First bow NEED A LOT OF HELP!

[snakebit40]

Hey everybody! I haven't been on the bench for awhile cause I haven't had time to even think about building a bow lately. It would drive me crazy if I'd been looking here and couldn't try building. So now that I have time I need some help!

This is my first attempt at an osage selfbow. Truth be told I've never built a bow that hasn't broke yet. I REALLY  don't want this one to break. So I'm asking all of you for help. I really like to handle on the Hill bows, so I would like the handle like them. I'm going to have to flip the tips cause it's so short.

My bow- 66" from end to end. Is it right that after I put the nocks on it'll be considered 64" from tip to tip?

I would like it to be as close to 55-60 @28 as possible. How wide should I make it? How thick should I have it? What should I taper the tips down to?

Here's my bow-

 

 

 

This is the width at the handle-

 

It was this width when I got it, so I hope it's not to narrow.

Here's a pic of the narrowest point about 8 inches below the middle of the bow-

 

Are these knots on the edge of the bow-

 

 

Are they going to be ok?

Is the middle of the bow going to be the middle of the handle? Or the arrow shelf?

As you can see I need A LOT of help! Thanks ALL!

[Black Mockingbird]

It wood take a book to answer all those questions properly. Check out dean torges hunting the osage bow and the traditional bowyers bibles vol one and two. Do some more reading and research( lots of good build alongs out there),and then come back and ask questions.

In short there s plenty of width n length there to meet your intended stats. And you won't have to flip the tips and I don't suggest you do. Keep it simple at first. Your going to have to make a heat correction as well to align your string thru the handle. Mark center and make a mark from two inches away on both sides(handle) and make that 1 1/4" wide,and from those marks make a mark 1 1/2" from the end of both sides of the handle( fades) and make them 1 1/2" wide and run that width till mid limb then taper to 1/2" tips. Cut it out to just outside of lines. On thickness make a mark a half inch down from the back at the fade area and facet a line with a pencil down to 3/8" at the tips. And leave your handle 1 1/2" thick for now if you can. Now reduce your thickness to just above your facet lines. Now clean up to your lines on the front profile with a rasp, scraper, then sandpaper. Next you'll floor tiller, then tiller it out which is the most important step in bowmaking. Get your bow shaped out and reduced thickness to floor tiller, then come back and ask help and show pics of your current tiller and you'll get help here where to scrape and where not to...got it  

[George Tsoukalas]

You should probably leave that stave for later on in your bow making career or you could do what I did years ago and use it as a learning tool. I doubt you'll get answers from any book on how to handle a character stave of that ilk. I did see a chapter in TBB4 which deals with character bows. There is some info on osage bows on my site. Read and ask questions.  Think about buying the TBB series including #4.  Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

Most dealers will sell a beginner osage stave. Hickory is far easier to work.  Boards are good too provided you choose a straight grained board--tip to tip. More info on my site. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[LittleBen]

I'd second what George said. Thats a pretty gnarled stave there. I think saying character stave is being polite. Anyway good luck whatever you choose.

[gobbler716]

Like I stated in another thread, I just sanded past where I intended, maybe I can salvage a 20# long bow outta this project....my first!

[fujimo]

i have ruined a few good chunks of wood using power tools. now i mostly just use hand tools, maybe a very rough outline cut with a bandsaw- then its spoke shave, hand plane, file and scraper time.