Character Osage Bow Buildalong.

[Dean Marlow]

O.K. fellows here is that crazy Osage stave that I have been showing you and I am going to see if we can get a bow out of it. I have had this for a couple of years now and it is time to either work on it or let somebody else give it a go. It is 58" long and fairly straight. It is very clean without even a pin knot showing so far. It does have problems in one limb with several vertical cracks showing. We Will have to see if I can remove them as we go along. It may just end up as a walking stick.

[danny f]

i cant wait to see how this works out, good luck.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Tear it up Dean-o!

[Dean Marlow]

Here are the main tools I will use with farriers rasp and the Nicholson 49 getting the biggest work out of all that you see. I was thinking around 1-1/2" wide to midlimb then taper down to narrow tips. But like I said these nasty cracks will tell us what we can and can't do. Now I want everybody to chime in on this to see if we can get a bow out of it.

[Adam]

Oh man, I can't wait to see this one!  That's an amazing piece of wood.  It should make a beautiful bow!

[Dean Marlow]

The first thing I am going to do is to clean up the back by removing the sapwood. I have removed most of it early and with the good ring ratio I will use the first ring under the sapwood. I want to tell you guys out there if you ever get a hold of one like this you make sure you pull the drawknife following the grain on the back. With this snakey grain you can be working your draw knife the wrong way real easy. Look close and follow the grain.

[blackhawk]

Bend her in the handle dean

If she's too much for ya,send her my way along with those yew billets,and thanks for shaping the rounds for the sleeves for me already

If you need to make a string tracking adjustment(hard to know for sure till u get a string on a snakey stave) id do it at the handle there and gently go with that snakey curve direction wise if ya know what I mean. It looks like the best area to make that adjustment if needed. Only minimal movement required heat bending wise in a handle area is required to get the string on that handle. But we won't know till you get a string in her...those snakes could propeller it one way or another when bent.

[blackhawk]

Another idea with the string is you could make it asymmetrical(shorter lower limb) and your string will be perfect either way of center you go.

[Dean Marlow]

blackhawk sounds good but it is 58" long as the crow flies. When we get the center line laid out on it I will put a string on the line on each limb and see actually how much wood there really is in each limb. That will be interesting to see. There will be a-lot of adjusting when it comes to the handle for sure. I was thinking a slightly bendy handle also. Dean

[blackhawk]

Its def one of those staves you only worry about the step your on...and when its time to go to the next you stop and think of every possible route,then sleep on it and wake up the next day and make a best decision. And even then ya might have to sleep on it again another night or two before making the next move. Lol.

[Dean Marlow]

Now with the back chased to the ring I will mark the center of the stave and connect the dots. Then I will use my piece of wood which is cut to 1-1/2" wide marked in the center to get my desired width down the stave. Then I will connect the dots again. And remove the wood  with my big rasp to the lines. Now remember when you are removeing wood from the sides alway work from the back of the bow to the belly. You could damage the back going from belly to back with a rasp. More tomorrow.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Its def one of those staves you only worry about the step your on...and when its time to go to the next you stop and think of every possible route,then sleep on it and wake up the next day and make a best decision. And even then ya might have to sleep on it again another night or two before making the next move. Lol.

I dont do well at those types, but something tells me Dean is much more patient than I. I bet he gets a bow from it, and a fine one at that.

[Marks]

That is the coolest thing I've seen in a while. How did it grow like that?

[Dean Marlow]

Marks
  I traded a bow to a young man for some  Osage logs and one evening he pulled in my driveway with 4 huge Osage logs in the back of his truck. They were so big I had to use a tractor loader to get them out. 2 of the logs were worthless and the log this came from was fairly straight but had the wildest bark on it I ever seen on a Osage log. I told my wife if I can get this split it will be some real snakes in it. I destroyed most of the log trying to split it. It wouldn't split right. It always wanted to run off to the side because of such twisted grain. Worst thing I ever tied into trying to split.

[Dean Marlow]

I did a little more work this morning on the  checked limb and removed the bad crack on the tip with no problem.Tapered the limb down a little from midlimb. Thought we were good to go and had some more cracks show up about midlimb after removing some belly wood. The top crack I believe I still have enough wood to remove it. But the edge crack has got me a little puzzled. It runs down to edge of the stave and I can see it on the edge of the back. It is still wide enough 1-1/4" from the crack on the back to the other side of the bow. My maim concern is will it angle up towards the belly to much. Tell me what you would do. This piece of wood kind of reminds me when I was raising my children. You always had one you could get a nice comfortable sleep every night and one you always had to sleep with one eye open.  Dang this one limb.