Osage billet bow "help-along"

[DCM4]

Kirk, yes.

Hedge, bear in mind when you part that billet it will change the plane of the flat on the bottom to match the crown of the two halves.  You'll sacrifice a smidge of thickness to re-establish that plane parallel to the "new" crown of each half, or new billet.  Same with a little bit of width as well, as you re-establish the sides square to the new bottom.  You want the plane of the splice dead nuts perpendicular to the crown.

WRT features, I concentrate on the 6" or so where the splice will be being right and regular, then fuss the straightening everything else up after it's joined.  I also tend to process all my billets individually dodging all the most wretched parts.  Then match them up, frequently finding features and snake in one compliment another to help the string to track.  "Sister" or side-by-side billets offering a bit of symmetry in the joined stave.

[hedgeapple]

I'm a bit confused.  I thought I needed to follow the lateral grain for the center of the limbs.  Is keeping the center of the crown more important?  Or will they most likely be the same anyhow?

Guys, I can't tell you how much your advice, encouragement and sometimes scolding has help so far in this process.

I grabbed the sedge and the wedges and whacked the billet.  I'm pretty darn pleased, actually.  One billet is just shy of 1 3/4" at the handle end, so I'm not going to have much wiggle room for a 1 1/2" wide at handle.  I will take my time with it.  The other is a bit over 1 3/4" at the handle.

And there appears to be a little of of character snakeyness about 6" from the tip, but it looks like the bend re-center themselves with the limbs.  How cool is that? 

And, the knots look like the will work out with the shaping of the limbs. 

And the twists seem to be minor and like DMC4 pointed out will probably compliment each other to give a center trackig string.  woohoo.

Here's the pics


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[Dean Marlow]

I am glad you split it instead of taking the saw to it. You just don't know if osage staves run straight or have a little snake in them. But now you know. Plus that little character will make your new bow that much more interesting. That is what I love about Osage.

[artcher1]

Not for sure what you mean by lateral grain. Are you referring to its longitudinal/ lengthwise grain or perhaps its radius growth rings.? Basically, your bow limbs are right down the center of each of your billets. Just lay out their centers with a marker (with the longitudinal grain) from head to tail and then come back, and using their center line, lay out your limb width dimensions for each limb. Getting ahead of myself here, first get it down to their permanent back rings and then do the aforesaid. ART

[hedgeapple]

Art, yes I was referring to the longitudinal grain.  And of course, I'll chase down the ring to the back before lay out the bow.

[hedgeapple]

Hey David, Is a W splice the same thing as a finger joint in carpentry terminology? just curious....

Thanks Kirk, now I'll know what to ask the cabinet maker for when I inquire about getting these joints cut for me. 

[hedgeapple]

A couple questions about chasing rings:  Whey you're going down to the second growth ring do you remove the top unused ring first then procede to the second?  Or, do you go ahead and take down to the target ring as you go?  I've only chased a ring a couple of times on hickory.  I've been taking the top ring off for about 12" then getting to the target ring.  When I get about 6" from the top ring and it starts to get in the way, I remove another 6 or 8 inches from it, then go back to working on my target ring.  I continue this process through out the bow.  By working both rings 6" or so at a time I get an idea of what to expect when I get to chasing the target ring.  Such as I find the pin knots, curves and dips in the wood.  So when I get to chasing the target ring it's fresh in my mind.

Do you start from the root end of the tree or the top end of the tree?  I've just been starting at which ever end seems easiest to find initially.

You guys are great, I hope I don't wear you out too much with my newby questions.
Dave

[Michael C.]

I do because I loose track of the ring I'm on if I don't and I think I'm a bit ocd so I like to get all of one ring off before I go to the next. I also eat my corn one kernel row at a time though, so I'm kinda weird like that  The only time I take off more than one ring at a time is when I am working through the sapwood or if I have a few rings to get through before I get close to the one I want. Even then though you'll want to stop 2 or 3 rings above the one you want and start going one at a time. The cool thing about Osage and Black Locust is that the sun is your friend, if your outside taking those rings down or you have a nice window with light shining on the bit your working on it helps a lot. I have worked on some at night thinking I was alright and wondered when I went cross eyed in the morning, when I see I went through on some spot. Just watch out for knots if you have any and make sure you don't cut through them with whatever your using to chase rings, even the tiny pin knots. If you cut through one of those it might cause problems down the line. You can always run some ca glue over them though if you accidentally cut through a small one though, but it's less work if you don't.

We all had/have questions man, that's what this place is for and people are great about helping out. Good luck.

[artcher1]

Don't know about others, but I find it easier to chase a ring working from the top end to the trunk. Reason, the growth rings taper from thin to thick similar to a wedge.  Try working "into" a wedge sometimes. Wood being wood though, you never know sometimes. You just have to start out slow and feel the wood out and go from there. But on clear wood where the growth rings show a goodly taper working down (from top to trunk) the stave seems to work better.  ART

 

[hedgeapple]

Thanks Art and Micheal,
I found many of the answers to my questions about ring chasing on this post:
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,16522.0/topicseen.html
Seems there's other newbies out there with similar questions. 

[hedgeapple]

Boy taking pictures of the process really shows you a lot.  GUYS AM I GOING TO HAVE ENOUGH WOOD ON THIS BILLET TO MAKE A BOW 60# at 27" ? ? ?  This billet is going to be right 1 3/8", probably more like 1 1/4" by the time it's all said and done.  Taking into account my limited bowyer experience, I was thinking I needed limbs around 1 1/2" 

I do have billet #4, which is still a sister billet to #1.  It's just from the other side.  And, it has much more wood to work with.


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[Michael C.]

Are you saying it's 1 1/4" wide at the fades where your handle is going to be or 1 1/4 thick? If it's width you might be in trouble I would think you want it @ 1.5" some take it up to 1 3/4", but if your talking thickness at the handle you can always glue a piece over the back where your billets meet. I usually make mine around 50-55# so I don't know how much more stress 5 or 10 # puts on the handle area, I imagine quit a bit.

[artcher1]

An 1 1/4" is your normal standard width for Osage (for medium to longer bows) anyways so I wouldn't worry to much about that. And that width is generally only needed near the fades. From there you will probably side taper (depends on design) on to the tips.

A good plan of action for now is to get your billets down to their finished back ring and put on a coat of varnish/tru-oil/ shellac (since the wood just came out of your shed). Then clean up their sides to desired dimensions and reduce limb thickness. Once that's done you can take out any twist in the limbs in preparations for splicing. ART

[DCM4]

You can play at 1 1/4".  But bear in mind you won't need full width at center of the handle, rather where the fades will be but spanning perhaps 6" to 12" or 14" on either side of dimensional center of the joined billets.  And you only need another 1/8" to 1/4".  Just allow for another 1" or 2" of lenght.  You can make a 100# bow no wider than 1 1/4".  Just needs to be a lil taste longer.  Heck, for an elb style 100# probably no more than 1" wide depending upon density.  As a rule of thumb I maximize what's there, then match billets to my purpose afterwards.

[hedgeapple]

An 1 1/4 is the maximum with I can get for the width of the back at the handle.  The stave doesn't get any wider 6 or 8 inches up the limbe to allow for it to be wider at the fade, either.  If anything, it's going to loose another 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch.  I'm wanting 64-65 inch bow #55-65 at 27 inches.