Osage Question

[wvarcher]

  I've heard Osage is not the best wood to make a 68" plus English long bow because it is to heavy and this would cause excessive hand-hock.  Can Osage be used to make a 72-inch ELB, say 1" wide tapering to 1/2" tips.?

[Pat B]

I've made 2 osage ELBs; one was 68" the other 72".  What do you mean by the best wood. If you have osage and want to make an ELB with it, it is the best wood! 

[bcbull]

ill take yew for  that design anyday befor osage !!!!   osage is  my nbr 2   wood for elb s  it works very well   but yew is just my personal choice  i  say use either of  em  you wont go wrong  but there are several other  that will work  very well also  brock

[wvarcher]

I thought Osage was just too heavy of a wood to avoid hand shock in certain types of longer bows. 

[shamus]

I thought Osage was just too heavy of a wood to avoid hand shock in certain types of longer bows. 

Not at all.  Just make the tips narrow. and tiller it right. No problems.

[adb]

I agree... nothing wrong with osage as an ELB. Keep it narrow, to avoid your worries.

[wvarcher]

I guess with Osage it would be possible to make the handle area as narrow as an 1".  I'm thinking a narrower handled ELB bow would be easier to shoot than one made 1.25'' or 1.5" wide, just like narrower handled flatbows are easier for me to shoot.

[Pat B]

You are think in the wrong direction. Once you get the bow built, make arrows to shoot from it. The handle width doesn't matter at all as long as you are shooting the proper arrows.

[Pat B]

Look back to page 21 in the Bows section and "Osage ELB" by Pat B   That will give you an idea of what you can build. That bow is 75" osage, 1 3/8" at the handle.     Pat

[wvarcher]

You are think in the wrong direction. Once you get the bow built, make arrows to shoot from it. The handle width doesn't matter at all as long as you are shooting the proper arrows.

Maybe that's the case with ELB, but i know i seem to shoot any flatbow i've made better if i narrow the area where the arrow passes around the handle.  Could be, i just need to pay more attention to arrow spine with a wider than 1" handle.  Be interesting to see if anybody feels as you do, that handle width is not as important as choosing the correct arrow

[Pat B]

I'd be willing to bet most do.

[wvarcher]

Wow. Pat, that is one sweeeet bow.  Exactly what i want to build accept maybe with a little less bend in the handle area.