems a bit heavey.

 

Then on to the tiller tree & long string just to get a better idea of where to begin removing wood.

 

The bow wanted to flip over in the tree when the long string was pulled a bit. This is due to the tips being off center. If the string does not travel down the center of the limbs the bow will want to twist when the string is pulled.

Even though straightened on the caul, not all of the problem was corrected as you can see by the slight bend in the stave to the right in the first picture below.
A little heat from the heat gun allow me to bend it out right in the vise as you can see in the second picture below.

 
 

As a result a straighter stave that wont twist or flip over in the tiller tree.
 
 

Be sure after using dry heat that you don't try bending the stave until the moistier evens back out. I wait till the next day.

[Osagetree]

With a round file I cut in some shallow string nocks on each limb tip. Allowing me to see how the short string is going to do. I move on to a shorter string but not the short length it would be at normal brace. Just long enogh to raise the string above the handle 3 inches or so.. By adjusting the position of the timber hitch on the short string, I can find this low brace in the stave.

 
   

There are two ways I use to tiller. The scraper and the drawknife. You can see in the first bic the position the DK is in when I use it as a scrapper to tiller the high spots. Teh second pic is my scraper that I use to  be a little more carefull.

   
   

Around knots and imperfections in the wood the scraper may dig in and cause a washboard effect or an un-even surface on the belly wood, not allowing the scraper to take off even strokes of wood which you need to get a decent tiller. You can see in this in the pic below. It is at the end of the growth ring near the tip. though this portin of the wood wont be a working portion of the limb, I'll use this spot to show how I smooth a dig-in over so that the scraper runs over it smoothly. This is common in the fade area and again, around knots and other imperfections in the wood.

   

Simply smooth it over with a flat file.

 

Then run the scraper over it.

 

[Lee Slikkers]

Really good stuff OsageTree!

[Osagetree]

There is still not a good string travel on the stave and that is why I left the handle and tips wider than they need to be.

   

In this pic the arrow drawn on the limb shows which direction the string needs to move to get it closer to center. I use the rasp, file and scraper to re-shape the limb tips. Removing the wood from one side will allow the string to move closer to center when new nocks are made.

   
   

Do the same to the other tip, and I also remove wood from the wide handle on the appropriate side to assist in aligning the string better..

   

And the result is a much more pleasing string line.

   

[Osagetree]

A few more sessions on the tiller tree.

 

Some exercizing of limbs, more tillering and raise the brace to about 5 inches.

 

And now we're getting some where,,, drawn to about 20 or 21 inches at about 50 lbs and around 8 to 10 inches of limb tip movement. Still neads a little tweaking though. Oh well, getting closer anyways!

 

[Pat B]

Boy Joe, she's coming along nicely. Great instructions and explanations with your build along too.

[KellyG]

Ah ha I am glad I have not touched my tips or handles, knew if I worked slow enough you would catch me. My evil plan has worked. Muahahaha,
Nice Joe, I will be looking this over a few times  I bet.

[snag]

Curious about the "sling" on your tiller tree. I have a 2X4 that I've padded and have to clamp the bow into. Don't like it. The clamp gets in the way of the tillering string. Is yours a piece of scrap metal that you've formed?

[Osagetree]

Snag,,, it is two blocks of wood and a leather strap that I lay the handle on top of. This provides a soft platform about the size of my grip on a bow. I'll try and get a close up posted this evening.

[snag]

Thanks Osagetree. I was thinking of some sort of sling too. That way the bow wouldn't twist as you draw the string down and it would be soft on the wood.

[swtchbckshtr]

awesome, very nice build along thanks for sharing your knowledge

[Osagetree]

Snag,

Not sure about a sling but here is my set up.

One block of approx. 4" long x 1 1/2" deep walnut mounted to the wall with 2 nails & one peice of walnut mounted to the first with 1 nail allowing it to swivel around on the other. A leather piece tacked to the wall with a couple roofing nails.

 

When I place a bow stave on for the first time, I check for twisting with the swivel block up. This block keeps the bow in the tree and let's you see any twist with out it flipping over in the tree.

 

I will get any severe twisting out before trying to tiller one to finished. Once the twist is out, I can tiller it further with the swivel block down and without clamping it in with something. The leather lets you see how the limbs react on this fulcrum that is soon to be your bow hand. You dont want a bow that twists around in your hand when you draw it back.

 

[snag]

I like it! Thanks. Headed to the shop....David