Rookie bowyer needs help

[Watsonjay]

Hey guys,

Ive only built a couple bows so far. I bought billets of osage off ebay. They are narower then I thought. 1” wide and taper to the belly quite a bit. What can I do for a design?

Thanks for the help.

[Pat B]

Welcome to the Bowyers Bench.
How long are the billets?  You can easily make a hunting weight bow with a 1" osage stave. Pics of the billets will help us help you.

[Watsonjay]

They are 33 1/2”. The narrowest spot is half way down one of the limbs and is 7/8”. Cant seem to figure out how to paste a pic in

[Watsonjay]

This is where it hits 7/8” at the bend.

[Pat B]

Splice the ends on the left for the handle area. Looks thick enough for a handle. Then, mimic the width of the wider limb to the narrow one. The snaky section shouldn't be a problem. Nice rings too.
Keep us posted.

[Watsonjay]

I was sure how well it would splice with the one being 1” at top and narrowing to 3/4 within 1/2” from back.

[Watsonjay]

I’ve watched all of Clay Hayes’ videos and most if the ones from Kramer Ammons. Can you gues recommend some other good bowyers with a lot of good videos?  Thanks again. Im enjoying my lead into bow building a lot. My first bow was bamboo backed osage board.

[Pat B]

I can not recommend a video because I don't watch bow building videos. I can recommend trying Primitive Archer forum for more answers.
 A 1" splice is possible and an overlay can be added to help support the splice. Another option would be a take down sleeve. I think 3Rivers(a sponsor) has them available or maybe someone here on TG has one to trade or sell.

[Watsonjay]

Ok thanks. I learn best by video.

[John Scifres]

Search "splicing billets" in YouTube.  1" is a tough one for your first but you can do it.

I'd experiment/practice on some boards first.  Get the feel of it.  Squaring them up is critical.  Forrest Shattuck, Golden Woods Bows, has a couple videos in one of his series that should help you.  Good luck!

 

[Watsonjay]

Ya have seen that. Thanks. I am actually thinking about doing a w splice and using the narrow billet as the inside of the w since it is the narrow part of the w. My other problem is that within half an inch from the back towards belly it is only 3/4 of an inch. The 3 rivers sleeves are 1” wide so I would need to widen it too. I will make something work.