setting up for Osage bow building

[coyote1956]

Hello brothers, I am new here , have read nearly all posts , tryin to learn as much as I can and my son too, I am 53 he is 14,  we live in North Central , FL.  we are both Colorado Natives,  shot and hunted wiht a bow since i was 6, and him 4 ,  my daughter is into archery as well, she is 19 now and a really good archery gal.
'  I am really into getting started in building some Osage self bows.  any advice is very welcome,   I am planning on getting the Flex cut draw knife, and some good scrapers, a tiller tree i will make,   a tiller gizmo that Yazoo,  Mike McGuire says he will set me up with and some blanks and staves from Mike too.   

I was wondering if any of you have the "Stave press" that 3 rivers sells ?   pros and cons of either?    it looks handy or the guitar vice that Dean Torges  recoomends & uses, or something else?  I see the benches but I would rather be standing up and walking around my work.

  Any and all help is very much  appreciated.   help, tips, ect.....
My son & I  built 2 bows with much Help from Mike McGuire, he is a super guy.  we both have the bow making bug now and want to get setup and make some bows.     these  simple bows are so much fun to build  ,  and a real spiritual joy to shoot,    LOL I enjoy shooting these simple bows more than any High $$ bow i own.  Actually  I get into it so much it is like an extension of me at times!!  wife thinks i'm nuts , need to make one for her too, 
Thanks for your help all of you.   
Ken  Lutz   

[sailordad]

well i dont have anything fancy
cheap ass draw knife,homemade scrapers,tiller stick
dont even know what that "stavepress" is
i floor tiller untill i can get it on the short string at a full brace
but i am also not the best bowyer either 

if your working with yazoo,and getting staves from him
you really shouldnt need much more
but we love pics and love to answer questions too

[JackCrafty]

Osage is good for any type of bow.  I guess all you have to do now is decide what type: longbow, recurve, pyramid D-bow, historical reproduction, etc., etc.

Once you know what type of bow you want to build, you can build the necessary forms (for recurves), a hotbox (if you have green wood), and any other necessary items.  If you've read the posts here, you already know that there is a lot of good advice already out there...and I can't add much to that!

Glad you've got the bug!

[DanaM]

I recommend that You adhere to KISS principle to start, all ya need is a few simple tools and patience Welcome to the board eh

[coyote1956]

Can't see how to post pictures here yet any help on that?      I just like the kiss program myself,  like simple stickbows, longbows  all wood nothin fancy   purty yellow wood and nice silky feel to it, smooth draw and nice cast, and shootin em , watchin the arrow fly,  is all good.    thanks guys   Ken

[recurve shooter]

pics are easy. set up a photobucket account (easy and free) and just upload the pics off of your computer to photobucket. once you get them onto photobucket, there will be three url link things under each pic. click the bottom one to highlight it, then coppy and paste that link into your post. 

[Pat B]

At the bottom left of the reply page you will see"Additional Options". Click on that and an attachment window with "Browse". Click "Browse" and it will bring you to "My Pictures" on your computer.  Your pics have to be sized to 640x480 or less and 200mp or less, and no more that 6 pics per post. To do multiple pics click the "more attachments" next to "Browse".
  Or if you have Photobucket, copy and paste the pics.

[JW_Halverson]

That stave press is really a great invention, I think it really holds a stave solidly if you take the time to set everything up properly. 

That having been said, I use a home-made bodger, or bowyers bench, and some 9" heavy duty C clamps on my workbench to hold staves.  The bowyers bench was built outa scrap 2x4, 2x6, and some rusty old lag bolts.  Total investment, about 3 hours of time. 

As for the workbench, I went to the local Habitat For Humanity Re-Store, bought $50 worth of old used kitchen base cabinets, raised them up on a 4" pedestal, laid a double thickness of 1/2 inch plywood for a working surface and called 'er good. The whole apparatus is bolted to the wall behind it and down onto the concrete floor so when I start to really lay into a stave clamped to the workbench, I ain't got no wiggle!

[riarcher]

I'm Paleo.
Hatchet, couple files, scraper, machetti is all I've got with a draw knife in the mail.
My bench is the heavy wood picknic and a couple parrelel wood clamps.
Oh, and a stool.  Stool very important piece. 

[VenomBOWslinger]

Hello welcome aboard!  I along with sailordad try and keep thing easy and simple.  I use a standard bench vise.  My tools draw knife, block planes, rasps, files scrapers, knives, sanding blocks, power tools are planer, table saw, band saw, belt and disc combo, random orbital sander and palm sander.  I love cutting and splitting staves from trees by hand.  I would recomendreading up or getting a book or two.  Then get a plan of how when where etc... know what you want to make get the dimensions set and carve away.  The guys on this forum are all helpful and very respectful.  We love pictures of your progress.  No one gets made fun of we respect each others work.  I post ridiculous stuff all the time...I use a cell phone take a pic send it to my email then save it to my computer.  Then at the bottom of your post it says additional options.  You then click on it and "Browse" click browse and click on desktop then pictures then the picture you want.  It is easy as that.  Well I am at work 12:30 am and I miss my tool   Goodluck and glad to meet you!

Russ

[Hopefullbowyer]

My stuff is real simple small hatchet, 4 in one file, 1" block plane, sand paper.  I use either the deck railing or a saw horse  with some large furniture clams to hold stave.

[coyote1956]

Thanks for all your comments and welcomes, i was gonna post a couple picts of me & son at Mikes Osage at the TBOF shoot but, all my pictures are alot larger than the allowed 200kb size ,  hummm maybe if I email em to myself they will be resized I think thats worked for me before..................  Ken

[jwarwick]

  I was wondering if any of you have the "Stave press" that 3 rivers sells ?   pros and cons of either?    it looks handy or the guitar vice that Dean Torges  recoomends & uses, or something else?  I see the benches but I would rather be standing up and walking around my work.
 
Ken  Lutz   

Hi Ken,
I make the StavePress, and you would enjoy working with it while standing up....
If you want to look at it, you can see it here: www.stavepress.com
Jon

[Del the cat]

Don't fall into the trap of over thinking.
A couple of hours doing will teach you much more than too much reading and thinking.
The doing will suddenly make a lot of the reading make more sense...
Del

[coyote1956]

I hear you Del......... yep  taking the stave down to yellow wood was a journey in itself.   Learned much and related  to what I had read,  like  oh this is what it feels like between layers, feeling the draw knife skim along the back of 1st growth ring so smooth.
after working it from the bark to the sap wood and then to 1st ring. 

got to bolt my bench down too.  and secure my vise better,  also  the use of a hatchet... I now know why !!!! 
all in all it was a good feeling to get the stave's bark and sap wood off,  if is a fresh cut stave so i coated ends wiht poly and shellacked the rest and it will be stored to dry , got 3 more fresh ones to do the same to.   Getting  a couple seasoned bow blanks and seasoned staves from Mike McGuire (yazoo)  to begin on.    thanks for all help given,  Ken