My first osage stave! ... It is finished!!...

[Echatham]

ummmm...... yes.   well, what i have done is i will take an area 4-8 inches or so... basicly just between knots.... and take it all down to a thin film of early wood over the ring... i will punch through it in spots so i know how close i am... kinda ends up splotchy. then i will lighten the pressure on the scraper and lightly scrape it mostly away. then i push the scraper rather than pull it which is what i do up to this point... and super lightly just go back over the whole area removing any tidbits of early wood that were left, and it also gets rid of any scraper marks that were there. im removing virtually no latewood this way.

[Echatham]

ok. the centerline is marked from tip to tip. stave is 73.5" long. the center of the stave is 1.5" left of the center of the big knot. i want a 68" ntn bow... so call it 70" ttt for now. where would you guys put the center of the handle? btw i can move the center line up or down about a quarter inch either way, and still keep the whole bow on the stave.

[Echatham]

here are two options... using the center of the stave as the center of the bow. go with the grain and make my handle screwy or cut through the grain and make it straight..... both lines are on there..... use your imagination
 

[Echatham]

or.... i can move the center of the bow toward the left an inch, and put the curve around the knot in the fade.... i think i might like this idea... may move the whole bow up an eighth inch though, just to get away from the knot. what you guys think?
 

[Echatham]

alright hows this?
 

[Steve Kendrot]

Where does that knot come through on the belly side? Is it perpendicular to the back or does it traverse through the stave towards the other side of the bow? Are you planning on a shelf? Or a thin handle with floppy rest? Looks like the latter from your lines. One strategy would be to leave your handle full width till you get the limbs tillered. Then decide which limb will be up. That might help decide how to deal with the knot rather than committing up front. Are you doing same length limbs or asymmetrical ala Dean Torges?

[Echatham]

the knot doesn't go all the way through, but it is angled away from the bow... what i like about this layout above... is that either limb can be top. yes both limbs same length... thats all i know how to tiller and im not up for learning a different way just yet. oh and yeah thin handle and floppy rest or leather wedge under leather wrapped handle.

[Echatham]

1.5" down to 1/2" about the right dimensions for the limbs?

[John Scifres]

That allows for a lot of margin but is pretty overbuilt.  What are the full dimensions again?  Draw weight, length, NTN length?  Pyramid or are you carrying full width out to midlimb?

[Echatham]

what i have in mind is 68" ntn   55-57# @ 28".  i would rather error on the side of overbuilt.... but i really dont know the tried and true dimensions of osage selfbows. what dimensions would you use? what i have layed out right now is 1.5 at fades .5 at the tips and 1" at midlimb.
certainly will take any advice you can give.

[John Scifres]

It will be a shocker for sure.  

If I were you, I would go with 1-1/2" wide for 6" of the limb and tapering to 1/2" at the nocks.  64" NTN for a 28" draw.  Rough it out to 5/8" thick knowing you will have to get it down to 1/2" or so.  But you have shown patience so far.

[Echatham]

64" ehhh..... hmmm..... ok im game.   will draw that out tonight and post a pic. that guves me more room to put that wiggle around the knot somewheres else if i wanted to.... but i think right in or past the fade is probably ok. any opinion on that?

[CardboardDuck]

Ok, if that were mine I would put that knot in the handle. If it goes straight through or towards the edge of the stave it looks like it will be gone by the time you finish it out. It doesn't take that much osage to make a bow    The fades are under too much stress for a knot in my opinion.

[Echatham]

the knot is going to be gone.... im just talking about the curvy gtain that goes around it.

[CardboardDuck]

put it in the handle, grain orientation is less important in the handle. Unless it is going to be a bendy handle.

[Echatham]

not like this?  
 

[Echatham]

if i put it IN the handle.... there will be actual knot in the handle.  i cant get a full inch and a half around it so i cant put it in the limb.  it seems to me the only way to have no punky knot wood in the bow and still follow the grain is to place the knot next to the fade.... and let the fade follow the grain around the knot.  is there a risk in doing it this way? grain is always followed and there is no knot in the bow.

[Steve Kendrot]

I'd put in the handle too. Its not bending there. Soak the knot in superglue if you are worried. Not that I'm an expert, but the fades are the foundation of the limbs and the most important part to get right. Why complicate things by throwing a big bend  right in the fade?

[Steve Kendrot]

You can violate the grain in a non bending handle. Looks like the punk would be cut out based on the line you've got drawn.

[Echatham]

wish you guys would have just agreed with me...    :rolleyes:  

oh well... I'd be a fool not to listen to ya, so, back to the drawing board!