deciding on bow design

[uncleduck]

I just got my second osage stave last week and am in the process of picking a layout for it. For my first bow I followed the design in TBB vol 1 for the osage flat bow. I may just follow this layout again, as I dont feel I have the experience to come up with my own dimensions yet. Just wondering how you guys decide on a final bow design? Thanks

[HickoryBill]

You have to let the wood decide the style/dimensions/layout for you...Just follow the grain....How did your last bow perform? How does this stave compare to the last?

[Pat B]

  I very rarely design a specific bow. I let the stave tell me what it wants to be. You are lucky in that osage will make almost anything. What is your draw length and what weight are you shooting for? 
  For a 28" draw you can go 64" to 66" long, 1 3/8" to 1 1/2" at the fades and out 6" to 8" then taper to 1/2" tips for now. I set my bows up with the center of the handle being the center of the bow. Others offset the handle. Either works well.  You could easily build a bow from 40# to 60# with this layout.

[uncleduck]

I'm a 28' draw and looking for around 55#.

Like I said my first bow was based of dimensions in TBB #1.  67" tip to tip, 1 3/4" at fades out to 12" then tapered to the nocks. That one is around 60# and shoots OK, not great, but OK for a first I'd say.  Also on the first stave, one limb naturally bent towards you and the other bent away when the bow was unstrung. I attempted to even this out with heat and was fairly successful.  However, there was a section where the grain snaked slightly and I didn't snake with it (wrapped that section with serving soaked in super glue after realizing my mistake). Learned my lesson there.

I don't have the bark off of this new stave yet, but it doesn't seem to have too much side to side snaking. It does have some waviness to it in the belly-back direction, but the "waves" look fairly symmetrical on each limb, putting the tips in basically the same position as each other.  It has a slight propeller twist in one limb. It does have some nice grow rings, so getting to the back shouldn't be much of an issue.  I guess I will have to get it down to one growth ring first to see if there are any knots I need to work around also.

First step is finding the back, which I will hopefully find time to do in the next few days. I hope to take my time with this one and hopefully get something shooting nicely.

Thanks for the advice.

[Pat B]

Osage can handle being narrow and osage can handle a radiused belly. Wide and flat will work with osage but so will narrower and thicker. I think osage performs better with the latter.

[George Tsoukalas]

I let the wood decide too but it is tough when starting out. Check my site for help. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[PEARL DRUMS]

The design you refer to is a tough one to beat for durability and ease of construction. I suggest building your first 4 or 5 just like it. Even though the design is the same each will have its own set of challenges all the same. That equals learning.

[uncleduck]

UPDATE:
OK so I got the back down to one growth ring. There are no knots or pins visible that wont be avoidable, however there is a hairline crack running almost the entire length of the stave. There are actually 3 separate cracks, where one ends, another starts up off to the side of the previous crack and continues down the stave.  Rough diagram ---------_______-------  . Of course it is close enough to the middle that I wont be able to avoid it with any layout it seems. Am I correct in thinking this is a radial crack? TBB #1 says radial cracks shouldn't be "threatening to a bow's health" as long as the crack stays within the limb and doesn't run off the side. They also suggest filling it with super glue and wrapping with sinew or thread if it comes close to the limb edge. How would you go about tillering something like that? Wrap it, then check tiller, then unwrap to scrape and rewrap to check tiller again? There has to be a better way to do this? Or am I overthinking this?
Thanks in advance.

[adb]

I mostly pick bow designs based on the wood I'm using. Osage is one of a few woods which will excel at almost any design... wide and flat, narrow stacked ELB, etc.
Let the wood guide you.

[gstoneberg]

Is the crack on the belly, back, or clear through?  Some pictures would be helpful.  Shallow cracks in the center of the back shouldn't be a big deal, but I normally back with something, linen or something similar in that case to make it more attractive.  Cracks in the belly can be more troublesome as the compression can open them up so that they need wrapped.  Cracks clear through can be a big problem.  By the way, if you have enough depth and the cracks are in the back just go down another ring or 2 to see if you can get under them.

Good luck,
George

[vabowyer]

my bows almost never turn out like I design them.  I used to spend a lot of  time carefully marking out the outlines of the bow I thought I would be making, only to realize that that was not the bow I would have when finsihed.  The bow is always better when finished than when I plan it.  Best to just let the wood tell you what  is in there.  I notice a lot of people on here have the same feeling about layout and design.  It is what makes the whole thing interesting for me.

[uncleduck]

The crack is in the back, but from looking at the one end of the stave where the crack comes out, it looks as though the crack is too deep to go to a growth ring underneath it. So I'm guessing the crack will likely run through the limb from back to belly. I should be able to keep the crack in the limb and not have it run off the side. I was thinking I would get the bow to a roughed out shape, and then fill the hairline crack with superglue before any attempts at bending/tillering. Any other ideas/advice?

[uncleduck]

Well I just smoothed out the sides of the stave on my way to getting a rough bow shape. While getting the sides smooth, I noticed there are two cracks that separate the late wood and early wood, with 2 growth rings inbetween the cracks. If I had one crack or the other I would be able to eliminate it and have enough wood for limb thickness, but I dont have enough wood to eliminate both.  Im assuming these cracks that separate the growth rings, can't be in a limb.  I guess I have myself an expensive walking stick now.