decrowning osage

[Renacs]

I have a good amount of Osage with really thin rings. Ive spent the time and made a few good bows from them, but with my work; time is limited. So would decrowning, or basically make a board bow  be safe. I was thinking of using rawhide for backing.

[Pat B]

If you are gonna use rawhide for a backing there is no reason to decrown the stave. IMO there is no(or almost no) reason to decrown a stave anyway.

[George Tsoukalas]

I agree with Pat. Decrowning is tough to do correctly and not needed. Leave the bow longer by 2-3 inches. Jawge

[Renacs]

ok. if im going to cut corners, what about leaving the sap wood on?  And FYI the only reason for my laziness is because im only home one day a week. And i dont believe my hotel would be two happy about wood shavings.  I'm trying to basically get a bow to paint on. And i've been on a osage kick lately.

[Tom Leemans]

Sapwood on or off osage has been hashed about many times. The majority will tell you to remove it. Osage sapwood in general tends to not last. I'm sure there are those who say they've got bows that are perfectly fine, but if that were the case with all osage bows with the sapwood left on, don't you think we'd see more of them? I've been going to MOJam for a lot of years and have yet to see one. That has to mean something. Besides, who says it has to be finished that quickly? That thin ringed osage will be fine with rawhide on it. Sounds like what you need is a portable shave horse that will break down for travel. Just throw a tarp on the ground.
 

[George Tsoukalas]

Sapwood off unless you don't have enough wood for a bow; then get as close as you can to the heartwood because sapwood turns to heartwood. Jawge

[DVSHUNTER]

Ive made several sapwood bows. All are still shooting. Make the bow wider than normal and youll be fine.

This one was at mojam in 2010 almost finished.

 

 

Not one of my best nows. I used too much sapwood for the look i was after.