Completely new red oak elb

[gstoneberg]

I would defer to one of the ELB guys, but in my opinion osage is strong enough to have the back rounded.  If you're worried you could back it with rawhide but I don't think it would need it.  I round the back of my flatbows, just not as much as you'll want to.  I say go for it.

George

[youngbowyer]

would rounding it violate the chased ring though?

[gstoneberg]

Maybe , if you cut through to another ring along the edges.  The ring I've chosen is pretty thick, you night not cut clear through it.  Even if you do, in my opinion it won't matter with the little bit you're doing.  Osage is much tougher than the red oak you've been using.

George

[gstoneberg]

I'm a little discouraged with this stave.  Since I finished taking it to a growth ring it has bent itself so it has a few inches of deflex on one side.  It is 2 years old and was clamped in the vice at the handle when it happened!  I've never seen that before.  So, now in addition to removing the bend and untwisting each limb I also need to pull out some deflex.  It took about an hour with the heat gun to remove the bend tonight.

Before:



After:



Had to toast it pretty good.



I only have tomorrow night and Thursday to work on it this week, some because I shot a doe with the rifle yesterday and need to butcher her.  At this rate it'll be next week before I can get it sent to you.  If you'd like to go faster, I have a rift sawn osage board I could send you instead.  It's about 7/8" thick and has been drying for about 3 weeks.  I could get that cut tomorrow and in the mail on Wed.  You'll have to take your time so it can continue drying as you remove wood.  Otherwise I'll try to get some good time in on this one  through the weekend and get it to you next week.  I'll also take a look at some more staves, and if I find an easier one to work than this one I'll switch to that.

George

[youngbowyer]

I'll just wait till you are ready with this stave George