Snowy Day Buildalong - ***UPDATE 12-2014***

[John Scifres]

It's snowing...again.  

   
 
I have nothing to do all day and pretty much no way to do it if I did, so I'm building a bow.  I have a whole pile of osage under my bench that should be ready to make something out of.  How about I take TradGang along?  Let me finish my breakfast and we'll see what we got to work with.

     

Mmm.  Steel cut oats, golden raisens, honey, almonds and a dash of salt.  Good carb loading for a hour or so of chasing a ring.  Yes I had to go out this morning to Einstein's bagels to take my daughter to work!  Don't tell her but I put some Starbuck's that I brewed here at home in the cup - shhhhh!

[Bowjunkie]

I'm stuck at work, finished with my jobs with 5 hours left in the shift, and bored. I'll be watching.

I'm gonna work on an osage selfbow too when I get home.

[John Scifres]

Here's the pile under the bench.  Lately I've been just pulling the first thing I see out and making the best bow that I can from it.  That one up front looks OK to me.
 

It's a big ole stave, cut a couple years ago in Indiana.  It's currently 73" but has a big dogleg we'll have to deal with.
     
     

The dogleg starts at about 46" from the straight end so I can't get rid of it all.  I think I am going go for 64" total length bow and make it 55# at 28".

First thing I need to check is the straight end for drying checks or other issues to see if I need to trim it off any.  Looks pretty good to me.

   

So I mark it at 64" and cut it on the bandsaw.
     

Next I need to decide if I can get 2 bows from this piece.  My minimum across the bark dimension for 2 bows is 3" so I go to the skinny end and measure.

 

A little over 2-1/2" ain't gonna' make it.  I could try but it's better to get 1 great bow instead of 2 so-so bows.  

Next on to stripping the bark and sapwood.

[razorback]

Looking good John. Rings look great on that stave and I don't think that dogleg will cause you too much trouble. I've seen you make great bows out of much trickier wood. Will keep checking in as I work on my swap bow today.

[ranger 3]

Man, that has some thick rings.

[redbeard126]

Snowy and cold here today as well John. I'll keep you company on this one!

[wood carver 2]

John, it warms my heart to see a shop as full of sawdust and wood as yours. It says come on in and have some fun.      
Dave.

[Bowjunkie]

Must be busy puttin heat into that drawknife. Don't get it too hot and take the temper out of her, John  

[John Scifres]

This piece has nice rings but I think it's from the compression side of the tree.  It has a bit of deflex and I'll have to make it just a touch wider to make up for the less springy wood than we would find in a tension side stave.  Still, it's pretty awesome stuff.  Some of the young rings are about 3/16".  My chosen ring is about 1/8".  The best part about this stave is the nice flat back.  I'll make the belly flat for a really rectangular and efficient cross section.

[John Scifres]

OK, where were we.  Ahh...chasing the ring.  I use the bandsaw for as much of this as possible.  Saves on the 47 year old joints.

 

   

         

Now this is how I do it.  It takes some practice and a sharp blade in a well-turned saw.  If you don't have these pre-requisites, stick to the drawknife.  This thing was so thick, even I had to slum it for half the bow and use hand tools.
   

   

[John Scifres]

OK, so obviously, this only gets us so far.  I like to chase the ring above the ring I want and then lay the bow out, cut it wide and then chase the final ring.

   

Mark all the gotchas prior to laying it out.

   

Use a weighted string to see how straight you might be able to get your layout.

So one limb is straight and the other is straight until we hit the dogleg.

 

Mark the center of the stave. and start thinking about your options.

 

I'm using the Ferret Floppy "Bowyer's Rule" to layout a 4" handle and 2" fades.  I'll make the bow full width for 6" of the limb and taper to 1/2" nocks. I'm starting with 1-1/2" but the final width will be more like 1-1/4".
   

I can use a yard stick for the straight limb.  I chose the dogleg for the lower limb since that will bend to the left for a right handed bow.  But I have a heatgun and I'll line it up later so that the string bisects the handle.

   

[John Scifres]

For the dogleg limb, I simply divided the section that bends into 4 equal parts.  I am going from 1-1/2" full width to 1/2" at the nock, or 1" total.  Divide that by four and each section decreases in width by 1/4".  Mark the dividing lines at 1-1/2", 1-1/4", 1", 3/4" and then connect the dots.  You'll get a nice bend to match the natural curve.

   

You can use this same technique for really snaky limbs but it often takes a little more creativity to get the final layout on those.

Double check that none of your gotchas are in bad places.  This one is close but it will be fine.

   

And cut it out wide.  I pretty much just leave the line and that gives me some fudge room for final layout.

   

[John Scifres]

I am about to remove the top ring so before I lose all my measurements, I mark them on the side.

 

As I chase a ring, I take care not to scalp over pins and knots.  I chase them from both sides, never coming over the top and ripping out grain on the downhill swipe.
   

   

Here's another one.

   

If you do it right, the last bit will just pop off, leaving some cleanup with gentler tools.

   

[John Scifres]

A scraper and wood carving chisel help with that part.
   

   

This leaves it standing pretty proud so I take a gentle touch with a half round file and some sandpaper to make it smooth.

   

You need to expect some complications along the way.  For instance, the cluster of pins that didn't seem to be much of a problem initially are a little bigger than I like.  

   
 
In my initial layout, they are in the near handle part of the upper limb.  This part bends quite a bit so I would rather they not be there.  In all likelihood, they are not a big problem but I can get them out of that heavily bending area by simply flipping my layout and tweaking my non-bending handle down a bit in the bow.

     

The upper limb is now the lower limb and the cluster is in the non-bending fade.

[Buemaker]

Interesting and nice yellow wood. By the way, 47 is just a spring chicken      Bue--.

[redbeard126]

Looking good John! Makes this glass guy want to get some Osage and try one of my own. You make it look easier than I'm sure it is!!

[mwosborn]

Good day for it - thanks John!

[John Scifres]

So my next step is correcting some of the character with the heatgun and my caul.

 

I don't usually use oil on this part but since I would like to get this done today, and heating dries the wood out, I'm gonna give it a shot.

A liberal coating with some extra virgin olive oil and we get to the toasting.  I have really become a fan of toasting the belly of osage bows.  I believe it has helped reduce set and made for quicker, more durable bows.  I also make a lot more flat belly bows than I used to for the same reason.

     

     

The oil definitely changes the amount of color change there is.  I'm not really sure if I am getting it hot enough or too hot at this point.  I guess we'll see.

 This is the dogleg side.

   

Here it is after correcting the other limb which was straight but had significant deflex.

   

I'll let it cool for an hour or so out in the cold.  It's stopped snowing for now although I guess we are supposed to get more later.

[Echatham]

hey i got the same caul.  i want me one of them bowyer's rules.  question for you, when you snap that straight line down the stave doesn't that give you some grain runout?  it may not be necessary, but i always draw my centerline following the grain of the wood under good light, and then draw the rest of the bow around the centerline.

btw if that reads in any way as if im telling you how to do it that is not at all how i meant it.  I know my experience level and have a good idea of yours... and you definitely win  

[Echatham]

oh and one more question, do you ever have a problem with the back getting toasted when you heat it on the caul like that?  on mine the back of the caul traps the heat in and directs it onto the back of the bow, so i started using one that doesn't have a back on it when i can... just a 2x6 shaped on the bandsaw.