Another Ken Challenge Shorty - Finished

[gstoneberg]

I have no business starting another bow, but we cleaned the shop and I spotted a short gnarly stave I debarked and sealed a few months ago.  Looked to be the right length to experiment with to try another bendy handle short osage bow.  It has some character and some twist.



But, for a change, it has nice thick growth rings.



It's just about ready for the long string.  I took the twist out of that far limb.  It has a little reflex, but I doubt it'll keep it.



Right now it's 51" long but I may shorten it a couple inches if it helps the string lay better in the handle.

George

[ErictheViking]

cool stave, looks like there is a good chance it could make a center shot bow.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Doesn't look like it's got any prop twist so you could heat that wiggle out if you didn't want it in the bow. I just straightened one tonight that looked like your stave's little redheaded step brother. LOL 

Got some nice growth rings for a bendy and they sure are alot of fun to shoot. Can't wait to see what ya do with it.

[ken75]

interesting stave , waiting to see this one become a bow

[JonW]

That is a way cool looking stave man. I am really looking forward to see that one bend all the way through. Let's make some waves with these D-Bows!!

Jon W.

[gstoneberg]

I probably won't straighten it unless something comes up in tillering.  I love the wiggles.   I'm breaking some rules with this, it isn't seasoned enough, I'm not waiting for the wood to rehydrate after taking out twist and I didn't do a very good job on the bow back.  We'll see what she can take.  91 out in the shop already, gonna be a hot one.

I should be working on my trade bow, but this one calls me.

George

[gstoneberg]

Here's an update....got the little thing strung.





I've gotta buy a new camera.   When I first strung it the straight limb was waaay stiffer than the crooked one.  But now...



not so much.   Right now it's 45#@20"  Be interesting to see what's left when I get that left/crooked limb bending better.  My sweetheart (our 36th anniversary is in a couple days) wants to swim so I'm taking a break.  More later.

George

[gstoneberg]

And here it is tillered, 51.5" n2n, 51#@28".



It started taking set at 27", I didn't really get that crooked limb to tiller the way I wanted before I reached my draw length goal of 28".  It has about 2.5" of set right after being unstrung and then quickly goes down to 1.5" (on each limb).  Here's the unstrung profile, you can see the bulk of the set is on that crooked limb which has the poorer tiller.



This experiment reinforced my view of osage.  When you overstress it, it takes set but holds together.  I have not shot this bow yet.  I may try this test again with a fence post.  If I can get a bow out of one without insect damage (and I tiller better) I believe I can go this short or shorter with no set.  This wood was only 6mo old.

George

[beetlebailey1977]

That 28" draw on that is insane....but I like it.  Interesting to see what they do and how they behave.  Keep at it.

[blackhawk]

     .  That's what they call a bend in the "handle" bow. Wow. Do you really think you can get no set on a 51.5" bow at a 28" draw. If so then your the man. Crazy bend there. Its fun torturing wood

[gstoneberg]

This has been fun for sure.  I went back out and checked the set and the normal limb had gone back to straight.  The character limb still had an inch and a half of set.  I decided to toast the belly of this bow and see if I could reduce the set.  I do like the look of toasted osage.



I only pulled the bow to 26" after toasting it.  The draw weight increased from 51#@28" to 55#@26".  I had a funny feeling and pulled the bow off the tillering setup and found this:



and it clicked that I'd heard a tic at one point yesterday but couldn't find a lifted splinter or crack so I assumed I misheard and went on.  I'm flabbergasted that the bow didn't blow up with such a bad grain violation.  I was only at about 25" of draw when it happened and I went all the way to 28" ... and it held together.   Osage is good stuff.   Not sure how I missed that grain, I remember this stave was a tear-out when trying to get 2 smaller staves from one larger one.   Obviously I was in too big a hurry.  Given that this bow survived up to now I'm going to superglue this one and wrap it with thread.  I had toyed with flipping the tips to improve the string angle, not sure if that's still a good idea or not.  One way or another I need to take more twist out of each limb tip.

George

[criveraville]

Don't  let that little crack stop ya.. Keep on going.. That's a neat looking bow.

[HatchA]

This experiment reinforced my view of osage.  When you overstress it, it takes set but holds together.

I have to agree with that...  Finishing a blank into a bow for my daughter and I'm pretty sure I over-stressed it (quite a bit if I'm honest) and even before finishing, it's gone from reflex to set (mainly from fades to mid-limb)

Also agree with Cip' regarding keeping going...  Sinew or rawhide patch might sort it out before it gets worse?

Nice little bow George

[ken75]

george thats some great stuff. glad to see it make a bow . patch her up and keep using her . great expirement !!

[DEllis]

Blimey, that's got some bend to it eh?
I have a nice stave sitting here, awaiting more time, that I missed weight with.......you might know which one I mean George I have been lurking a bit but too busy to post lately, and decided that after reading Ken's short bow thread, I need to start piking that 46#er back till I get the weight I want........I'll make my brother a birch bow
Darcy