And so it begins... my first selfbow

[Bel007]

And so it begins, my first attempt at making a self bow.  My first attempt at making any bow in fact.  Total rookie with a desire to fling arrows from a bow that was released from it’s tree form by my own hand.  I have read TBB I, II, and III.  Soon to tackle IV but gotta make some sawdust now before I explode.

Here is my first stave.  Picked it up at UBM from Kent Brinkley.  He was a great help.  I told him I was dead nervous about chasing rings.  He took me out in the parking lot, pulled out a stave and his draw knife and gave me my first lesson right there.  Confidence climbed a notch.  We picked out two staves, one with good thick rings for #1 and one with tighter rings and nice reflex for #2.  He also gave me some extra tools I needed out of his own toolbox so I could get started sooner.  Great guy.  Thanks Kent !

Let’s get started…

Nice thick rings.  Going down to the first thick ring, but going one ring at a time for practice..
 

 

Chasing the first one.  This ring is fairly think and thick on one side thin on the other.  Not going to keep it as my back but used it as practice for chasing my first ring. Didn’t scrape out the dips, but got the feel for the draw knife.
 

 

 

Through the thin layer and down to the ring I want to keep for my back.
 

 

Cleaned up pretty good.  The flash sure shows the early wood left behind.
 

[Bel007]

Trying to figure out how to lay things out.  The stave is a bit to narrow for the dimensions given in TBB I, and has a wicked little S-curve at one end making it difficult to obtain the 67”.  So I need to go more narrow and hence thicker than the template in TBB I, as well as decide to go shorter or face a bit of a twisted sister for bow #1.  I can get a fairly straight 64” or moderate twist at 65-66”.  Decisions…decisions..decisions…
 

 

 

 

[okie64]

I hate making those decisions. To me laying out the bow is the toughest part. Good Luck.

[scrub-buster]

Looking good.  That is a nice piece of osage.

[KellyG]

Leave that beautiful curve in that bow. You can line up your tips later. Don’t ask me how I have not done that yet. I am working on my first Osage now also. I have be trying to take some deflex out of mine, but a nice curve like that would stay. Other will give you some will help you out for sure as long as you keep the PICs and questions coming.
Happy Building,
Kelly

[broketooth]

thats a good lookin stave. just follow the snakey grain with your center line of your profile and finish the profile to the end . the snakey portion of that limb doest bend that much. most of the work in the limb is between the fades to 2/3 out. you'll see. ruddy

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Welcome to the Osage club. This is only the beginning, once you get that first one under your belt there's no turning back.

Just use your information from reading the BB's as a guidline, but no bow or stave layout is ever going to be exactly the same. That's what gives each one it's on unique character. We live by breaking the rules and going outside the box. Let the stave tell you what it wants to be and if you listen carefully you will end up with a shooting machine.    

Thanks for sharing.

[1oldbowguy]

NICE, love the curve, as Kelly said, leave it in.  I am working on my first also, getting real close now.  You will love it, and hate it all at the same time.  As SEMO said, no turning back, I am looking forward to my next one already.  Have fun and keep pictures coming.

[George Tsoukalas]

You did well. My site has buidalongs. jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[4est trekker]

Definitely leave that "curvy" tip full length.  From the pictures it looks like it will still track the string down the center when strung.  Right now, as you have it laid out, your tip will be slightly right of center when strung, causing you problems with string alignment.

Also, your center line should follow the grain, as mentioned above.  Here's a link to a simple way to do it by PatB.  I also use this method, as do many of the other bowyers on here.  It's fast, simple, and accurate:

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002947#000000


Great start and good looking piece of osage  

[Hightower]

Makin sawdust is the best part.  
Looks great already.

[hova]

like 4est said , lay it out according to the grain , and leave that tip. it  looks like it still lines up perfectly.

[Bel007]

Thnx for the encouragement and advice.  Will likely need more of each as this project continues.

I have been watching KellyG, 1oldbowguy, and others and reading as many posts and comments as possible along the way.  George, been to your site several time. Lots of good info and inspiration there. thnx!  Semo_hunter, I am glad your watching this thread. I enjoy the tips you share.

Leaving the complete S-curve in the end of the stave would make the finished bow 72 in.  Is it possible to make it too long?  64 in vs 72in?

[Tradstick]

Brian,
How wide is your layout at the fades, I was thinking both stave's were pushing 3" wide and you should have plenty of width. Everyone likes differnt widths & designs, but I feel 1 1/2" wide at the fades is plenty of wood when using Osage. Looks like you are well on your way, Keep me updated!!
Kent

[Bel007]

Tradstick.  Thanks!  Stave 2 is a good 3 inches through the center 2/3s.  Stave #1 (this one) is a shade over 2 but undercuts quickly is some spots.  I am planning 1.5 inches at the fades and all should be well.  

4est. trekker Thanks for the tip/link on the centering tool.  I made one up and it sure helped.

I re-drew my layout lines - stretching out the whole bow to 72 inches.  As discussed above, I could shorten to 64in., shift my goal of 66 in. down toward the S-curve, or stretch the whole thing out and utilize the entire stave.  Here are some pics utilizing the whole stick.  I drew the limbs 1.5 inches wide from the fades and down the limb 17inches,  then tapered out 12 more inches to 5/8 at the tip.  I know the tips will end up more narrow/tapered but I just drew them rounded off for layout purposes.

   

   

   

   

There is a slight degree of twist  in the stave at the S-curve end.  Will that be correctable with heat?

   

   

 

[b.glass]

Nice piece of osage and a very good start!

[Bel007]

Well some more shaping today.  All done with a sureform rasp and spoke shave.  I was real surprised how quickly these work the wood down.  Not as quickly as a band saw… but I don’t have one of those.  That is OK though.  I got to spend some real quality time with my stave.  She is starting to look less like a tree wedge and more like a bow blank.

Can’t get into a tight concave with the sureform or spokeshave and my rasps kinda suck… time to place an order.  I think I’ll get some Nicholson rasps, probably both the  #49 and #50.

The stave has a nice bit of reflex.

Still more work ahead.

 

 

 

 

[hova]

[DEATHMASTER]

Looks to be going good.
Take your time. It will turn out.

[okie64]

At 72" that thing will draw really smooth. Thats pretty long for osage though. Osage is really heavy wood so you'll probably need to narrow your tips quite a bit at that length or it could get a little sluggish and a lot of handshock. Yes you can correct twist with heat but that twist doesnt look that bad to me.